Mekong Delta - Border - Phnom Penh - 16th July 2009

Yet another crazily early morning! I woke up before the cockeral crowed! It was breakfast at 6am so we could be off at 7am. Of course we were never off by 7am, but at least the breakfast was quite tasty. I sat up on the balcony, looking over the river which was very peaceful. My rucksack is getting enormous, which is slightly worrying, but I managed to give away one book that I had finished reading, so that was a relief.
Our first stop, which felt like it was only a few metres away was to a fish farm. There were four types of fish on this farm, and in a cage that was 10x6x3 metres, there were 10,200 fish! They spent 50,000 dong 0n each feed, of which there were three a day. At three months old, they are transferred to a larger pen,and after 7 months of this, the fish are big enough to be sold to markets to be eaten.
Our final stop before the borders was to a minority Islamic Village, where they locals were selling various things, that looked exactly the same as every other tourist area. Also we walked along to the mosque, which again, looked like most other mosques! There was nothing particularly special about the area! Although I did manage to buy the cute little cake forks made out of coconut that I'd been admiring elsewhere, but at the time I had resisted.
After this stop, it was on to the border crossing. All I had to do was sit in a cafe and wait for an hour, whilst the tour guide checked me out of Vietnam, and then we got back on the boat. And a few minutes later, we had to get off again, to be signed into Cambodia. I was very impressed with the man who stamped my passport with such care and attention, making sure he put it in a nice place and all the words could be read.
It wasn't lng before we finally arrived at Capitol Guesthouse, where we were swamped by lots of moto and tuk tuk drivers. It was absolutely mahem! A few of them commented, or laughed along with my 'same same but different' t-shirt, obviously recognising the well used phrase used on tourists.
To their disappointment, I decided for simplicity's sake, I would just stay in the guesthouse, provided it was cheap and there were no rats or other such scary animals in the rooms. After climbing up three flights of stairs, I found only one cockroach, so thought it would make do for the one night that I would be there. I felt a bit claustrauphobic, as the cheap rooms ($5) don't come with a window, so I decided to venture out and go in search of some fresh air. I had a look around this area of Phnom Penh, which I don't seem to have been in before. There were many places selling matresses, being carried off on the back of a moto, and lots of ways to personalise motos like stickers and the like. Being rather disappointed at the lack of places to eat, I headed back to the guesthouse. I managed to book a bus to Siem Reap for the following morning at 7.30am. It went from a few doors down, so I was able to relax slightly and get on with a late lunch, which was a rather plain plate of chips but a heavenly cup of coffee. I popped next door to a newsagents to stock up on a few goodies for the trip, and being taught the odd word in Khmer, before going back to reside in the internet cafe next to the hotel. After many hours passing in there, I was eventually forced by the early closing hour of 9pm, to leave, and go in search of dinner.
There wasn't much choice, so I headed to the one that looked most open. Again, I ordered chips, but mainly due to the lack of there being anything other that was suitable on the menu. The waitor hung around and initiated a non-stop conversation, until I eventually made my excuses and asked for the bill and left. It was a bit off putting having someone stand over me as I ate, but he seemed to enjoy talking about himself, so who was I to spoil his happiness. He could be doing worse things over dinner!
He talked about his harsh plight to work a 37.5 hour week (5.5hours a day, 7 days a week) at the restaurant, just so he could earn $20 a month, of which he gives a proportion (he said half but I'm not sure that's possible) to his family who live out in the countryside and spends the rest on his university fees; he is studying design. He is from a poor family and so it is hard for him to get to university. He is from a family of 6 siblings, all of whom remain in the ountryside.
He then went on to taalk a bit about the history of Cambodia, the temples, the suffering, and he seemed quite bitter about it all. He did look quite young, I'm sure he couldn't be past the age of 24.
I know I shouldn't give in to emotional blackmail, or 'bored to death' blackmail, but I got the bill as fast as politely possible, and gave him a tip, which made my dinner a bit more costly. I suppose he just thought I was a bit too interested in Cambodia as I was reading the second book by Le Lay Hayslip about growing up in Cambodia and then Ameria after the war.