01/05/08 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

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LET me tell you about this bus ride we had today...

well first, i am sorry if there are any errors in spelling...this keyboard is bad and the computer is slow...so no pictures either.

back to the bus ride...

we left the hostel in Ho Chi Minh this morning at 8am....all was pretty well all the way to the Vietnam border...took about 3 hours to get there. At the border, we had to unload the bus and our luggage and go throuh securituy to exit vietnam....we then reloaded the bus...only to exit and take everything back off 1 minute later to enter Cambodia! after that, we had to sit and wait for our passports.........this whole ordeal took about 45 minutes! once we though we were on our way, we stoped on 5 minutes later at a "bus stop" where we could have lunch....no lunch for me, i chose to just hang out and relax...besides, i had snacks for the bus ride. after we finally got on the bus and driving through cambodia, there was a marked difference in the roads......half of them were dirt and the other paved....and the paved wernt much better than the dirt! the rest of the ride, abut 4 horus, was very bumpy!!! throuh out the country side, i have never seen such a poor landscape....children covered in mud and working, shacks as houses, and no one with shoes....it really made me think and really appreciate everything that i do have at home and why i am lucky and proud to be an american citizen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

as we neared Phenom Penh, we began to pick people up??? random people began to board the bus, however, i just pretened to sleep across 2 seats and was able to keep the seat to myself. we had to board a ferry to cross the river into pehnom penh....once we were across the river and in the city, it was like everythin changed. everything seemed much more modern, there were more cars, and it just seemed more comfortable.

when we got off the bus, we were bombarded with people trying to give us a ride in a "tuk-tuk" (like a taxi....its a cart attached to a motorcycle...) we got away from them an tried to find our way...after awhile we gave up and hired a tuk-tuk for $3 and it took us right to the hostel! the room is nothing special....no a/c (but not too hot with the fan on)....an only $3.50 a night!!

so we checked in and got settled and headed out...we went by the royal palace (cambodia is actually a Kingdom), the national museum, the river front, and a large monument to their cival war....we didnt go in anywere beacuse of how late it was....but we did enjoy a nice dinner at an outdoor restaurant for about $5.

tomorrow we are planning on going to the killing fields and a museum - - this all has to do with the cival war when over 2 million citizens were murdered........after that we plan to go back to the palace and museum and actually go inside...then who knows what.

-----i already like cambodia, at least the city, much more than vietnam. i feel much more comfortable here and it is more modern. overall the past few days, like i said earlier, i have really come to appreciate things more i think....it is really neat getting to see and learn about everything here, but i would never give up what i have at home!

thats all for now...time to get some rest for more sight seeing tomorrow!

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