[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 9 March 2014. Minor edits have since been made from the original post to update some links and info.]

4 April 2012, Wednesday

Morning call: 9:00am

It was my last day in Siem Reap, and I slept in late into the morning. After a good breakfast at the guest house, I ventured across the road to the Pub Street area and looked for a place to chill. Naturally, I ended up at my favourite ice-cream parlour, The Blue Pumpkin, located at Sivatha Street.

I ordered a scoop of my favourite mint & chocolate ice-cream and plonked myself down on the long row of sofa seats while savouring my treat. Best of all, the place was air-conditioned, which was a bliss because of the searing heat outside.

I checked out of my room at Encore Angkor at 11am and waited for the shuttle bus to come pick me up. It arrived at 11:58am, and ferried me to the bus interchange, which was not too far away. At 12:35pm, I boarded the Mekong Express bus and bade farewell to Siem Reap.

It was an express limousine bus with the ticket costing US$11. It was supposed to take six hours to travel from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh but it ended up taking seven hours because of a severe traffic jam at one point. The roads had just one lane in each direction, but the cars tried to play punk and overtake each other, occupying both lanes and blocking the cars on the opposite direction. So traffic literally came to a standstill as vehicles from both directions simply refused to budge, and they tried to squeeze three lanes out of two.

It took a long time before we managed to inch our way forward and get out of the mess. Exacerbating the situation was the fact that the air-conditioning in the bus was very weak and it was a sweltering 33 degrees Celcius outside. The seat was not very comfortable either, so it made for quite a bad journey.

I only found out later that there was a night bus option. If I had known earlier, I would have taken that because I would have saved on one night’s accommodation, and possibly avoided the traffic jam in the day. It should also be less warm travelling at night.

By the time I arrived in Phnom Penh, it was already dark. I hired a tuk-tuk to take me to my guesthouse, Rory’s Pub and Guest House, which I chose for its good location near the Royal Palace, National Museum and riverfront. I finally set foot into the guest house at 7:45pm.

Rory’s Pub And Guest House
www.rorysirishbar.com (As of 6 October 2017, the website is not working anymore)
Address: No. 33 Street 178, Phnom Penh 12206, Cambodia
Tel: +855 (0)89884983
Rate: US$14/night for a Single Ensuite with air-con and fridge

After I checked in to my room, I was starving real bad so I went to the bar and ordered a local dish of Luk Lak (also spelt as Luc Lac) for US$4.50. It is basically tender stir-fried beef slices with rice and a sweet sauce. It was a bit pricey but good. There was also a free glass of Anchor beer on the house.

After dinner, I took a stroll to the shops along Sisowath Quay, which was nearby. However, the streets were quite dark, and I immediately didn’t feel as safe as I was in Siem Reap. It was a totally different vibe here. I still prefer the countryside over the city. As it was getting late, I didn’t want to stray too far, so I returned to the safety and comfort of the guest house shortly after. It had been an exhausting day spent on the road, and I was just eager to lie down in my bed and rest. End of Day 27!