Blogs from South, Cambodia, Asia - page 8

Fra Phu Quock tog vi færgen til Ha Tien, hvor vi skulle med en bus estimeret til omkring 4 timer (inkl. visumkontrol over grænsen). Dette blev en længere affære med mere ventetid på diverse kontore end reel køretid samtidig med at vi skiftede bus op til 4 gange. Vi kom dog hele frem til målstedet sent om aftenen ramt af træthed efter en transportdag, der blev væsentlig længere end forventet, Første stop i Cambodia var Kampot som viste sig at være det helt rigtige valg for os som den første by i Cambodia. Vi stod mellem at vælge mellem Kep, Sihanoukaville og Kampot hvor af den første var en lille soveby med en masse resorts og ikke så meget andet, den næste en større metropol og såkaldt ”party”by og så Kampot lige midt imellem som var ... read more

The small craft bounced across the waters of the Gulf of Thailand. I had boarded one of the many small boats heading to Koh Tonsay, or Rabbit Island, from the Kep pier this morning. On the ride over I spent my time alternatively watching the sun dance off the ocean ripples and talking to the attractive French girl opposite me. As the island came into view, I scanned its shoreline looking for secluded beaches that I could wander to later. I hadn’t made any previous bookings before arrival. I was told that locals would come up to you as you got off the boat with offers of places to stay. As soon as I hopped off the boat, I was approached by a Khmer man who said that he ran a group of bungalows and a ... read more

I was where I had always wanted be ever since back in 1998 as I was devouring Rough Guide’s First-Time Asia. Here I was up on a mystical mountain shrouded in mist. The only westerner in sight. Bells and chimes ringing all around me. It was a festival day and everyone was clamoring about in a festive mood and making offerings before altars. Where was I? I was on Bokor Mountain. What is crazy is this whole scene almost didn’t happen. That is because around 4am I was awoken by a powerful rumbling in my guts that shook my very foundations. I quickly was forced to make a mad dash to the toilet. Yessir, let the fun begin. Spicy fruit and yogurt salad the night before had definitely been an overconfident order. The whole episode lasted ... read more

I took one early morning last gasp at the Canadia Bank, but alas it was shut up and dark. Resigned and a little worse for the wear I piled myself into the Phnom Penh pound bus, mini-van more like. At the time I bought my ticket a couple of days before I was assigned seat #1D. Sounded pretty good to me. It turned out that 1D was actually the passenger seat next to the driver. Well, this was certainly informal. At least there was more leg room than in the seats behind me with all the other passengers. I would also be getting an unobstructed view of the road in front of me. I passed the time studying the driving techniques of the Cambodian highway. When the mini-van would approach a car it wanted to pass, ... read more

Well that was a bit of a day! We were very relieved to see that the tuktuk driver was outside ready for us at 6am and that he eventually managed to find the train station. We had offered 15$ as an incentive, over the odds, but we wanted him to be bothered to get out of bed. He seemed a bit lost at the final furlong, but we were actually right outside, it just didnt look like a train station. Inside was a girl with a table, writing out tickets, but when we showed her our internet one it was ok, we were a bit worried as the website we booked it on was Vietnamese. Just under £8 each. The station was very very basic but the train was there and we had to get into ... read more