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Leaving Ho Chi Minh to cross the boarder from Vietnam to Cambodia has probably been one of the worse days so far...the bus wasn't a sleeper, it was a normal old bus. The bus company were trying to charge us 35 dollars for our visa, which had to be paid to the guy on the bus there then... But we all knew it was only 30.. So they were basically trying to scam us out of $5. Which is nothing but me and Kyle didn't even have the extra $5, but there was about 10 westerners with us that wouldn't pay the extra (but of course the Chinese paid). The dickheads only tried to blackmail us saying if you don't pay we'll leave you at the boarder. We argued with them again when they dropped us at the Vietnam border because they only took the peoples bags off who hadn't paid the scam, and we were told carry them through the border ourselves. We all thought they were going to leave us so were arguing for a while.. Anyway, when we eventually came out the other end at the Cambodian border one of the workers was on the back of a bike and no bus to be seen... he told us it was 1-2km up the road parked at a restaurant. We walked for half an hour with all our bags in the baking heat for half an hour, debating if the bus was actually still here or not. We eventually found it, dripping with sweat. And all we wanted was a wee and something to eat. They told us there was no time and tried to drive off.
So feeling very angry about the whole situation, i took pictures of the driver, the bus and number plate..written a good complaint to our tour operator. Thankfully she is as angry as me so she's going to complain on my behalf. However, her reply wasn't satisfactory, as bribing and blackmailing in South Asia is just what everyone does (especially the Police and Boarder Agency) and it can't be helped.
Went to the killing fields in Cambodia, it was very disturbing. As one of the trees there has hundreds of ribbons on it, as this particular tree was used to kill children with.....basically the b******s held the children by the ankles and smash their heads against the tree until they were dead, then just throw them in this big whole next to it. This tree was found with teeth, skull, hair and blood all on it.
Cambodia's currency is completely messed up. They use US Dollar as well as Cambodian Reel...but the most confusing bit is you buy something in Dollars then get change in Reel, not confusing at all. Also this place reminds me of India, all the locals stare and it seems very poor. Much more less developed than Vietnam but I've seen about 5 Hummers in 3 days!
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dad disturbing some of that bab x you don't want many trips like that