Why did I ask that? Read on to find out...
8am: Today is the day we leave Laos for Cambodia. Our VIP bus was scheduled to leave at this time, but it wasn't until 9am that we got to leave Siphandon in Laos.
10.30am: The bus arrives at Dom Kralor border crossing to Cambodia. This is truly the smallest custom I've ever seen. From my research, I knew that we had to pay US$1-2 for "processing fees" (aka bribes) at both sides of the border. Kh prepares four US$1 bills. The British lady in front of us takes out a US$5 bill and we think about how silly she is. To our amusement, she receives US$4 in change from the customs officer.
Border crossing at Dom Kralor
11.40am: After an hour long delay, the bus finally leaves. More people got on the bus. A few angmohs even had "aisle seats", and I mean that literally. They had to sit in the aisle. One angmoh took out his camera and said,"Everybody say VIP!" Ah, what a lovely day.
1.30pm: The bus stops again. 2 angmohs got down to puke, and some men-and women- went to pee in the bushes. One of the angmohs who puked happens to be sitting next to us.
3.30pm: The bus stops at Kratie. The 2 angmohs who puked couldn't take it anymore and decided to rest there for the day. The rest of us had a half hour break for lunch and loo.
4.15pm: Back on the bus, a Cambodian woman takes over the seat which the angmoh had left. She had an elbow on the armrest with her head resting on her palm, and had her two large eyes fixated at me. I was feeling extremely uncomfortable with the extra attention. I looked at her and she smiled at me. That could've been a nice gesture if it wasn't so freakish.
4.30pm: A guy from the bus company apologises for the tardiness. He claims that the VIP bus had broken down, hence our lousy a/c bus. I think they were trying to make up for the long delays by taking a short cut, because we soon found ourselves on a heavily potholed road. I had a can of Yeo's grass jelly drink in one hand and it was 3/4 full. The bus was rocking so badly that I spilled some of the drink on myself. I wasn't sure if I was going to be sick, so I took an anti-motion sickness pill just in case. The medication proved effective because I was starting to enjoy the rocky ride.
5pm: The bus stops again in the middle of the road, in the middle of nowhere. Curious, I draw the curtains and see the bus driver peeing in the bushes. Several minutes later, he lugged something up onto the aisle. It was the bus bumper! Apparently it fell off from all the rocking.
6pm: The Cambodian woman next to the one who was staring at me starts puking into a plastic bag. Seems like we have lots of luck sitting with people who puke. If it weren't bad enough, she also started spitting on the floor. The bus stops at Kompong Cham and a couple of people got down. The women quickly took their seats and left their puke bag and spit behind.
7pm: The bus stops somewhere for dinner. I ordered a bowl of chicken noodles and had plenty of extra ingredients- in the form of large black ants. I complained to the waitress and she brought my noodles back to help take the ants out. I'm guessing she didn't do much because there were still many of them in there. I spent the rest of our dinner time inspecting my dinner, taking the ants out one by one-and sometimes in clumps.
9.30pm: The bus finally reaches Phnom Penh, 3 hours behind schedule.
Welcome to Cambodia!
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