So the day is here. Hitch hiking time. I am excited to see how this is going to pan out. I mean Elias has come from France to Vietnam, only having paid a couple of times for transport, so it must be possible. He has a 'magic piece of paper' explaining in Vietnamese what he is doing and asking for a free lift courtesy of google translate, it's not perfect, but it is funny. All checked out and ready to go. The plan is to get a bus out of the centre on to the main road where our chances will be the best for hitch hiking. Elias says it is very difficult to get out of a city in the direction you want, so heading to the main road is the best idea.
-----
As we approach the bus station I immediately see Elias' skill, he just walks up to one of 30 buses and asks if it is going in our direction, it is and as soon as we sit down the bus starts to move. As if we couldn't have had any more luck, the guy in front of us turns round and he speaks to us. He knows English and French. What a great start to the day. Elias and the guy talk French for most of the trip while I am being cooked beside the window, most uncomfortable, probably further compounded by my alcohol consumption last night. We get to where the bus stops at a station in a small town. Now the real hitch hiking begins.
-----
We are straight out of the station and out on to the road. It is not nice being out here all exposed to the sun with all my gear. It is not long before a car pulls over and Elias runs up to talk to him, he is happy to take us. We get the bags in the car and pile in. In the back I have some lovely AC blowing right in my face, just what I needed. Elias takes up the front seat, and although the guy does not speak very much English, Elias haas photos so he can show the guy parts of his trip. We are in a lovely family saloon, a significant upgrade from the bus earlier. We get up the road past a couple of towns and then we get out, thank the guy very much and start the process again. Easy. Same as before stand with the thumb out while walking, not standing still. Smiling, wearing a hat, when a car stops take off the hat and speak to the driver and show him the magic paper. No problem. Again we get a car very quick, another nice luxury saloon. I could get used to this hitch hiking business. He takes us to within 10km from the border. We end up walking about 2km in the heat this time because there are no cars, and the ones there are, they are all full of people. I'm not feeling the best today, head cold, and the carrying of my bag is starting to hurt me. Over the past few months I have really noticed how sub standard my bag is for this type of travel, I suppose I did get it many years ago. It just does not have the features that would make my journey easier, next time when I get a bag i'll know what to look for. Elias stops being picky, the thumbs are out for everything now. Just like fishing, you just have to wait for a bite. We get a truck, pulls up about 50m away so we run to meet. No English, but he is going to the border, so we jump in. He has the music on and is having a great time. I must look terrible because he reaches in to his cool box and gives me an ice cold water. So good. When he pulls up to the border he parks with all the trucks, and so we have to walk around to the civilian entrance. It is not busy and after a quick bag scan we get stamped out of Vietnam. It was reminiscent of China as while I am standing in the queue about 10 peope just push past me and give their passports up. What is even more ridiculous about this is the fact that I get my passport back first and then I have to push back past all these people, with all my gear. Why, why why? Next it is the filling in of all the paperwork for the Cambodian visa, and then on to get our stamp, where our finger prints are taken. Eventually we get through and we are in Cambodia.
-----
Just one long street leaves from the border, with duty free shops and casinos. Yes casinos. It is not legal for Vietnamese to gamble in Vietnam, not that I saw any casinos anyway, so perhaps this is a big draw here. This road is never ending, it stretches for as far as I can see. We start walking. Not a lot of cars, and everyone we stop is looking money, or is a taxi. I am really struggling in the heat and with my less than tip top condition. I'm not complaining but i'm pretty sure I am minus craic. We get to a shop type place and I need to get some water, so we go in and grab a couple of bottles of water each. I tell Elias that I need to sit down, he heads back out on to the road to keep trying. 2 hours must have passed since we crossed the border. A small van pulls up, Elias asks but the guy is looking money. No deal thanks. A few minutes later and his van won't start. We offer to help him if he gives us the lift for free. He agrees and so we push the van until she starts and then jump in. This van is full of stuff, it looks like this guy is a delivery driver, he has to drop off his stuff, but he is going to Phnom Penh so we are happy with that. We even help him with his delivery at some of his stops. The van is held together with cable ties, the sliding door doesn't close properly, I can see through the floor and my door rattles over every bump and sounds like it is going to fall off. Beggars can't be choosers eh?
-----
We must spend another hour or so travelling up and down this one stretch of road dropping things off. With each delivery drop of stock, we appear to acquire people in place of. So the van is starting to get quite cramped. It's not long before all our gear is sitting in front of me, giving me no leg room at all. Great. As we start to make progress towards our destination we come across scores of little trucks, with easily 50+ people standing on the back of them. I ask the Cambodian girl beside me if this is for kids coming from school, but no it is for people coming home from work. They all look pretty young to me. We travel on as day turns to night. Then the whole road just stops. Everyone is queued up and the driver jumps out, we get out for a look. We are about to board a boat. A quick check of google maps and yes, this dies indeed appear to be the most direct route. Madness. After the boat it is back on the road stopping periodically for passengers to get off, and of course pick up stuff to move down the road.
-----
First impressions of Cambodia, well it's not Vietnam that's for sure. All the towns are so small, and most people appear to live in rural areas. No where near as much traffic, would have been a dream on Jessie. These little towns don't even have light, they get illuminated by the lights on our van. The windows have been open on the van the whole way and I am pleased that as we drive at night the air is somewhat cool, that is until we stop and then the van turns in to a sweat box. Suddenly lights appear up ahead, large buildings and what looks like modern civilisation.
-----
We have arrived in Phnom Penh, thank god. We have the card of a guest house that we would like to go to. So we show the driver and ask if he can drop us somewhere near here. He stops at a market area and appears to be arranging a tuk tuk for us. Then he starts asking for money. It all kick off. Elias does not hold back when he explains that we were told it was for free. Next thing a translator appears along with at least 20 Cambodians. We are pretty angry, because we would not have got in the van if he was going to charge us. They are looking $15 and talking some s*** about there being 2 of us. The talk about getting the police, we say no problem, we haven't done anything wrong. After about an hour we get them down to $6, we are pretty pissed off, but we just pay and get in a tuk tuk to our hotel. Elias is fuming, who knows if he will ever recover! We get to our hostel and although it is more expensive than we would like, a quick check online throws up nothing better, and I am busted that I just want to lie down. We head out for dinner and find that this place is much worse for the lady bars than Vietnam was. All sitting outside calling indiscriminately to any male. What is different is that all the doors are closed, and blackened out, God knows what happens in there. After dinner we go straight back to the hostel. I lie on the bed and pass out, no shower, not even changed. Nothing. Tuckered out.