5 October to Phnom Penh

Left at 10am and drove out of town driving down the road where Kim Phuc was photographed running down the street naked with her brother after she had been severely burnt by napalm during the Vietnam/American war. We had lunch nearby her house.

We crossed into Cambodia at Bavet and walked the 100m across no-man's land and into Cambodia. On entry we had our temperature taken and had our hand prints taken and I suspect also our irises photographed. It was 240kms from Saigon to PP. The border crossing was trouble free. Not very many in the queue and some of our mob had to buy a visa on entry but that went very smoothly. Can't imagine why the security is to tight - who are they trying to prevent entry to?

Our new guide is called Mr Thea or actually Khuntea which is a girl's name so he was often called a lady-boy. He explained that the roads in Cambodia are in 3 grades: sleeping, dancing and trampoline, and that 80% of the road to PP was sleeping and the other 20% either dancing or trampoline. His English was on the minus side of average which he knew so he made a joke of it saying that when he first started as a guide he said “ni” as in: It's a ni day so we should meet at ni o'clock at ni. Be careful not to cut yourself with the ni.

We stopped for a late lunch where I noticed some interesting dishes on the menu: Saluted corn, Saluted champignons and in the vegetarian section, Saluted elision. I had a fish Amok which is a traditional dish of Cambodia.

On our way to our hotel, Khuntea explained that Pol Pot's name was actually Saloth Sar but he staged his own funeral and became Pol Pot which stands for “Political Potential”. Now, that was news to me.


Our hotel was called Mittapheap. I noticed on the hotel menu a dish called: Fried Sour Cabbage with Cow's inside.

Back to the drive. In Vietnam we passed kilometres of flooded paddy fields. We crossed the Mekong by ferry and then once in Cambodia it was obvious that we had changed countries as suddenly there were cattle everywhere and the houses were on stilts. There was also heavy flooding in Cambodia so many people had set up makeshift tents on the sides of the road and they had their cattle tied up beside their tents. Also, instead of coolie hats, checked tea-towel like cloths were tied on heads. We also saw some amusing transport vehicles. One, a small van with at least 20 people crammed in and two sitting on motorbikes somehow hanging out the back.