12 November
Today we returned to Phnom Penh from Battambang by bus. There were not a lot of choices, a big Bus or a minibus. So we decided on the big one.
There were only 4 people on the bus when we set off ( inc us) so Cheryl and I choose separate seats. The plan worked for the entire journey.
This it seemed was the ‘locals’ bus and stopped at every village, people got on, got off, bought food from the roadside, great fun. Although not very cumfey.
So everyone gets off and sits down for a meal, including the driver. All very civilised!
And while everyone has lunch, there is a team of men who wash the Bus.
In case anyone reading this wants to follow the route, here is the bus number.
We got safely back to Phnom Penh. It was an experience, if you spoke the language you would possibly have a clue what was happening.
We then grabbed a TutTut and made our way back to the Okay Boutique Hotel. We knew they were full, but the manager arranged a room in a partner hotel. He told us that he would take us there.
When we got to the hotel there seemed to be a lot of confusion. They sent us an email at midday (which we could not open because we were on the bus!) telling us the other hotel had sold our room! So they didn’t expect us to turn up.
They sat us down and gave us a ‘welcome drink’ while the manager made lots of phone calls!
Because of the Water Festival there were no rooms anywhere in Phnom Penh, but he found us a room in his sister-in-law’s Guest House.
So we loaded all our bags onto a TutTut and the manager and one of his staff showed us the way. Because of the Water Festival the riverside area was being closed to traffic so time was short to get there.
The Tonle Khmer Guest House was on the waterfront, it was small had a restaurant on the ground floor and on the street. It was mostly clean until you looked through the door into the kitchen! But for $25 a night what can you expect?
We stayed one night only! I got onto www.bookings.com to find there were lots of hotels with rooms. So we moved the next morning by TutTut to the Balconitel Boutique Hotel. So different and this one had a pool!