Laos > Cambodia - My 10 part journey

Jesus Christ. This emotional journey needs a whole post of its own. Maybe I should have taken a look at a map before deciding to head straight from Vang Vieng, Laos to Siem Reap, Cambodia without any stops. But obviously that would have been the more sensible decision.

So I said my goodbyes at 13.00 on the Monday and arrived into Siem Reap at 22.00 on the Tuesday. The journey went something a little like this...

Part 1: I took my first bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane. It took around 5 hours and was pretty lonely. Even though I've travelled before on my own and I don't have any issues with it, doing this after travelling with someone 24/7 can take some adjusting to. 

Part 2: Arrived in Vientiane to catch my next sleeper bus to Pakse. I got on expecting to see a single bed. No. It was a very small double bed to share with a stranger (see picture). I was hoping so badly I wasn't going to be lying next to a smelly man, or a weirdo. Or worse... a smelly weirdo. Luckily I was paired up with another English girl and we ended up talking for hours and telling each other our life stories, though we didn't actually find out each others names! This journey took until the early morning. 

Part 3: Got off this bus to then be herded into a mini bus, where it was just me and the two Lao drivers. For about a good hour, I was convinced I was being taken somewhere to be sold. Luckily, the mini bus then picked up a few more travellers which made me feel tons better and that I wasn't going to be sold. This mini bus then dropped us off in literally the middle of nowhere in some little bus shack. By this time, I was sleep deprived, had run out of snacks and was in need of a toilet that was something more than a piss ridden hole in the ground. 

Part 4: Got on a different mini bus to be taken across the Laos/Cambodia border. This all went smoothly though it took about 2 hours. By this time I had listened to all my iPod songs around 3 times each.

Part 5: Got on a coach the other side of the border. This bus had no air conditioning and I was sat next to the worlds smelliest man. I know I probably wasn't smelling or looking too fresh either, but genuinely he smelt a mixture of cheese, egg and wee. Fantastic. To make things more exciting, the roads we were going down weren't really roads, more like a tracks. So inevitably, everyone had to get off the bus and walk one mile to give the coach more of a chance of getting over the pot holes. I got pretty sunburnt. 

Part 6: We were then allowed back on the bus.

Part 7: Dropped off in some random town to pick up a ferry to cross a river we had just crossed on a bridge. Seriously. Also at this point I was seriously in need of some snacks/water/toilet.

Part 8: Thought by now I could potentially be on the home straight. Yeahhhhh. No. I was told that I could pay $20 and take a 'new road' which would take around 6 hours, or not pay any extra and take the old road which would be another 15 hours...At this point I'd been travelling for around 26 hours. I gave the man his money.

Part 9: Arrived at Siem Reap bus station at 21.30, which was on the outskirts of the city. Found a place to get a snickers and a bottle of water. I then got a tuk tuk to my hostel. The tuk tuk man was pretty sweet and was trying to take me on a mini tour. All I wanted to do was starfish my bed. 

Part 10: Feeling and looking fresh I arrived at 'Home Sweet Home' hostel as one tired, emotional, hungry and thirsty woman. 

33 hours...I made it! Moral of this story: never take a bus journey without looking at a map first.