Taking the long way to Otres Beach

So I took the wrong bus. Now don't get the wrong idea. I checked,and rechecked, my ticket to make sure I was on the right bus. Shame.

I got to the appointed bus office location at 11:30 as instructed for our midnight bus. I was kind of excited for my first sleeper bus ride! In all my bus journeys, I have never been on a sleeper bus. I had dreams of sheets and blankets although was going to be happy to settle for a long seat i could recline on. I was promised water and a toilet on board. And ten hours direct to Sihanoukville and the beach. I was ready with some snacks, some warm clothes and a great attitude.

What pulled up was what I would have expected had I not been made some promises! An old, a bit dilapidated bus, with no services and no toilets. Shame. I assumed I was a victim to the old bait and switch situation. I had purchased my ticket from an agent not the company and he made some promises. There was no choice. Get on, or don't. I decide to keep on my schedule and take the old bus, so it would be a rougher ride, no worries. For the record. I checked my ticket with four people to make sure I was on the right bus. Four people said yes. As the bus was pulling out and getting under way, I discovered that this was the 11:30 bus, not the 12:00. And that in fact the 12:00 bus, was the nice sleeper one. Shame.

Well it turns put that this bus was not going to Sihanoukville, and it took the round about way to get to Phnom Penh. But it got there, in about 7 hours. The good news, is that when I arrived in Phnom Penh, the 12:00 night bus riders were there too. That bus wasn't direct either! So there was a little monkey business going on after all! I don't want any of the blog followers to think Greyhound or Peter Pan quality. That is not all the level of theses buses. In fact far far far from it. Manageable and cheap, not comfortable or fast. And re,e,ber they stop every two hours or so to let you go to the bathroom. This one of course, just pulled o the side of the road. There were not anything fancy like a toilet. Once again glad to be a man!

In Phnom Penh we were told that our bus would be arriving soon (it was about 45 minutes). At this point though,no worries! Jumped on our second, non-VIP bus and we were off. For about five minutes. The we stopped and waited almost two hours for the bus to fill up. No sense going with out a full bus. Eventually got to the beach, jumped on the back of the Moto (below). And found the beach.It was so worth the nearly 27 hour journey from Laos!