Zelma’s Trip

I always have mixed feelings when I leave a place and it’s even weirder when you’re leaving a country.  I absolutely loved Laos which is perhaps why I spent longer there than I had planned.  Well that and not being able to get out of Luang Phabang!  The Laos people were generally very friendly and welcoming and the country is beautiful.  It’s very unspoilt perhaps due to the fact that it was closed to foreign visitors until relatively recently.  It’s also not a dense country at all in terms of the tiny population.  Laos also appears to be relatively rich in comparison to surrounding countries with very expensive trucks everywhere and not a lot of people apparently in poverty.  I guess that may be due to the amount of land area compared to the population density and therefore enough resources to go around.

My journey out of Laos and into Cambodia was not a pleasant one to say the least.  We had all purchased tickets on the islands for a supposed “VIP bus” to Cambodia.  When the dodgy looking minibus arrved we presumed that this was a transit but to a bigger bus.  As we were herded into numerous other shoddy minibuses it became apparent that we were not in fact on our way to a beautiful, mechanical dream with aircon, toilet and seats which actually had backs but stuck in scummy buses for a VERY long time.  The border itself was hassle free and we got back on another, equally dodgy looking bus.  I think this was the worst one.  I actually commented that it looked like pigs had been slaughtered in it as it had those lovely brown streaks which only dried blood can make.  I was squashed in the back seat unable to put my legs out properly.  We stopped to pick a local guy up and they kept trying to ram the boot shut with his parcel inside.  After a few miles it becae apparent that the package that they had rammed into the boot was actually the guy’s dinner as my feet and bag began swimming in a combination of a kind of soup like liquid and sticky rice!  Having left first thing in the morning we eventually arrive in Kompong Cham in Cambodia at around 10pm.  A Spanish couple from the bus got off and the rest of the group went on to Phnom Penh.  The Spanish woman looked at one guesthouse but said that the rooms were really hot.  We then found a different guesthouse but they only had one room.  I said that I would look for another and then spent some time walking around like an idiot only to be told that everywhere was full.  I decided that standing on a street corner and dispairing was the way forward until fortunately the Spanish lady noticed me and said that I could sleep on the floor in their room.  I was amazingly grateful, it was really kind of them but after my rubbish, uncomfortable journey a night on two yoga mats on a concrete floor being eaten alive by mosquitos was not at the top of my wish list!  I endured it though, although my back wasn’t my best friend the following morning!