Hitting our stride

Although Y and I were really dreading our 8 hr bus ride, it turned out to not be as painful as either of us expected. When we got to the bus station at 5am we thought we were in for it b/c we sat there and watched them jam box after box of cargo into the bottom of the bus and also through the back 4 windows...and the bus was only 10 rows long. We were convinced we would be riding on boxes holding chickens, but not the case at all. Yes, the back 1/3 of the bus was so full of smuggled cargo that im sure it dragged on the ground, but luckily many of the boxes were full of coffee, so the bus pleasantly smelled like coffee the entire way. It also helped that we sat in the first row and stopped every 3 hrs to eat or take a bathroom break.

Surprisingly Cambodia was markedly different as soon as we crossed the border -- maybe it was that we were in a rural area, but we passed many more bullock carts, rice paddies, and bicycles. Of course that didn't stop our bus driver from blowing his horn at every passing animal or person. After we arrived in Phnom Phem we made arrangements for our boat ride tomorrow morning to Siem Reap and then hoofed it around to the sights. Of course that included a roof top bar for a few glasses of wine-- we were overlooking the Mekong & city, so it totally counts as sightseeing. Plus, we are on vacation after all! Another nice treat was our first motor-rickshaw ride of the trip. Ya, there's tons of smog and staring, but there's nothing like a gaudy rickshaw to take you across the city for $2...especially after a few drinks.