Day 5, Hello Phnom Penh

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Note: In case you couldn't tell our writing styles apart, Martin and I have been switching off days. I wrote days 1 and 3, he wrote 2 and 4...and so on. We're equal opportunity. 😊

Today was another early day...but this time to board a bus rather than go see more temples. It was time to leave Siem Reap...a place we fell in love with completely in only 4 days and a place we definitely want to come back to at some point in our lives. We woke up and headed back over to Two Dragons to have breakfast and wait for our bus to pick us up. We enjoyed a tomato/onion/cheese omelette, potatoes, toast w/jam, bacon (for Martin of course) and two delicious iced Vietnamese coffees. Mmm. A shuttle bus came around 7:15 to pick us up, already filled with the rest of the passengers and we took off for the bus 'station'- really just an area with a bunch of buses. We bought a baguette, put our luggage beneath the bus and sat back for the next six hours. It was a fairly comfortable ride, and we both slept on and off. The bus made one stop for snacks and got to Phnom Penh just around 2pm.

As promised, there was a tuk tuk driver waiting for us with a sign that read "Mr. Martin". Oh how buying beers for your tuk tuk driver in Siem Reap pays off when you get to Phonm Penh! It was pretty great. He took us on about a ten minute ride to our hostel, The Boddhi Tree Umma (www.boddhitree.com). It's farther out from the city center, directly across the street from the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, which we plan to visit tomorrow.

We got a room for about $15USD/night that has a king-sized bed, fan and shared bathroom. We have free wifi and the restaurant downstairs serves some amazing food- we ate lunch here and enjoyed foccaccia sandwiches. They also are taking care of our Vietnam visas for us- we should get them back tomorrow. Perfect!

We pretty much spent the day relaxing in the hostel, as it was pouring rain outside and by the time we ate it was too late to really venture out to any museums. We did go to dinner at a place called "Friends" the restaurant, run by Friends International (www.friends-international.org), a place that employs former street kids. It was phenomenal food and another great experience. Now it's 11pm and we are off to bed...going to get up early tomorrow to explore the city!

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Photos

Bus Ride
The bus ride was long, but we got seats in the very front. A bit more leg room for Martin.

Tuk Tuk
We made it! Martin arranged a friend of our driver in Siem Reap to pick us up at the bus station in Phnom Penh.

Boddhi Tree
We stayed at the Boddhi Tree Guesthouse, Umma location. Such a cute room.

Room
It felt a bit like we were in a cabin.

Friends
We ate at FRIENDS. Such an amazing restaurant, supporting a great cause.