Vietnam & Cambodia : Phnom Penh (Pt2)

The ride

Had our breakfast at the guest-house and waited for the taxi driver to pick us up. Finally the person showed up, and we were ushered into a van with nine others travelers. It was a 5 minutes drive from the pick up point to the Pham Ngu Lao bus station. We were asked to show our tickets, which I remember we have none. Luckily I kept the guest-house receipt with me, which have our seat number in it. Its a nice AC comfy bus with toilet & a huge LCD screen. Me & my friend got a seat beside the middle door, we had plenty extra legrooms for stretching, what else could we asked for more. Most of the passengers were foreigners. We made a few more stops before leaving Saigon city and heads on to Phnom Penh enduring a seven hour journey. The road has been paved, as what being told by my friend. We were provided with bottled drinks on board while watching "The Dark Knight".

After almost two hours on the bus, we arrived at the Vietnam - Cambodia border checkpoint via National Highway 1.Upon arriving at Moc Bai (Vietnam), the staff collected our passport and he helped us fill in the form (though their Romanian writing is a bit belit2 laa). I forgive them for writing my dad's name as first name and my name as last name. The immigration office will call your name, collect your passport & walk through to the no man's island area. Malaysian does not need visa into Cambodia, so its kinda like fast lane. Get back on the bus and make another stop two minutes later, in Bavet Cambodia). This time we had our passport and the process went smoothly.

Just after the border, we drove by few casinos! Then the bus stop for 20 minutes break. We had a very limited choices of food (though there are nasi campur & such), so we ended up buying Oreo & Pringles. After this point, I fell asleep on the bus until the bus stopped at the Mekong river crossing. The road suddenly gets bad on the other side due to the roadworks. It was a slow & bumpy ride for quite awhile.

Arrival

In Phnom Penh, they dont have a desginated bus station (maybe most of them stopped somewhere near the old stadium area). Reached Phnom Penh at about 4pm, hire a tuk-tuk for USD4. He drove us to Paramount Angkor station as requested. Bought a bus ticket to Siem Reap for the next day, departing at 1345hours. Next destination is the Blue Tongue Hotel (the only hotel we stayed during this trip). Check into room 204, freshen up & get ready for dinner time.

It was only 1830 when we walked out to get dinner, and its getting darker. Walked towards the riverfront area pass by a dodgy area - or was it because its dark and everything looks dodgy? Though it's a bit scary walking in an unkown place. Found a perfect table at Anjali's restaurant and they ordered Khmer Amok & me a tuna pasta (yes, I declared myself as an Italian for one night). Beside us sits the same family we met on the bus earlier. They are French, but lives in Vietnam & having a nice family holiday in Phnom Penh. Kids of Cambodia were selling books along the street. Surprisingly these kids can verse very well in english. After a nice dinner, we walked towards Royal Palace. Hawkers are selling all kinds of fried/grilled exotic foods (eg: grasshopper/frogs/baby snakes/bugs). Though its dodgy, we manage to walked safely back to our hotel without hiring a tuk-tuk.

Killing Fields & S-21 Prison

First place to go is the Cheung Ek Killing Fields which located about 15KM from town early in the morning. Entrance fee is only USD2 instead of USD3 as stated on the ticket. We start of with the Khmer Rouge history - Pol Pot himself. We took a walk around the area, visiting the mass graves (few still havent been explore) and the 17-tier memorial where the remaining are being kept. The atmosphere was unsettling, but somehow it remains very peaceful. The Khmer Rouge not only kills adults & children, they also killed babies by smashing them against one of the tree in the area. At 0930hours, we walked back to the 1st building for Killing Fields movie which lasted about 15minutes.

Next stop is the Toul Sleng Prison or known as S-21 Prison. The prison is located in the town area. The Prison was once a school, all the rooms in the building was used to capture and tortured the prisoners before they are being sent to Cheung Ek Killing Fields for execution. Each room have the most horrific pictures as evidence of the cruelty performed by the Khmer Rouge. I had a terrible emotional roller coaster when I enter Building B. Photos of thousands of victims where displayed (from babies to an elderly). We can't stay long as we need to rush back to the hotel and get on the 1.45pm bus to Siem Reap. The tuk-tuk send & waited for us to had lunch and sent us to the Paramount Angkor bus station.

Budget :

USD45 hotel per room per night with breakfast included (3-bed room)

USD2 Cheung Ek Killing Fields entrance fee

USD2 S-21 Prison entrance fee

USD25 per tuk tuk (to Killing Fields, S-21, Royal Palace, hotel & bus station)

USD10 bus fare from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

Part 1 : Saigon
Part 3 : Siem Reap