Contact Admin. Woke up at dawn and made it to the travel agency bus depot just in time to find out that the dude who sold me my bus ticket misinformed me of the location of my buses departure. Once on board, the bus host greeted me with some complimentary doughtnuts. I grabbed a seat next to a super-size Dutch girl who was traveling alone. Travel chat ensued and I asked her if she had any misgivings about traveling through Cambodia solo.
The rider adjacent promptly ripped her purse off of her arm and blew town. So the next day she wore a backpack instead, and the second thief, not only took the bag, but the big girl with it, sending her to the pavement and leaving her with a considerable case of road rash to accompany her monolithic hangover.
She told she was headed to Siem Reap. It began when a tween girl in a dust mask got off a ferry with a single sack of belongings and was greeted by these shady characters. The interaction was strange to say the least, the Shadies being, well, shady, and Tween being one block south of terrified.
And then five more creepy dudes surround her, sharing sinister smiles, and eyeballing her like lions at feeding time. About thirty seconds later, the bus boards the ferry and next to it pulls up a motorcycle wrapped in live chickens. The only reason I could tell they were alive was because they were vomiting all over and pissing themselves.
My head was spinning, and the sarcastic, rational me was laughing. And as we disembarked our dilapidated motorcoach, we were graced with a similar greeting. In a matter of about fifteen minutes, you can basically buy a small child, a lifetime supply of heroine, and backpack full of hand grenades if you so desire. And for this reason, sex tourists and mad men flock to this place like preservationists to Madagascar.
