Crossing Over To Cambodia (Moc Bai-Bavet Border)

It was another early morning in another land. Time to cross over to another land. Country #2: Cambodia. The main destination in Cambodia is the Angkor Wat, which is in Siem Reap. The bus ride from Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap is 15 hours. Too long. I chose to spend one night in Phnom Pehn to break the long bus ride. After all, Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia. After that 5-hour bus ride going to Mui Ne, I can handle this 7-hour bus ride to Pnohm Pehn.

Our busmates

We booked Mekong Express bus tickets through our ever reliable hotel Bich Duyen Hotel. Price of the HCMC to PP tix is $14. We got the 8:30am trip. They have a 7:00am trip but that is a tad early and we’d like to take our time enjoying our last moments in Vietnam (Chos! Nakakatamad gumising ng maaga! :P). 

At 08:15 am, the bus attendants started picking up passengers from hotels in our street. The bus is parked in the forever tourist-laden street of Pham Ngu Lao. At the start of the trip, the bus attendant gave us immigrations forms to fill-out. The trip includes a complimentary breakfast and one bottle of water. The breakfast is not much, but it will do.

After two hours of saying goodbye to Vietnam, we reached the Moc Bai-Bavet border. Time to go down and stretch our legs. 

The bus attendant ala stewardess collected our passports with the accomplished immigration form and asked us to go down and wait for our names to be called once inside. The bus will cross over with all our stuff and wait on the other side. Not a lot of people in the immigration. After around 10 minutes, our names were called, and we crossed over to the other side. There is a second inspection point before exiting the building.

The Mekong Express

I wasn’t too excited getting back on the bus and sit for another couple of hours. There was still some time to walk around and take some pics.

I was loving and cursing the sunny weather. The purple camera case makes it to Cambodia!

Hello Cambodia! 

It will be another three or four hours before we reach PP.Gah, I was getting tired of my playlists.

After one hour, the bus stopped at a resto. The attendant said we would be having lunch here.They turn off the aircon and lock the bus so you can't stay in the bus. You have to go down.

 They accept Vietnamese Dong, US Dollars and Cambodian Riel.

Ordered the Chicken Curry Soup - split in two bowls. Wasn't so sure if Cambodian food was spicy. Not a fan of spicy food here.

Cream-O makes it to Cambodia!

They seem to have other flavors of Cream-O here.

The journey continues. I try to sleep. But I wake up every hour or so.

The bus rode a boat to cross the river.

We arrived at the bus terminal at around 3pm in PP. I arranged a tuktuk driver to pick us up from the bus station. We headed to our guesthouse to freshen up a bit after that bus ride. 

Cambodia, here we are!