We took a bus in the morning to the capital city, Phnom Penh. Once we found a guest house, we went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It was a school that was turned into a prison.
I can't really describe the feeling you get from this place. I haven't been to any concentration camps in Europe but I'd imagine it's similar.
I didn't want to stay long in Phnom Penh. Something about the city made me vaguely uncomfortable.
The next morning we visited the royal palace and then we caught a bus in the afternoon to Sihanoukville, on the SW coast.
We stayed in a really nice guest house again, this time only $13/night. The town is pretty small, and reminded me a little bit of home.
Cambodia, or Sebastian?
Day Six: We went on a snorkeling trip in the morning. We were the only Americans on the boat, everyone else was from all over the place--Australia, Canada, Germany, etc. It was one of the few days I didn't bring my camera.
Pro: we had to wade waist-deep into the ocean to get on the boat, and the camera surely would have been destroyed in the process.
Con: you don't get to see the HILARIOUS German couple for yourselves.
Allow me to give you a mental picture of the woman: stick thin, very tan, bandanna on her head, huge white sunglasses, hot pink fishnet long-sleeve top with her bikini top underneath, 'shorts' which only covered half of her ass (we couldn't determine if they were part of her bathing suit, or her cover ups.... turns out, they were generous, compared to her bathing suit bottoms), a beer in one hand and a cigarette holder + ultra thin cigarette in the other. This was at 9:00 in the morning.
Anyway, we went snorkeling for a bit (which was pretty disappointing compared to our last adventure in Koh Phi Phi) around some of the islands, and then we had lunch on Bamboo Island. Somehow our guides managed to bring salad, fish, pineapple, bananas, cokes, and water bottles, as well as a full set of real plates, forks, and knives with us on that boat. I was thoroughly impressed, especially because the fish was fresh AND delicious. At this point we all had a little siesta on the island, during which I got thoroughly sunburnt, but only on one side. Oops.
We made it back to the hostel late in the afternoon.
Day Seven: S'more Snookville
We didn't feel like packing our bags again so we just stayed another day, wandering around town.
Day Eight: Onward! to Koh Chang
We had quite a bit of time left in our trip, so Matt suggested we try snorkeling on Koh Chang, Thailand. Our guest house offered bus/ferry tickets for $26 that would take us all the way there, so we decided to go for it. We booked a hostel for the night we arrived at the South end of the island, and hopped on the bus that morning. (Cue dramatic, foreboding music.)
After about 4 hours we arrived at a bridge that wasn't finished and the bus driver started unloading everyone's bags. We followed the crowd to this "pier" where we were to be ferried across the river to another waiting bus.
Cross your fingers.
We made it across, and had to wait for everyone else to get on the bus. Matt paid 500 riel to pee "between some boards" in the meantime. lol.
Finally, we were off, squished in the back seat next to some big, sweaty Cambodian guys. The bus was also showing, inexplicably, WWF wrestling matches in English. About an hour later, we arrived at yet another bridge. This time they let us walk across with our bags. How generous!
I hauled ass so fast over that bridge to make sure we got good seats for the rest of the trip. We finally made it to the border after that, where we got unloaded again. We went first through the Cambodian exit, then had to wait in line to cross into Thailand. The sun was blistering, but it was still less awful than the original border crossing in Poipet. We got shuffled into a minivan with some European families and headed on our way to Trat, then to the ferry at Lam Ngop. Now I understand why people pay so much more to fly. Ten hours from when we left Cambodia, we arrived at the ferry pier.
