Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Saturday, May 10, 08
Breakfast is along a side street - toast, bacon and coffee. Siem Reap does not exist except for tourism. Prices are accordingly. Looking for some sun block the prices are inflated, $12-25. I'll wait for Phnom Penh. At the restaurant, we are served by a young man who apologizes for serving us in a towel wrapped around his waist. His pants, apparently, are still drying. No complaints from us.
The heat is intensifying. To stand in the sun is to continue drenched in sweat. Movement is some degree of air movement. We walk the town. Checking some upper end hotels we find that $200-300/night rooms do exist.
At 12:00, we are aboard our Phnom Penh ride which is leaving from a market. The bus has soft seats, Air Con, and a soap opera blaring on the TV up front.
Cambodia appears to be quite flat through this whole section of the country. We are driving parallel with Tonle Sap Lake. The dry season is still here so the rice paddies are fallow. Gas is $4.80/gallon.
1 1/2 hours into the drive we stop for food. This appears to be the same throughout SE Asia. The bus transports have deals with local eateries which give them a commission. For the first time in SE Asia, I am seeing horses being used to pull carts.
Rain begins to fill along the road. No wonder most of the houses are built on stilts. A man is bathing in the rain. A woman collect rain water. Boys run about in fun. Lightning and thunder all around. Motorbikes and regular bikes are being driven with faces bent low. If this continues the area will flood quickly. We have slowed by half. School girls are riding 2 and 3 to a motorbike braving the downpour. Lightning and thunder. The soap opera continues. 2 small children, a boy 3 and a girl 5, have been put on the bus and are wards of the bus crew. They are moved to the front where they can be watched more closely. Cows wander wherever they wish.
Water pours off the side windows. The AC, which previously had been struggling, now is too cold. Lightning/thunder.
Rain lessens and is gone as fast is it comes. Soap opera continues. I am thinking through the possibility of needing to walk in the rain once we arrive. Hopefully, not!
Across from me as three year old boy with with his parents. He is wrist deep into a mango.
Brick factories are a common sight. Kilns are heated with wood. These trucks are a constant sight stacked high above the cab. Rain again, then lessens as we again stop at a road side eatery. Here is a specialty area - crickets, large spiders, baby birds all fried for your pleasure. All, but the Westerners, jump at the chance of such delicacies. Pass! There are also the regular fruits - durian, papaya, coconuts, as well as rice an veggies. We are 72 km from Phnom Penh.
As we enter the outer limits of the city more brick factories appear as well as a bit of traffic jam. Vans are filled with passengers, as well as the rack. The same applies to the trucks.
Once in Phnom Penh, we de-bus in town and hire a tuk tuk to take us to our destination, Narin Guest House. $8/night for the room. That will include a towel, toilet paper, hot shower, and a large room. Cambodia is turning out to be better lodging than Thailand.
(I wish there were some way of posting my pictures. But, with dial-up, that's impossible.)