Crossing into Cambodia

Today we didn't really do much. We got up late and packed our stuff, checking out of our hostel at around 11:20am. We were collected from our hostel at around 11:45 and walked over to the bus station where we got on a bus headed to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  It was actually a very comfy bus which we were delighted about as we had to spend a long time on it. The seats were spacious and comfortable and there was little leg rest that popped out when you pulled a lever. The bus was no where near full and we were able to recline our chairs back.

The bus departed at 12 and it took two and a bit hours to reach the border. We had all given our passports to a dude on the bus soon after departure, and Lauren and I had paid $35 for a tourist visa. When we got to the border we all had to get off the bus and go to a border patrol desk, where they already had our passports. They were checked and we were waved through and given our passports back. We assumed that was it, as we now had Cambodia visas in our passports but the dude from the bus asked for our passports again. He didn't really speak English so we just gave them to him. We then saw him give them to a man who also had the bus company shirt on, who then got on a moped and biked off. We were a bit concerned as we were ushered back on the bus and the bus departed. However the bus only drive about 100 metres round the bend where we had to get off again, and it soon became clear that that was probably the border leaving Vietnam and this was the actual Cambodian border. We saw the guy on the moped as we entered the immigration office and he gave us our passports back. We then had to queue up to go through the border patrol, where they took everyone's fingerprints and stamped passportd. Once we were through we got back on the bus and off we went, passports in hand. It was actually a really simple process and the bus dudes took care of everything for us, such as getting Cambodian visas and exit cards for Vietnam, and the journey was comfortable.

The journey took around 7 hours in total, including two stops. Just as we arrived in Phnom Penh it started raining. We got off the bus and immediately headed to a cash point, which gave us American dollars and then we got a taxi to the hostel. We then just spent the evening showering and relaxing.