Phnom Penh

I booked a bus to Phnom Penh from the sunny deck by the river.  Not a bus exactly, but a minivan which drove around the town of Kampot in a random fashion, eventually picking up a French couple, driving a short distance and stopping.  The driver got out and disappeared into a, I don't know, laundry?

I spoke to the French couple.  "Are you going to Vietnam?" they asked, in the manner of people who knew the answer but were breaking ice.

"No, Phnom Penh, actually," I said, smashing the ice into confusing shards.  We all looked worried and consulted maps in case it was possible that the bus would go to both places.  It didn't look feasible and now the driver had vanished.

The solution came in the form of another bus with Vietnam on the front, and soon I was alone in the minivan.  I got out.

Some time elapsed with me sitting on a cement-covered plastic chair amid chatting Cambodians and then a girl arrived from (I later discovered) Israel.  She was given a slightly cleaner chair.

Eventually a car arrived and both me and the Israeli girl wondered why she was being directed to it and my bag was being hauled out of the minivan.  A mere 20 minutes of discussion showed that the minivan wouldn't go to Phnom Penh because it was New Year, and so we would go by car with several other people.  Too many other people for a car that size but hey, it was New Year.  We were apparently lucky we'd get there at all.

In the city we shared a Tuk-Tuk to the river and from there I scouted out a hotel.  My stay included an evening with an Australian sex tourist and a day visiting the killing fields.

Why did I just gloss over those two contrasting but fascinating events?  Because I have decided to start a blog on wordpress, which seems to be easier than doing it here.  I'm going to shift over to that blog, but during the transition period, I'll write more on there and less on here.  If you want to read more about the killing fields (and life according to Bruce the Australian Sex Tourist), head on over to:

https://peterjameslamb.wordpress.com/

Phnom Penh was a good city, actually.  What little I saw of it.  And then I caught a very bumpy plane ride to Kuala Lumpur, where I shall remain until I fly back to London.  This trip is coming to an end.