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Published: November 17th 2007
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My journey to Stung Treng was pretty darn “exciting”. The bus was scheduled to leave at 6:15AM and I set my alarm for 5:30AM…which turned out to be unnecessary as the cicadas (maybe??) started to chirp around 4:45AM…definitely was not falling back to sleep. I had told the guy who served me my food the night before that I wanted eggs in the morning…well, they ran out of eggs apparently so I was stuck with some bread that I purchased on the street and while it was indeed tasty it was not enough for me. So maybe I mentioned previously that the road to Ban Lung was terrible…well guess what, it was just as bad on the way back…this time I took a real bus although this bus was not standard size by any means…and even though it was smaller with seats for 31 people, we had AT LEAST 48 that I counted…not including some small children that I missed cuz I couldn’t see them. I had hooked up with Michelle (Canadian living in Australia) and Christine (Switzerland) that I met the day before at my hostel. The bus was really rocky and we were swaying back and forth and up
and down along the road. That lasted about 4 hours during which time I witnessed 5 or 6 children barf and 1 adult. There were 5 people in the 2 seater behind me…3 of them got sick…thank goodness for headphones! But there wasn’t much for the eyesight to cover up. There was puke all over the aisle floor in which people were sitting on small little plastic chairs. It just seemed disastrous. Anyway, they were all sick the entire ride…not just once but multiple times! Oh this was good times…at any given moment 5 different people were touching me, be it the children sitting behind me leaning over the seat…the woman sitting next to me in a seat…or either of the two men sitting on the other side of me in small plastic chairs in the aisle. Gotta love SE Asia!
So we got to the fork in the road that goes to south to Phnom Penh or north to Stung Treng. Thank goodness for Michelle and Christine because I may have just gotten back on the bus which was headed for PP and not ST. My guide did not mention that I would need to take a moto
taxi to ST. I was lucky that I really tried to consolidate shit the night before because me and my large backpack, and the small backpack that wont zip on, and my computer/ camera backpack, fanny pack and painting was a tough fit on the back of a motorbike. Wow, I cant believe I actually was able to make it work… Somewhat impressed I tell you. Felt a little bit like the NYer of the group as the girls just had small knapsacks. I was more impressed with that. But what a ride! It was just a gorgeous day again and to ride along the deserted highway/ road with a lovely temperature and the sun and the breeze against your face and in your hair…it was just delightful.
So we settled in at LyLy’s and went for some lunch at the Riverside rooftop. We each got mushroom burgers which were questionable. It came recommended by another westerner…and the cook said he spent extra time on them and we never got sick (although Michelle chucked hers over the side of the building) so I guess its all good. While we were finishing up lunch they were setting up a table
for a large party. Eventually one shirtless man walked in and the next thing you know we were sitting next to 11 shirtless men! Don’t get all excited…all but one should have put their shirt back on. I guess they were on some heavy duty motor/dirt bike trip…you should have seen these bikes, they are like the monster trucks of motorcycles!
We then walked around Stung Treng and the market for a bit. Not too much to see really…its mostly a trade city for link to the surrounding country for goods and a gateway city to Laos for us travelers. We then settled at another corner bar/restaurant for a few rounds of beer and just chatting about our life experiences and our traveling. It was good fun! This is another aspect of traveling that I enjoy…the meeting of other people, especially those who are like-minded and well-read. I find that I can learn quite a bit from them and I am always interested in hearing their stories. It’s just wonderful that Christine, Michelle and myself, all from different backgrounds and different countries end up at the same place at the same time and have very similar views and interests.
I guess the saying Same Same But Different would be apropos here. We also ran into a few other travelers and some fascinating discussions about them and just the different ways to travel. Some people just are not interested in the same things, and that is ok but its just fascinating I suppose. Michelle and I swapped suggestions on books and movies.
We went back to Riverside for dinner and some more beer. Man, I definitely slept well this night! Speaking of, at LyLy’s my bathroom again was a wetroom which is totally acceptable but got me was that my sink had no pipe…it just went straight onto the floor. It really wasn’t bad but I thought it was worth sharing since it is the first time we came across this!
Saturday Michelle left to go back to Phnom Penh and Christine and I made our way to overland to Laos…it takes a few boats and a few minibuses to make the journey…..
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Jonathan
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sinks with no pipes
certainly unique...watch out for the toothpaste dripping on your foot...after a while I gave up on the sinks and went straight to the shower for all my needs. Glad you enjoyed it all!!!