Buses are dangerous.

Just a quick post tonight. Today we took the bus from Siem Reap to Kratie and it was quite literally the worst bus ride of our lives.

It was fine for the first few hours, but it all went downhill when the bus stopped in the middle of no-where and we were told to get off. The only explanation we could get was that another bus would be coming soon, however we were slightly concerned because our tickets had already been taken from us. The second bus was the ride from hell. We were seated at the back because they were the only seats left, and the second back row of seats were partially broken, so they were sitting basically in our laps for a long portion of the journey. Then at one point, the driver (who I think must have been world-weary by the way he was driving) went over a bump/ditch too fast and slammed on the breaks, which caused everyone in the back couple of rows + the broken seats which weren't properly attached to the ground, to jolt upwards and forwards very abruptly. We were half asleep at the time; when I came back down I landed on the arm rest rather than the seat, and the seat in front of me almost impaled my foot. The result is a large upcoming bruise on my butt, skin off my toes, and an impaled thong.

To top things off, when we were forced off the bus the first time, I needed to go to the toilet but we were literally in the middle of no-where. I could see a little hut protruding over a ditch that looked like an out-house so I pointed and asked "toilet?" to which I got a nod, so I proceeded to the hut. When I got there, there wasn't a door.. and there wasn't even a hole in the floor.. it was just bamboo slats. I was confused as to what I was supposed to do so I just decided to hold it. The next stop was several hours later, after the near foot impaling incident. When we got to the stop, there was only 1 toilet, and all the women had to line up. The bus driver decided that the toilet stop should only continue until all the men had finished doing their business, so he began to blast the horn. In desperation I decided to do what a few of the other women had done, and go behind the shed. However, as I began to do so, a 60-something German woman decided to do the same. Probably one of the most awkward situations of my life.

We are now in Kratie, heading to Ban Lung to check out some waterfalls tomorrow. Dreading another bus trip.
Amiee x