bus.ride!

My original bus ticket from siem reap to phnom penh was for friday morning at 9:30. Since i was heading down a day late (and therefore missing a day in phnom penh), i figured i should take the 7:30am bus on saturday to make the most of my time in phnom penh. The guys at the guesthouse (where i booked and then changed my ticket) told me i'd be picked up at the guesthouse. What they didn't tell me was that i would be picked up at 7am. At 7am, i had just woken up, and was packing my stuff before heading down to breakfast. At 7:20, i went back to the room, used the bathroom, and brought my stuff down to check out. At 7:25, i gave them my key, and asked where i should wait. At 7:26, i was in a tuk tuk flying to the bus station, barely making the express bus to phnom penh.
The $10, six hour trip was more comfortable than i'd pictured. True, i'd splurged on first class which bought me air conditioning and a bathroom, but being a third world country, i'd anticipated much worse. It was rather bumpy at times, and i was awoken from my nap as my head bounced off the seat. It wasn't until we were 20 minutes away from phnom penh that the real action started. The air conditioning shut off, and the bus stopped. It became sweltering in about 30 seconds. After a few minutes, everyone got off and stood on the side of the road (which was shady, thank goodness). There was some mechanical problem, and we all watched as the literally pried a door off of the bus (must have been jammed). After 30 minutes, it was up and running, and we made it to phnom penh with a good story to tell.