The Road to the Capital

I had until 12:30 until my bus to Phnom Penh so I went back to the tourist market and saw more crap I couldn’t afford. On the way back I stopped by my friendly sugar cane vendor. So far, I’ve gotten sugar cane juice from him ever day for 3 days in a row. There’s always a flock of what I thought were bees that always hover around him. He picked one up to show me there’s no stinger, so I’m not sure what it is. What I do know is that all the insects here are slow and easy o grab.

This must have been the first time I got juice during the day because as he was feeding the pulp into the machine a slow moving fly got caught up in. Then another on the next feed. Oh well, I’ll call it a bug juice protein boost. Sugar cane juice is too delicious to even consider throwing away. Since I was eating bugs anyway I might as well go all out and eat some fried crickets. There are three different types, I tried them all. To my surprise, it was delicious.

I got on the back of a moto with all my luggage and down a treacherous road. Pot holes imply holes the size of pots, so let’s call these truck holes, filled with muddy water.

So far I’ve been recognized every day from by bus adventure. At the bus station, which was more of a dirt parking lot, I ws asked, “how was Cambodian prison?” The bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh is a very different experience. First of all it’s airconditioned. The distance is the same but it’s only $10. They start off by passing out moist towelets then a croissant and savory pastry and a bottle of water. It’s cool seeing the countryside this way. You seethe thatched roofed houses and people working in the fields. The alternative was by boat, which takes less time but all you see is water the whole way down, everyone suggested against it.

Even though we broke down on the side of the road for a couple hours while the bus went back to get the wheel fixed the whole thing was quite pleasant. I met a lot of people on he bus.