Kampong Cham to Kratie

Wednesday, 10 March

I was woken up at 05H45 by the Muslim call to prayer and then the group exercise music started on the Promenade at about 06H15. Had my cup of coffee and cigarette on the balcony, watching the pedestrians below and traffic along the Mekong.

Bow, the tuk tuk driver took us to the Thong Lhy bus company embarkation point at their tiny office in a very busy local trading street, lots of traffic, including horse carts and scooters, transporting market goods and produce . We waited there, sitting on plastic stools on the sand pavement for half an hour until the bus got there late at 09H45. They are not yet used to seeing tourists in this part of Cambodia and Dylan certainly attracts attention with his Jose Cuervo cowboy hat! Then it was a bit of a scramble to get on and we found that the driver was not loading luggage in the luggage hold, but that we had to take the backpacks inside the bus. We were amazed to find that the entire length of the floor was already taken up by boxes and bags of fresh produce and luggage and had no alternative but to pack the backpacks on top of the other bags and boxes! Then we had to walk over everything and step into our seats and sit down. To say it was crammed would be an understatement! Dylan was fuming when he sat down, as a woman had held her baby over the steps of the bus while he was trying to climb up and it peed over his foot (not wearing a nappy). At the halfway stop he got off to wash it.

Dylan and I were seated next to each other, 4 rows from the back and Colin behind us. The aircon only blew a bit of cooler air when the bus was stationery, which was not often. I sat next to the window and wrote my journal until my handwriting was so bad, I knew I wouldn't be able to read it. Then I wateched the passing scenery. The bus was really motoring on the very bumpy road, hotting each time it overtook other traffic. Dylan and I were sitting over the rear wheel arches and the floor of the bus flexed every time th ebus went over a bump. The sun started shining through the window and I started getting hot, so I leaned over the seat in front of me to try and pull a curtain in our direction, as all the curtains were bunched up at the front windows. The man sitting two rows in front of, turned around and grabbed the curtain and pulled it back and then tied it to the curtain in front of him. I was furious as that curtain belonged at our window, but was so surprised at his unco-operative behaviour that I didn't get into a scrap with him, as I should have done. Dylan said to let it go and offered to swap seats with me. He nodded off to sleep and woke up half an hour later, when a sudden lurch of the bus moved the floor under his right leg and threw his leg up into the air. With the sudden movement he hurt his knee and had to straighten it over my lap and rest it on the backpack stacked in the passage. Just when he thought he couldn't take the pain anymore, we got to Kratie. As we grabbed the backpacks and moved down the passage, I pointedly looked at the rude Cambodian curtain guy and told him he was a miserable asshole and it was unfortunate I couldn't tell him in his language!

We were offloaded in the River Rd at 13H30 and Colin had decided we should stay at the Star Guesthouse, which is the cheapest and was nearby. A tout wanted to take us to his guesthouse and Dylan had to shout at him to make him go away. We started walking back to 10th St, with Dylan lumping with the two backpacks again. We passed the Santepheap Guesthouse, which we tried, but they were full. We carried on walking in the 35 deg C heat until 10th St and found the Star guesthouse easily. I went up to check the rooms ($6 double) but the rooms and passage were dark and the mattresses didn't look comfortable, so I said we should check out some others.

I went to check the Heng Heng Hotel first and was immediately taken with their neat entrance, desk and wide staircase with huge wooden banister. The double ceiling fan rooms were $7 each and even though the mattresses were quite hard (I've since discovered they're made of latex, not foam), the rooms were very clean and the fans very effective (4 settings). So we decided to stay there. Colin and Dylan shared a room and I had one to myself. We all showered and washed clothes. Colin couldn't get his white T-shirt clean (black at the back from the seat on the bus). Dylan had to wash his swimming trunks as the Tabard cream had leaked onto them. I also had to wash out the sticky peppermints in my daypack which had become wet and started dissolving. We walked to the Star restaurant for lunch at 15H00 and all had spring rolls filled with mined pork and served with small bowls of sweet sauce with a touch of chilli and garlic, very nice. Chatted to Colin, an Australian and Els from Gent in Belguim. Colin had been to Banlung and said it was pleasant, not much to do and the road is bumpy. He had taken a local bus. We walked around the market area a bit and took photos down at the river. It's so hot in the sun, I'm always trying to find any shade possible. Went back to Heng Heng and my camera started warning me that I only had a few frame numbers left, so I thought the memory stick was getting full. I deleted a few bad photos and couldn't understand why I still got the warning. Colin figured out that it was because the camera had not been configured correctly in the shop and the photo numbers had started at 900 or so. The only thing to do was to take all the photos off the memory stick and reconfigure the numbers. My 512 MB flash drive only had about 350 MB available, so I would have to write to a DVD. There was only one shop selling DVD's and providing the service to write to them for $4, but the owner would only be back later. Went to the U-Hong restaurant for supper and to do Internet. Had a Khmer chicken curry and rice, which was so delicious, for $3. I think Colin and Dylan each had noodle soup again. Burned the photos from the camera to the DVD and sorted out the camera. Went back to the guesthouse at about 22H30.