Had a sleep in until 9.30!
Got packed up and then nipped out for some brunch bits for the bus journey to Phnom Penh.
We have a long day ahead of us as will be traveling for 6 hours by bus to the capital city. First bus that picked us up was a complete shed. We all double checked that it wasn't what we were using to get to Phnom Penh! Fortunately it wasn't, but I still thought I'd be surprised if this thing gets us to the end of the road, never mind the 10 minute ride to the bus station.

We arrived and saw our new bus. Looked pretty good actually. A double decker that didn't look too old. Well we set off at about 12.45 and for the first hour it was the bumpiest journey ever. It made the tuk-tuk ride on Dancing Road seem smooth! It just had really bouncy suspension - I'm trying to write this whilst on there, feel sick! And Therese is trying go read a book!
All the way along the road there's lots of shacks on stilts. Very scenic though - lots of flat land and then the odd little mountain in the distance. Still surprised to see so much litter around though!

After about 3 hours drive, we stopped off at the "motorway services" for a Happy Stop (tour leader's term for toilet). It wasn't exactly like Welcome Break - could have done with a coffee machine at the least. We just had a "happy stop" and stretched our legs. I went to the roadside just to see what was around, and this little kid, riding a bicycle bigger than him, was shouting for my attention. He was showing me how he could ride with no hands steering - funny kid. Not a good thing to do on these roads though.

We got back on the bus for the next leg - 3-4 more hours to go. Some of the roads were really narrow and at one point we kept having to share the tiny road with big trucks as well. At on point, I think our driver misjudged the side of the road and ended up driving on the verge - it rocked the bus a bit and there was a couple of gasps even from the locals!! It was a long coach journey and not very comfortable. Coach was rocking all over the place, papping his horn all the damn time and had a numb backside! Somehow I did manage to get a bit of sleep though...must have been tired!

We arrived at our new hotel, Town View, at 7pm. Had 30 minutes to get sorted and then all met to go for a meal at a non-profit restaurant with proceeds going to an orphanage. Our room isn't that nice again. I didn't mention in yesterdays blog, but it's all these wet rooms over here i.e. Shower straight on to the bathroom floor! I hate it. And the drainage is crap so the bathroom just kept flooding past the toilet and right up to the sink in the last place! Looks like it will be the same here.
So we got tuk-tuks to the restaurant. It was a nice little place called Veiyo Tonle on the riverfront of Tonle Sap River. I had fried rice with chicken which was lovely and Therese had Fish Amok which was nice too.
The staff were very nice to. In fact, something I haven't really mentioned, is how nice pretty much all the staff are at places especially in the two hotels we've been to and restaurants. Even though we're not staying in nice accommodation, they really treat you so well. Like the first hotel we arrived in, I forgot to mention how first off someone came out and collected our bags one by one, then we got a glass of juice each, then he came running out with ice called cloths. They're always smiling and wanting to help - really nice people. Then when we were going one guy took all our bags to the bus.
Same sort of thing in the new place tonight as well.

After the meal, we all went for a walk along the riverfront and to a bar called FCC - Foreign Corespondents' Club. We drank some San Miguels up on the terrace which has a nice view along the street. Was a nice bar and the food looked really good too, although a bit pricey.
Actually, the Irish couple went with our tour leader to the local airport to get their baggage - it's finally arrived!!

Fairly early night tonight (12am) as need to be up to get plenty of sightseeing done seeing as though we've not done all that much today! It's kind of been nice to relax a little and listen to some music.
Actually, I'm about to go to sleep but can hear everything on the road outside - cars, people, and now dogs barking...