Cambodia: Arriving to Phnom Penh

Arriving here felt like a scene out of ‘The Amazing Race’ reality show. We had less than one hour once we landed in Siem Reap’s airport to get off the plane, go through immigration, get our Visa on arrival, then grab a tuk-tuk to downtown Siem Reap where we’d jump onto our night bus that would take us to Phnom Penh at 11pm. We were slated to arrive in Phnom Penh at 6am the next morning, and our orientation for our new volunteer program started at 8am. Nothing like cutting it down to the wire, right?

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

We didn’t particularly want our arrival into Cambodia to be this chaotic, but after playing chess with numerous different flight and bus options, that was how it had to workout. We were coming from a small island in the Philippines after our friend’s wedding on the 29^th and our program started on Dec 1^st, so that meant the 30^th was a long day of travel. We knew we had to hustle to make sure we get on that dang night bus. If we didn’t, we simply had no other options. Luckily for us, life on the east coast taught us how to MAKE THAT TRAIN. And, we’re good at running.

Immigration was in no hurry as they stamped our passports down their assembly line, but we made it to the bus with five minutes to spare! We were pleasantly surprised by the free water, wifi, and ‘beds’ awaiting us as we charged onto the bus huffing and puffing.

So what is this night bus, you ask? Ever been on one? You haven’t lived until you have. Josh and I can both say now that we’ve lived. Barely. The night busses seem to be a ‘thing’ in Cambodia- they take you across the country from one main city to another, overnight. The primary route runs from Siem Reap (where Angkor Wat and the famous temples reside) to the capitol city, Phnom Penh (and back). The concept is amazing because there are no rail lines or fast means of transportation in Cambodia, and traffic can be terrible during the day so night travels can be quicker. But here’s the kicker- not all the roads enroute are paved. So Josh and I go to our seat compartments we reserved next to each other, and get cozy. The buses have two vertical rows of beds (that look like surgical beds), and one side of the bus has 2 beds next to each other. Josh and I tucked into our little bottom bunk area, put our shoes and bags away, and lay down. I was pretty comfortable. They gave you a pillow and blanket. But, not made for tall people. Josh couldn’t really fit into his cubby, so he had to crunch sideways into his space and hope for the best. We popped in a sleeping pill as the bus took off for Phnom Penh, and at this point we were both sure we’d fall right asleep because we were so exhausted. Then the bumps started. And continued. I looked over at Josh, who had the same look on his face- is this serious? And then the bumps got bigger. And got worse. And then the snoring started. The scenario was actually quite comedic at first, then after an hour or so the humor wore off. We put in our headphones to try to block out the noises and chaos of the road directly below us, and tried to get some shuteye. I am a pretty light sleeper, so it’s no surprise to say that I didn’t really fall asleep during the rumble of the night. Josh normally can sleep through anything, but he too struggled to get past the repeated shaking and rattling of the bus as we moved through the Cambodian jungle. We arrived on time, which is extremely rare for Cambodian busses. We made it!!!! Wahoo!!! Both of us were super exhausted after our 2 day trek to Phnom Penh, but we were so happy to be there and really excited to start our new volunteer program in the city. We’d be here for a month, and be able to put some roots down somewhere for a bit, which was really appealing to us after our stint through Europe.

Tuk-Tuk: Our main form of transportation in Cambodia

We get into a Tuk-Tuk and have the guy head toward the Russian Market area, where our volunteer house was. As he flew through several redlights without even slowing down, and swerved around various piles of trash, we made it to where our house was supposed to be. Apparently address numbers don’t always go in order in Phnom Penh. Like the roads, no rules seem to apply. We quickly learned this as we searched up and down 123 Street, until we finally found our place! We checked in, and found out that Orientation wasn’t happening today after all… we were actually going to go right into work at our school where we would be teaching. Running on empty. Could we make it? Stay tuned to find out…