My bus to Kampong Cham, which supposed to be super-fast VIP
one, was scheduled at 6 in the morning from Siem Reap and pick was to be at
5.30. Getting up at 5, when the whole hotel was still sleeping, I entered the
lobby to wait for my pick up. The whole hotel staffs were snoring loudly and I
decided to wait outside instead. The morning was a little hazy, but still quite
warm. The mosquitoes kept zooming around my ear trying to irritate my already
sleepy mind further. The pick-up van arrived, insides of which were modified to
allow more room for luggage and less for the passengers. There were a couple of
guys from Taiwan, carrying what looked like side bags used while cycling. They
nodded, both looking quite sleepy. We then picked up an old lady who turned out
to be from Florida and whom I had met the night before in a restaurant. Our
small pick-up van took us to the southern bus stand where we were transferred
to one VIP bus. Even though, there were no seat numbers on our tickets, the
ticket checker made sure to spread us away from each other, his intentions
unknown. As the bus started to move, a small TV in the front started playing
the famous Cambodian Karaoke songs, a couple in the video singing and others
dancing the traditional dance, which consist of moving legs and hands as less
as possible. As more people got on the bus, the volume of the video was
increased and by the time bus became full, I had to clap my both hands on my
ears, as the music now was ear-splitting! After about three hours or so, the songs
stopped, I breathed a sigh of relief. But immediately after five minutes, they
started playing stand up comedy. It reminded me of Marathi comedy series back
home, where performers shout their lungs out, hoping to make people laugh...and
people do laugh. Higher the volume, more the laughter. And this time, I didn’t
understand a thing, making it worse. It was just loud, annoying, brain-killing
noise.
The so-called VIP bus was supposed to take 5 hours to
Kampong Cham, but at around noon time, we stopped for lunch and were still
nowhere near the town. Two more hours passed before we stopped again and this
time our driver told us to wait there for another bus. Apart from the Taiwanese
guy and the American lady, there was one more French girl with us and the waiting
time gave all of us some interaction time and by the time our next van did turn
up, all of us were friends. The minivan was supposed to take everyone except me
to Kratie and the American woman advised me to join them. I quickly scanned
lonely planet and wiki travel pages about Kampong Cham and having found nothing
of interest, decided to go to Kratie, which was going to be my next destination
anyway. I was prepared to pay the extra price, but I think they thought
everyone was headed to Kratie which was 4-5 hours further from Kampong Cham and
no one even asked me for the ticket.
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| Waiting on the "highway" |
As the evening rolled past, the scene changed significantly.
Our little group had turned out to be quite chatty and in spite the fact that a
6 sitter minivan was loaded with more than 15 people, our mood was quite
mellow. A dark mass of cloud hung in the air on the east side and the setting
sun on the west created quite a contrast, lighting the whole scene in vibrant
colors. The green of trees seemed to be so bright as if watching a high
definition TV show. This part of Cambodia is known for its thick cover of
greenery thanks to Mekong and rainfall. The rolling hills in the distance, all
bright green as the sunlight reflected on them was quite a sight. Huge gardens
of palm trees kept passing on our left side and a few stilt houses here and
there. The road was narrow and rain swept. Not dirty, but perfectly clean and just
wet enough to look dark gray shade against the green grass on either side.
Despite having a tough day in the bus and despite the fact that a 7 hour
journey actually took more than 12 hours, I couldn’t help but feel quite jolly.
This was the tropical paradise!
We checked into the first hotel we saw. I shared a three-bed
room with the Taiwanese guys, Yu Shin and Huang, for $3 per person. Kratie is a
small town located on the banks of Mekong. It does not attract too much tourist
attention and hence is a low profile town.
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| On the banks of Mekong |
The next morning, hiring a bicycle,
the whole group (except the American lady) started exploring the river side. We
kept the Mekong to our left as we road through the countryside. The roads were
flat and had plenty of cover of over-hanging branches of tree, making the
journey much more comfortable that it would otherwise have been. On the way we
passed numerous small villages and as we passed these small children kept
running behind us, shouting “Helllloooooo” and waving it us. You can’t help but
smile at them and shout back...no matter how many times you have to do it.
There were numerous mango trees on either side of the road and we stopped for a
while to enjoy the taste of tangy green mango.
Continuing on, we left the tar road and took a small trail instead,
which led us through a tiny village consisting of stilt houses and lots and
lots of palm trees. Half naked children were still running and waving behind us.
Except for them, the village seemed quite deserted and soon we realised the
reason for this. We came around a house which was crowded by a large number of
people sitting on the corridor outside a stilt house, as if the whole village
had gathered. As we passed them, almost every one of them waved at us, inviting
us to join them. I called out to others to stop and parking the bike I climbed
the stairs to join them. Immediately they started to ask me questions, trying
to say something, all of which went over my head. So I just waved and said
“Happy new year”, which they understood, as was apparent from their wide smiles
and hands raised in toast, carrying beers. I was forced to take a few cans of beer
myself, which I took passing a few to my group, still standing below. Huang
joined me and together we emptied a few cans to help us feel less embarrassed.
A few cans later, I was feeling light-headed as my glasses were passed from one
person to another, each trying them on. It was a bunch of nice people!
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| Black Panther! |
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| New year party with locals |
As the Sun began to sink, we started back. But it took less
than 15 minutes for dark rounding on us. And we had to rely on our mobile light
to guide us back to the town!
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| After the sunset |
Thanks Aniket. We got introduced to many unknown places.Swimming in rapids and relaxing near water, it's so interesting!
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