Typhoon, boats, buses, tuk tuks and planes.

Caley and I woke up to the news that a typhoon was coming to the islands. All ferries had been cancelled for the next five days, including the one we were scheduled to take later that day. The only way off the island was to take a slow boat that may or may not come. We were unsure whether or not we would actually get off the island. Because I am traveling for 9 months, this was was all rather exciting for me. However, for Caley, not so much! She had a flight  back to Philadelphia the following day and she was anxious to see her four year old son who she missed dearly.

The rain is coming

We were told that the slow boat should be coming around 3:00 pm. We were also told that the there was no coast guard. We could not help but wonder if the boat was even going to show up.

Waiting and hoping the slow boat shows up

We were all pretty happy when the boat showed up! It was only about an hour and half later than we were originally told but until we actually saw the boat, I don’t think either of us believed it was actually coming. (Although I would not have said that to Caley at the time!) The boat was called the “slow boat” for a reason!

Happy to be on the boat!

Happy to be eating peanut butter 🙂

Once we finally got to Sihanoukville it started pouring! Caley and I were sitting at the bow (I had to look that boat term up!) of the boat, so we were literally the last ones off. As soon as we got off there was a rush of tuk tuk drivers wanting to drive us anywhere. We had no idea where we were going, so we just had our driver take us to the main part of town. We had originally planned on taking a 7:00 pm night bus back to Siam Reap, but 7:00 came and went. We thought we were going to have to stay the night.  Caley was going to try to get a flight out in the morning and cross her fingers that she make her flight to Philly! However, we were able to change tickets and get an 11:00 pm night bus.

Very happy to be off the boat and off the island!

Back on a night bus

Our night bus to Sihanoukville was definitely an adventure for sure! However, it was a straight drive with no hiccups along the way. This was not the case for us our second time around.  We got to Phnom Penh at 3:30 AM and were told we had to get off and switch busses. We were in no way aware that this would be happening. After making sure we had our bags and other belongings we sat and waited. We were told it would be an hour, which seemed like a really long time for 3:30 in the morning on the side of the road. However, the new bus did not show up until 6:30 am.

Bus #2

Our new bus was not  the “sleeping bus” we had paid for. Instead, it was one of the local everyday buses. It was a cool riding with all the families and kids but we were so tired! The driver also played really loud Cambodian music during the entire 8 hour drive. There were so many kids on the bus and I was amazed with how happy and quiet they were. I think I was more restless than they were. About three hours into the drive we ran into a ditch and one of the tires got some sort of slice. We thought we would surely be waiting hours for a new bus to come pick us up but the drivers were able to fix the tire in about 45 minutes! We finally made it to Siam Reap with about 3 hours left before Caley had to leave for the airport!

Goodbye Caley! I love you!