Phnom Penh

 We were picked up this morning shortly after 7 AM and after a few more stops we  had a full van (14 people) and were on our way. Caro and I were the only foreigners on board.

The 6 hour ride included three pit stops which was nice.

We arrived in Phnom Penh about 12:45 PM and we were soon in a Tuk-tuk to our hotel ($4US ride)

After an early check in we headed out to the streets and after walking a few blocks we found a “hole in the wall” money exchange location where we changed our remaining Vietnamese Dong.

Back at the hotel, we went up to the open air restaurant/bar/swimming pool on the 14th floor and had a meal. The price was twice what we paid in Siem Reap but that was to be expected I guess.

The hotel has some beautiful woodwork all over.

The following three hours were spent in sheer frustration checking out the best way forward from here.

After much go around in decision making we decided on a flight using AirAsia. This required me to make an account and then the fun began (sarcasm). Air Asia first required my login; then a verification code sent to me e-mail, (which I got) then a verification e-mail sent to my phone, which is impossible because my phone number doesn’t work here. I tried numerous times to get past that blockage but eventually  I was locked out for 24 hours. We tried setting up with Caro (thinking I might have done something wrong) but the same thing occurred (the phone verification).

I gave up for a bit,Caro went for a swim, and then later on Caro somehow was able to get on the AirAsia website and bought us tickets to our next stop- Kuala Lumpur Malaysia!

We are going here because getting to Phuket or Krabi from Phnom Penh was hugely expensive and we can get to Malaysia, then Krabi for the same price as here to Krabi or Phuket. Fingers crossed on that!