We came across this car on a toilet stop which looked like the owners were moving house - complete with two motorbikes tied to the back as well as two poor little live ducks! (look closely!)
My boat to the mainland for the bus to Cambodia was at 9am which although wasn’t early I knew it was a long bus ride so wanted to make sure I had breakfast before I went and after a few beers the night before it was a must really.
Lauren came out to wave me off which was really nice, you know it’s going to be strange them going one way and me going the other when we’ve just spent the last week together. Depending on both our schedules though we may bump into each other again in Vietnam – oh the greatness of Facebook!
So this morning I’m off to Cambodia on a VIP bus, with toilet apparently (!) and a whole load of other westerners. The border from Si Pa Don is literally 30 mins away by bus and two days ago when we went out on the boat trip to see the dolphins the mountains of Cambodia was right there on the other side of the river, I wonder if there’s another way to cross the border by boat or something for a good price!
Border crossings are renowned for their ingenuity in managing to make westerners part with as much of their money as they can and this border was no exception.
We pulled up at the border where it looks like they’re building a brand new massive building right in the middle of the road which I can only assume is some kind of drive through border crossing. Today though the building is months away from completion and instead the border buildings are barely shacks on the side of the road with a couple of hundred meters of no-mans land in-between the two countries and this is how it all went.........
First we had to be stamped out of Laos and pay $1, then walk through no-mans land and fill out a quarantine form and have our temperature taken and pay $1, then another shack for the visa for $23 and then another shack to be stamped into Cambodia ................. oh and pay$1. It was laughable everyone wanted their share and there really wasn’t any shame in it at all on their behalf, some of the westerners on the bus were really angry about all the $1 charges, demanding a receipt and saying it was wrong and how they weren’t allowed to ask for extra money but that really wasn’t going to get them anywhere. It may not be right or correct but there’s not a single thing anyone can do about it, the option is pay up or stay in Laos!!
After the border crossing there was another 4 hours to Kratie where I was headed. I got there around 3.30pm and after finding a place to stay on the river front headed into the town to have a look around and I can honestly say this place is nasty! The rubbish is about 4 inches deep throughout the entire market area and piles of more rubbish were just in the middle of the road that people were walking and driving around and it was much busier than Laos! It was a stark contrast to where I had just been which was lovely and clean and very very quiet. So, on that note I decided to head out as soon as possible but first I needed to decide where.
Last night over dinner the three of us were talking about the food in SE Asia saying that although generally it was very good we were all craving a pizza. So the first place I came across in Kratie served pizza so that was it a done deal and really I should have known better shouldn’t I? It took a good 45 mins to arrive and when it did it was potentially the worst pizza I think I’ve ever had and even as I was eating it I had this nasty feeling it was going to come back to haunt me later! L
The worst thing about the experience was that I actually went back there a few hours later for a beer and some noodles (as there was no-where else really) and it was equally as bad, I’m kinda hoping the beer might have neutralised anything bad!
Tomorrow Kompong Cham.
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