We were all picked up early by the Mekong Express minibus, which had perhaps had better days. Rumbled around the back streets of Siem Reap picking up tourists until we pulled into the bus station. The Mekong Express bus company are recommended by all the guide books and were the recommendation of our guide Sanchey. Cost was $USD11 per person. The Mekong Express bus, which took 6 hours to rumble down route #6 to Phnom Penh, was comfortable enough but certainly nothing flash – it had a toilet and was certainly airconditioned, but it seemed a little tired. some of the buses alongside looked a little nicer, but I’m not sure whether they were going to Phnom Penh or longer trips to Ho Chi Minh or Bangkok.

We each recieved a bottle of water and a box containing a dried pork bun and a peanut cookie – Greg complimented the bun but Ally and I found the fiborous texture of the “pork” a little too disconcerting. I found the peanut cookie to be pleasant, although I think it consisted of little more than crushed peanuts and sugar.

Trip was flat and uneventful. One stop somewhere in Kampong Cham provence. To our dissapointment this was not a the village famours (notourious?) for its fried spiders. Rather it was a nondescript little place with a a couple of vendors and a large, very Chinese looking, restaurant which was doing a good trade with travellers on the road. There was one lady selling various bugs, including spiders, but she was very unhappy with tourists photographing her wares. I decided that, with another three hours between us and Phnom Penh and the flies around her fried delights being less of a concern than the Westerners wanting to photograph the spiders that I would wait for another opportunity to munch on an arachnid.

Arrived at the Mekong Express office in Phnom Penh and we managed to locate our bags. The touts were kept out the fenced off area, so we decided to take a moment to collect our thoughts. Literally before Ally and Greg could light a cigarette the fences dividing the taxi and tuktuk drivers and us, their prey, were removed. We were surrounded. We nearly provoked an ugly incident by agreeing to go with a taxi driver who had not been the first to shout taxi at us, but this was resolved by agreeing to go with whoever had called ‘Shotgun’ on us. I think the driver managed to pad out the short journey to our hotel, the FCC.

The Foreign Correspondents Club in Phnom Penh is a lovely little spot on the riverside. Only opened in 1993 it seems to have almost as much character as many of the grand old colonial hotels. It’s a bit of a charmer. On the second and third floors are the bar, with lovely views over the confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers. The four rooms are on the first floor (ours was just under the pool tables) and they are chic and elegant. The minibar contains all the journalist necessities; 750ml bottles of gin, scoth, rum.

In the evening Ally and I wandered up to the night market along the quay. The market, which was only just beginning, was very subdued and, to be honest, not particularly interested. Stopped off on the way back to the FCC to have a $USD2.50 campari and orange overlooking the Tonle Sap at one of the multitude of bars which line the riverbank.