To Siem Reap

07:00 the moto pulled up and honked. I was not expecting moto for 15 minutes. I let him into the driveway and finished packing and getting dressed. At the station I met the KAPE accountant from Siem Reap. We would be taking the same bus to Siem Reap.

About 07:40 the 07:30 bus to Siem Reap pulled up to the bus stop. We boarded and I took my customary aisle seat. We drove around the block and parked and then more passengers boarded. Today I was able to convince the iPod to be louder than the bus music system. I listened to my favorite photography podcast.

It seems that most of my assumptions have been wrong, and today was no exception. I had assumed that the trip to Siem Reap would take around three hours. When we pulled into a rest stop just a little more than an hour into the trip I wondered if I had underestimated the time for the journey.

Back on the road I finished the first podcast, and listened to two more before we pulled into another rest area. I asked my colleague when we would arrive in Siem Reap. He said 13:30. Oops. I had a 12:30 appointment. I tried to reach the person I would be meeting but there was no answer.

About 20 minutes later the bus pulled over in a small town still about 90 km from Siem Reap. I assumed we were dropping someone off or picking someone up. The driver and his assistant got out. I thought this would be a good time to try my phone call again, away from the bus and music (noise). I stepped out of the bus and tried the call again, still no answer. I sent a short text message to say I would be late.

Hopping back on the bus I listened to a podcast. About five minutes later I noticed several people getting off of the bus. This was becoming a rather long stop to pick someone up. I joined the others outside, and found the driver with only his feet sticking out of the engine compartment. Hmm, this was not looking good.

A number of passengers took seats on chairs and benches under the overhang of a building and watched the driver and his assistant work. Sometime later when I looked up, I saw what looked like a gearbox sitting on the ground next to the bus. This definitely did not look good.

There were enough seats for about half of the passengers to be in the shade. I stood for quite a while but when a chair opened up I took it. We had made two rest stops, but because I assumed we would soon reach Siem Reap, I hadn't eaten anything. I was beginning to question that logic, and saw that there were restaurants across the road. I also knew that crossing the road would be placing my life in the hands of drivers flying by, horns blaring.

I decided I was not all that hungry after all, but wondered how we would get to Siem Reap. Several passengers hailed buses as they passed. Some were full, but about 1/3 of the passengers from my bus managed to get onto other buses. My colleague called the Siem Reap KAPE office and asked them to send the pickup for us.

While waiting I witnessed an interesting aspect of Cambodian culture. Since all the chairs and benches were taken, a woman of 70 years or more took off her flip-flops, placed them next to each other on the ground, and sat on them. I had seen school children do this before. Shortly after the woman sat down, an older man did the same thing. It works well, you have a place to sit and you do not get your pants dirty. You don't need shoes on to sit.

As we sat there, several people rode by. A girl about six rode a bicycle that was quite a bit too big for her. As she passed I could see that she had a block of ice sitting on the carrier on the back of the bicycle.

A few minutes, later another girl rode up on a bicycle with a block of ice in the basket on the front. There was a block of ice, not in a bag, box or container just a block of ice sitting on the carrier of the bicycle dripping a trail of water. A few minutes later, a moto went by with a meter-long block of ice perched crosswise on the moto just in front of the driver's legs. I assumed this must be Cambodian moto air conditioning.

The KAPE pickup truck finally arrived. It was air conditioned. What a relief. I don't know where the driver learned to drive, but he did not have a good understanding of what the gears were for. He started out in second gear, skipped third, went directly to fourth and quickly to fifth. Needless to say, the engine was jumping all over the place with the truck in too high a gear by the time we were underway to Siem Reap. The driver slowed behind a bus waiting for an opportunity to pass.

When I arrived at my meeting in Siem Reap the person was busy and I had to wait for 20 minutes.