We took ‘planes, trains, and automobiles’ to a new level on this trip. It was more like planes, busses, boats, and tuk tuks… Today was the day we would finally be getting to Cambodia! We transferred from our ‘hotel boat’ to the boat we were on for the Mekong Delta ‘cruise’ to take us to Phnom Penh to get our visa. It went a little something like this — get off the boat, walk into the forest, find a shack. Some dude in a military uniform took my $22 and and in exchange gave me a blank visa to write my information in and stick it in my passport. I don’t know if this is normal or not, but it is now!

We exchanged our money again, which was another rip off, but there aren’t really any other options… in the future **note to travelers** just take stripper cash to this part of the world. Singles will take you far and way easier than trying to exchange for local currency. You will end up with large bills from the ATM that nobody can give you change for.

We then walked through ‘customs’ which was about as official as the visa office. They asked you if you were traveling with anything you aren’t supposed to, didn’t even listen to your answer as they ushered you through the line. They gave you a slip of paper saying that if anything happens to you ‘here’s a voucher for the hospital’. We then had another long boat ride. Leslie and I decided to get some sun laying on the metal roof of the boat… with no sunscreen….It had to be at least 100 degrees out. We finally made it into the city of Phenom Penh and got on the bus for the 6 hour ride to Siem Riep. The busses up to this point were really comfortable – this one was not. I was sunburnt so bad I was both sweating and shivering.

Everyone is honking, all the time. Everyone. Always. It’s a safety measure with all the motorbikes on the road. The road was all dirt and bumpy – it was going to be a long ride. I was amused by everything I saw on the ride though. Boys riding motorcycles with a cow pulling behind him on a leash. These cows, by the way, were the skinniest cows I’ve ever seen. They were everywhere, running around like dogs. Literally — running… on the side of the road darting in and out of the vehicles. Could you imagine being a motorcyclist seeing a cow dart infront of you?! Also – just like we have the ‘caution deer’ signs at home, they have them but with cows on it!

There were so many cows, and chickens, children, babies, motos. Women rode on the back of motos on the highway holding a baby in their arms. I guess Brittany Spears had it right haha

The bus had the AC cranked so it was so cold everyone was shivering. It smelled bad from the driver slamming the breaks every few seconds, and the driver was blasting Cambodian karaoke. We finally made it to our hostel after dark. We upgraded to the best room they had because we wanted air conditioning. We paid $7 total. My level of sunburnt was- incredible. I was fuchsia…