cambodia

We set off on our 7 hour journey to Cambodia armed with our last lot of bakery produce. The journey wasn't too bad; it was a fancier bus than we've previously travelled on with a tv playing strange Asian karaoke and free snacks. I was sat next to a Cambodian girl who offered me her food- can't imagine that ever happening in England!

We stopped off a few hours in for some lunch. Based on my rather beige and carb based diet I decided to try some traditional food, and ordered a green curry which I thought was vegetable. On closer inspection I discovered it was in fact packed with meat, like warm and tasted like I was sucking on the carcuss of a goat. I'm not a fussy eater, but combined with the risk of food poisoning I decided to give it a miss and consume something safe and beige.

We got our visas easily and quickly passed through the border; much less eventful than when we got to Vietnam and had to walk for ages with no idea where we were going.

We arrived in Phnom Penh around 3.30 and it was sooo hot. A tuk tuk driver practically begged us to use him but with no hostel booked we used some wifi and spent 15 minutes or so on hostelbookers tracking one down which our tuk tuk driver took us to for $1 each. We arrived at our hostel to a beautiful sight; the same bakery as the one in To Chi Minh opposite. We went in and arranged for a triple room for $7 each per night. It seemed too good to be true, and kind of is. A massive room with 3 double beds, a tv, air conditioning and a fan and a plug by each bed. However a worrying number of insects have made their way out from under the beds (it's it's no from me) and the bathroom is somewhat temperamental; the knob that turns on the shower is broken and takes several minutes and complex attempted mechanic work for us to get it to turn on. But hey, for $7 it's still a bargain; it's a good location with nice, (definitely stoned) staff.

We spent a while settling in, showering etc and then set off for some food. We walked through a market for locals; seeing a lot of seafood out in the open, chickens still alive with their legs broken etc was pretty weird. We found a nice but pricey restaurant overlooking the river, but generally it is more expensive here. We all opted for spaghetti with vegetables; who thought we'd get to a stage where a wanted healthy food, and then headed to an ATM. Withdrawing money incurs  a $4 charge which is annoying, and also ATMs dispense American dollars here; I found this out after attempting to withdraw $100000, thank god it declined!

We headed back to the hostel after stopping at a mini mart and as usual were in bed by 10. Craaazy

Laura x