cambodia, country # 5!!!

after waking up early, we left chau doc (vietnam's border town) by row boat, and then slow boat, for the combodian border. there we waited well over an hour for our passeports and everything to be checked and sorted out, for our visa, for god knows what. and then it was on to a "speed boat", that wasn't really that fast, and that i lovingly baptised "inferno hell" due to the heat caused by actually being stuck inside a boat (the others were open-air). and then, a long bus ride into phnom penh, cambodia's capital.

my downfall again was to expect something else. people said that this city was lovely and considering that it used to be french, i was expecting something along the lines of a more modern vientiane. but no, it isn't so (thus far at least). we arrived in what was described as a tourist area only to find nothing aimed at tourist but ugly hotels. we got cornered by tuk tuk drivers whanting to give us a lift. they all spoke at once and it was impossible to tell what any of them were actually saying. we managed to pick one out of the crowd and got to our hotel, which is well located. but being nearly full but for one room, we are sharing a double bed for tonight in a room with no windows and yes, no balcony. but tomorrow it will all be better.

for dinner we walked to the river and found a great khmer restaurant with a lovely waiter who spoken english with a scotish accent. i had one of my most expensive meals yet, and hardly ate any of it because the portions where much to big. but it was delightful!

tomorrow we will play it by ear, walk around and hold onto our bags as if they were our lives (they usually are, but now everything is in a safe... minus cc, because those tend to get maxed out somehow, sometimes). phnom penh might be a great city but it's not a safe one! it's quite unfortunate really. but considering this is only the second city on this trip that i really have to be careful in so far, it's not so bad!