The Long Road North

After Siem Reap our plan was to head to the border with Laos, and then travel north through the narrow strip of southern Laos, following the Mekong river to the capital Vientiane, taking a week or so to travel the 900 miles with a few stops along the way.

The first leg of the journey was the 8 hour trip to Kratie, a small Cambodian town near the border. We set off from our hotel at 5am to catch the coach from the travel agent’s round the corner. When we arrived all we could see was a tiny minibus, and after waiting around for a while it turned out that that was our transport, not quite what we were sold. An hour later, we were still sat there, and the 15-seater minibus by then had 21 people on board! Because there was so much luggage all the bags were tied into the tiny boot, and the backdoor was then tied down half-closed. A small Cambodian man was then lying on top of all the luggage and slightly unbelievably another one was standing with his feet inside the back holding on to the roof – he stayed in this position for a total of 4 hours as we sped along!

Eventually we met up with a proper bus coming from Phnom Penh – this was also full though so we had to sit in aisle for half an hour or so. A little while later the bus itself started to have a few issues. After stopping 3 or 4 times to let the engine cool down it finally gave up the ghost with water pouring out the back. After an hour stood in the middle of nowhere we eventually got on the move again thanks to some magic involving superglue and talcum powder! We finally arrived in Kratie 4 hours late, and not in the best of moods! Click here to read more…