Today we jumped on a coach to take us out of South Vietnam and headed west across the border in to Cambodia and Phnom Penh.
Si Phong and Cong Soi had an attempt at flirting for a discount off the ticket agent, but only managed a paltry 5000 VND (15 pence) off the price. Draw your own conclusions!
With a distance of 220km, we had the luxury of travelling by coach and were able to watch the lands change around us as we moved out of Ho Chi Minh and across Cambodia. Ho Chi Minh had felt poor compared to the highly developed Kuala Lumpur, but Cambodia felt even more so. The view from the coach offered a hint of the country which we were entering as we saw farmers working their rice paddies with water buffalo rather than machinery. The guidebook spoke of the significance of religion in the lives of the Cambodian people, and temples were everywhere, even in the most humble looking townships.
Despite our asian palettes, we’re taking a little time getting accustomed to the food in Cambodia. I bought two wraps of what I thought were Lo Mei Fan (gelatinous rice wrapped in leaf) during a rest stop, only to discover that inside was a solid block of spam and chile! When we touched down in Phnom Penh and had escaped the frenzy of tuk-tuk drivers mobbing the coach for a fare, we had dreams of tucking in to the local food (whatever it was!) but given our late arrival, all that was available was old and rotten smelling fare from the street stalls. Ironically, we ended up in yet another Vietnamese restaurant as the safest option (I never thought I’d ever get sick of eating Pho, but after 4 nights in Ho Chi Minh….).
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