Normally the bus from Siam Reap to Phnom Penh should take between seven and eight hours. But I was particularly lucky: First, a large trucked blocked a ford at a broken bridge and then our bus broke down! A few times. Well, at least I learned a new phrase: “Lan kodj” – “Car broken”. And I got a look (not taste) of a new snack: Deep fried spiders!

On the other hand, I heard of people whose boat ran aground on a sandbank in the Tonle Sap since the water is so low. And in the middle of the lake they didn’t have any shade. Which reminds me: I was supposed to me three Australians in the “Heart of Darkness” last night who took the boat. But they never came. Hmmm.

Apparently the main problem was that the drivers couldn’t repair the engine damage permanently while we were on the road. So they stopped time and again to make small on the spot adjustments; like exchanging the v-belt, refilling huge amounts of water at every stop or tightening one particular screw about every 20 minutes. So we were always between hope (“yeah, we are moving again”) and desperation (“Will the bus make it?” Why are we stopping now?”). And all this why the sun was burning down on the bus at a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius – but in the shade. A Finnish couple joked that they felt like home – in the sauna. It's impossible to guess how hot it was in the bus. What made things worse was that the motor got very, very hot - we could even feel the heat through the floor and when I unpacked my stuff in the hotel, even the liquid soap was unpleasantly hot on my skin.

Well, obviously I eventually made it to Phnom Penh. And on the way we passed through Skuon, the famous “Spider Village” where the local specialty is deep fried spiders. I didn’t eat any, mind you! They looked truly disgusting and horrible. I’ll upload a photo in the next couple of days.

What fascinated me again when we traveled from Siam Reap to Phnom Penh was the difference water makes in this country. Now, at the height of dry season, everything looks so inhospitable and it’s almost impossible to imagine that in three months all of this will be lush and green. But even now, it can happen that some rain falls somewhere and somewhere near Kompong Thom we were passing through a small area where it had recently rained. And it was so green! It was unbelievable!

Back in the hotel I met two Swedish girls, one of whom is about as sweet as they get ;-). Unfortunately they’ll leave for Vietnam tomorrow and I’ve decided to fly to Ko Pha Ngan on Friday or Saturday. Too bad. Ah well, she had her chance – she could have come to Asia earlier and met me!

On Wednesday I’m gonna take the bus down to Takeo and will do the last interview for my landmine-feature. I have a feeling like it’s gonna turn out really well.