March 3, Cambodia to Vietnam

Bus ride in Cambodia or Vietnam coming your way? Make sure you take a jacket [AC is always blasting full power], pack some hefty earplugs [loud karaoke can be more damaging to your ears than constant defensive honking of the bus driver] and coat yourself with mosquito repellent [those suckers infest even the coldest buses]. It also pays off to figure out which side will be in the sun and sit on the opposite one, unless you’d like to sizzle against window. All in all though, buses here are really comfortable, run on time, are faster than trains and come with a budget price tag. Taking them is also a great excuse to stuff your face with all the exotic junk food you’ve been daring yourself to try, like dried anchovies with sesame seeds, sheets of algae, coconut paste covered peanuts, and One One rice crackers so good they had to name them twice. 

6 hour journey from Phnom Penh to Saigon. 

This standard bus was a decked out luxury one, big comfortable reclining seats and ample leg room. 

huge vehicle ferry on the way to the border crossing

Just in case you accidentally sit on your pair of shades...  

everything from food to fashion for sale, no need to get off the bus.

All tourist essentials in Cambodia are priced in dollars. Surprisingly it’s also the currency given at ATMs. Typically when paying in dollars, small change is given in Cambodian riels, bigger in both dollars and riels.  In a way it offers convenience, because you’re not forced to carry bags of cash around, but it also means you’re getting overcharged on anything from bottled water to transportation and hotels. Whenever possible, it’s always best to get quoted and pay in local currency.  Here's a small fortune we're left with at the Vietnamese border:11,400 Riel = $2.50. 

To earn a few thousand riels and support their families, ‘professional’ bomb hunters in Cambodia collect unexploded ordnance in rural areas for scrap metal, mostly in the northwest region. Collectively, it turns them better profit than active service in the army. Once dug out and hauled out of deep wells, bombs are cut by hand or dismembered by removing the screws, bringing on average 400kg of metal per one meter long bomb. Typically, men get paid 9 cents per hour, selling 100 kg for $21.00. As blasts from detonators are more powerful than from land mines, catastrophic injuries from unsuccessful 'huntings' are pretty common - a devastating face of poverty driven sacrifice.

Statistically 15% of air dropped explosives never detonate…just imagine how many have been dropped over Cambodia if to this day people are hard at work collecting duds. 

Cambodia was really good to us and we couldn't help but to leave a piece of our heart there.