Wednesday, January 13, 2010

251km Across Cambodia

The bus was punctual, to my bestfriend's surprise. From Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, they told her to be at the bus stop by 6am and that the bus will arrive anytime between 6-7am!!

We began our journey to Sihanoukville. Suddenly we heard a loud explosion! Our bus was tilting to the right, the driver drove slowly for what seemed like forever before stopping

What's up with the buses in the trips i go to in 2009?

I've experienced bus problems 2 out of 3 of my trips (the bus in Bali broke down). Needless to say i was upset with the delay. Was stressed over my exam the following week, it felt like i was wasting time on the bus. And bestfriend felt like she was responsible for my happiness on the trip =(

Even my pictures from the window of the bus sucked, so blurry. We bought the earlier bus ticket so that we would arrive in Sihanoukville before dark but with the delay, that's not gonna happen. I was worried shit about looking for a place to stay. Yeah, we have NOT got it booked

Earlier at the Phnom Penh bus station, the tuttut driver that we hired the day before was there and he helped arrange for his friend in Sihanoukville to pick us up upon arrival. I was worried that with the delay of over 2 hours, he wouldnt be there anymore when we arrived.

To our surprise (and relief), when we pulled over in Sihanoukville bus station, there was a tuttut driver with this sign!

Sukun Kanya (pronounced Kanye, like Kanye West, the dude that humiliated Taylor Swift in the MTV VMA in 2009).

Apparently, the locals have been telling my bestfriend that she looks like a Cambodian singer, Sukun Kanya and so whenever people asks her whats her name, she'd say Sukun Kanya just for fun

This bus provider, Paramount, was actually quite good, u actually need to keep the tag of the baggages to collect ur bags!

Safer that way. A lil time consuming though. But to avoid theft, i'm okayyy. We asked out tuttut driver to recommend a guesthouse.

Sihanoukville town by nightfall, just streaks of light in front of Sa, our driver, captured on my camera.

He brought us to Lucky Bungalows and waited for us, just in case we didnt like the place, he could bring us elsewhere

We'll take it! Hahaha

We looked for the remote control for the tv and my bestfriend thought aloud "Wow, they even provided us with mosquito coil!!!"

A closer look revealed that those aren't mosquito repellent, the packaged strip contains CONDOMS! Hahahaha

Every night i send my parents and E an sms with information of the guesthouse i'm in and what city in Cambodia. Just for safety's sake.

Took our much needed refreshing baths (this is the only night we had hot water!) and then headed out for seafood dinner!

The row of shops a block away from our guesthouse.

Dinner time crowd in Sihanoukville consists of only whites, no Asian tourists. The Asians: Malaysians, Sporeans, China Chinese, Japanese, Koreans normally take tours and don't head to places like this. Somehow that made this trip feel so adventurous and unique to me

Chose a restaurant that's full of people, thats part of my 'to get good clean food' theory. And yes our food was good but as usual no pix, anti food blog here =P

We camwhored with my 5 picture self timer function

Yes, i was wearing the same thing on Night 2 as i did on Night 1. Urrgggg, horrible! If only i could turn back time and put on something else! Vain! Hahah

Oh well, dressing aside, it was good fun. See, all smiles and laughter! Great filling dinner, we stayed to chat till the crowd thinned down. We felt like everything just fell into place =D

What else can u get in Cambodia:

Estatic Pizza! Hahaha.

I wonder what toppings they have... tomatoes, basil, cheese... weed?

8 comments:

Jacqueline said...

Hahahah!!! 1st time seeing hotel giving out condoms... Not 1 but 3! LOL!

Sue Lin said...

Hahaha, yeah, so considerate of them right?! Hahaha

Isya said...

eh, so cute the guy with the sign thingy. and may you have better luck with buses in 2010.

i would have thought it was mosquito coil as well! haha. i remember last time, when my uncle drove his bus up to thailand, we received like tonnes of condoms at the immigration. well, no glove, no love :)

Sue Lin said...

Hahhaah, yeah! It was such a relief seeing him with the sign! The two of us waved like idiots and laughed like mad!

Thanks, really hope for better buses in 2010! Haha

Ur uncle has a BUS? When my family n i drove to Hatyai they never gave us any condoms!

dawn said...

cool...girlie trip =)

the guy look so charming :)

Sue Lin said...

It was really fun Dawn! =) And yeah, our tuttut driver was really nice!

Isya said...

i just re-read it, he really waited for 2 hours????? wow!!!

yeah, my uncle used to drive a bus sekolah but he sold it off dy. and the condoms thing was like back when i was in high school. maybe they realized it costs too much to distribute free condoms? i dunnooo...

Sue Lin said...

Yeah man, he did! We were so reliefed! Its not Australia, its not Malaysia, they are probably used to these kind of delays?

Thats really long ago when we were in high school. I just helped out in an audit client near my school over the past 2 days...