on our last day in paradise we were up early ready to start our journey home to phnom penh. we had breakfast at the resort, it would be our last proper meal until dinner time so luckily we filled up on bacon and eggs.
we had arranged our transport for our trip through a tour company. when we left phnom penh we were picked up by a van and driven straight across the boarder and too the waiting boat to take us to the island. it was great, we were the only ones on the van and the drive from our apartment to the boat only took us four hours. on the way home it was slightly different. no make that A LOT different!
we were picked up from our resort and driven to the boat on the island, but on the way we made two stops to pick up four more people. they drove us to the fishing village and we made the long walk out to the boat. the boat ride was much better this time. it was not as rough as our trip over so nobody was sea sick and it felt a lot quicker this time too.
when we arrived on the mainland at the port of ha tien {vietnam} we had a two hour wait for our van to arrive which was take us and the four other people we picked up along the way, back to cambodia.
a representative from the tour company was there and he looked after our luggage and arranged for some moto drivers to take us over the bridge and into the town of ha tien.
we had some time to have a little wander around. we strolled through their local market, had a look down by the river and then spent the rest of the time sitting and having a drink and watching the world go by.
after our time was up the moto drivers arrived again and took us back over the bridge to collect our luggage and get into the van ready to go home. they took us through the boarder check points and helped everyone to do all the appropriate paper work and pay for their incoming visas. we have year long visas for cambodia so the process for us was very simple, but we had to wait for the six others we were traveling with so it took a bit of time to get through.
when we finally made it through the boarders the drivers {we had two cambodian guys driving the van} pulled over to have a lunch break. they ate at what i think was a cafe but really looked like a little shack with a few dusty tables and chairs. all the passanges just hung around waiting for them to finish as we all ready had a break in vietnam. there was nothing much else to do, we were on a dusty road surrounded by wildlife and a few rusty shacks. it was all becoming very apparent to me that it was going to take a lot longer to get home then the fours hours it took to get here in the first place.
lunch was over and we all piled back into the van and headed off. the van was full with people and luggage so there was no room to spread out, luckily it had great air conditioning so we were kept cool on our journey.
two of the passengers were going to kep, a little town in the south of cambodia so we headed there first. it was an hour and a half out of the way! our journey was getting longer and longer! on the way to kep we pulled over to the side of the road and picked up another passenger. it turned out he was another staff member of the tour company so as there was no room in the back of the van he sat up front with the other two drivers.
we made it to kep and dropped off two passengers and then we went further into town and took the guy we had just picked up to the tour company office. all three of them went inside and we were left to wait in the van. more waiting around.
eventually they came out and we started off again. we basically had to make our way back to the vietnam boarder and then make our way up to towards phnom penh. along the way we stopped again twice and picked up five more passengers! now if you are clever at math you would realise that the van was full when we left vietnam and we only dropped of two people and now we are picking up five more. well this is just how they travel in cambodia. it was a very tight fit and people were sharing seats, i was just crossing my fingers that they were all going to phnom penh and that we did not have to make any more detours off the min road.
there was no stopping for food, drink or toilets breaks so lucky we had lots of snacks with us. we could have stopped it we asked them too but i think we all just wanted to get to the city. it was a long drive over very bumpy roads. the only good thing about the journey was that we got to see the country side of cambodia.
the little guy traveled very well, he had a sleep for a little of the way and he did not complain about the uncomfortable position that we were in. every so often i would here him say 'it is taking a long time'. other then that he sat quietly and watched out the window. we are so very blessed and thankful that he is such a good little traveler.
we finally arrived in phnom penh and hit the traffic so it took us ages to navigate the streets and drop the people off where they need to go. in the end we asked the drivers to pull over and we got out and we hailed our own tuk tuk and got him to take us home. the lovely four journey {from the boat in vietnam back to phnom penh} turned into a six hour journey. we were very tiered and sore by the time we got home. but i guess that is a part of the fun of traveling. we got to see some more sights in cambodia and we got to meet and chat with other people {our other travelers were from spain and the usa}.
when we arrived home from our holiday it really did feel like we were truly home. it just reinforces to us how much we love it here and that this is our home now.
the next day we said farewell the greg's parents as they flew out in the afternoon home to australia. it was so wonderful to have them here and we are going to miss them. we sent them off with hugs and kisses to take back to our loved ones at home.
now it is back to life as normal. greg is back at work {and he is super busy} and we are both back to our khmer lessons. will starts school in three and a half weeks so we are enjoying our time together before we get busy with school and me with starting more volunteer work.
