Feature Image: The Bayon bus station in Battambang

Leaving Battambang

The Bayon VIP 15-seater bus takes 5 hours to get from Battambang to Phnom Penh, with a short 20 minute meal break at the mid-way point. I booked my ticket online and it allowed me to pick our seats, so I chose the front two seats next to the driver.

Our last morning in Battambang was a moody one. The sky cast a grey blanket over the town, and the streets were muddy and full of puddles. On one hand I was glad that we weren’t wasting a sunny day stuck in a van, on the other hand I was worried about being in a van in the teeming rain on slippery highways with an unknown driver.

I’d research the safety records of the different van companies, and Bayon looked like the least hazardous of the options. This was our first Cambodian bus trip, and it was going to be the first of many, so I was intrigued to find out how this first one would establish our enthusiasm for boarding the next one.

Switching Seats

When we got to the bus departure point (just north of the Central Market) the lady at the ticket desk asked us if we wanted to move seats. I thought this was an odd questions, so I declined.

30 minutes later when we were about to board, we discovered that the middle seat I’d booked was little more than a half the width of a normal seat, right in front of the gear stick. This meant I was due to spend the next five hours squashed between Red and the driver, with the driver sticking his hand between my legs each time he needed to change gear.

We kicked up a stink, but by this time the bus was fully booked and they weren’t able to offer us a different seat.

Luckily there was a rather large American passenger, in his mid-60s, who had booked two seats in the back of the bus, and he was willing to switch with us because all he really needed was a seat and a half for his ample posterior.

I was so grateful to this knight in shining armor. He could have been a stickler about his two seats, but he saw a damsel in distress — I was actually close to tears.

I wanted to hug him to say thanks, but it was humid and he was sweating profusely, and I didn’t want to spend the next five hours smelling of somebody else’s body odour. But my gratitude was dripping from my face, and he could see how happy he’d made me.

One Rest Stop

As soon as we got to our one and only rest stop, we rushed out of the van and over to my savior to buy his drinks and food, but he had a picnic and drinks packed, so we joined him at a table for a chat about his adventures.

Although the building was like a cavernous warehouse, the mahogany tables and chairs added an aura of quality and class to this pit stop. We checked out the food, but decided that none of it looked appealing enough, and we really weren’t that hungry after all.

Anyone who says you don’t eat with your eyes first, is kidding themselves. I’ve discovered that if what I’m looking at doesn’t look appealing, then I’m not so open to trying it. But if it looks good, I’ll give it a go – even if I’m not quite sure what it is or what it tastes like.

As this was going to be our own stop, we both headed to the toilets, and if I’d been hungry before I visited to loo, I definitely wasn’t hungry after I’d been.

Arriving in Phnom Penh

It rained nearly the entire way to Phnon Pehn, and took a little bit longer than 5 hours, because of the weather. Our VIP van looked well worn and muddy by the end of the trip.

It wasn’t the most comfortable or relaxing ride – but I was just grateful to have a full seat to myself! I would use this company again, but I won’t book the front seat next time.

• Bayon VIP bus schedule between Battambang to Phnom Penh
• I booked our bus tickets online using Book Me Bus, using a credit card, and it cost $8 per person.

Getting Lost Looking for our Hotel

As we’d been cooped up in the van for so long, we decided a walk would do us good. Based on the map it looked like it was easy to walk to our accommodation, and it had stopped raining by the time we got off the bus, but it was hot, sticky, and humid. In my estimation it should have taken about 10-15 minutes to walk there, but after 30 minutes of walking around in circles we found ourselves on a street corner, sweating, annoyed, and arguing with each other.

The syringes on the floor snapped us into the present, and the dead-eyed locals propping up the nearby buildings made us realize we needed to get out of the area. We hailed a remork (a Cambodian equivalent of a tuk-tuk), and negotiated a $2 fare to go to the Hometown Suite Hotel. He drove round in circles and took us round a series of one way streets, further and further away from where I knew the hotel was.

By this time we were well and truly pissed off, with each other, and the remork driver. I used the map and navigator on my phone and we finally drove up the right street and found our hotel, which was literally less than a km from where the bus had dropped us off. But this distance had taken us nearly an hour to find. Why?

Turns out the streets have multiple different names, and the ones displayed on Google Maps don’t always match up with the actual street signs. So rather than trusting the GPS icons and just heading to where the icon was placed on the map (which hadn’t been that accurate in Siem Reap), I decided to go off street names and thought we’d been on the wrong street, and spent too long looking for the right street name which remained elusive.

By the time we got in the remork, it seemed like the driver was just as confused by the street names. So when we realized that he had no idea where he was going, I abandoned street names altogether, and just relied on the GPS locator instead.

Ah! the joys of getting lost in a new city. Doesn’t this always happen when you’re tired, hot, and hungry—and your backpack is making you sweat profusely, and your feet have started to swell and the seam in your sock is rubbing on your little toe! A perfect storm.

Flashpacking through Cambodia

Flashpacking through Cambodia: For Baby Boomers on a Budget is my latest Roving Jay travel guide full of travel tips, advice, and sample itineraries for flash packers who want the back packing experience without foregoing some of life’s creature comforts – like a comfortable bed, a hot shower, free wi-fi, and somewhere to plug your electric toothbrush in.

I spent almost three months backpacking around Cambodia in 2017/2018 to research this travel guide, and I share insights and first hand knowledge of tourist traps and off-the-beaten-path discoveries. We ate street food, drank 50c beers, and travelled by train, bus, minivan and tuktuk to identify the best ways to get from A to B.

If you’d like to receive a free Review Copy ahead of the general public release, please click here.

Here’s my Cambodia posts on this blog:

• Cambodia Visa and Arrival at Siem Reap Airport
• Cambodia: How to Avoid the Crowds at Angkor Wat
• Filling up your scooter in Cambodia
• The Best Tasting Street Food in Siem Reap
• Angkor Wat at Dawn: Is it worth it?
• Come face to face with Angkor Thom’s Bayon
• Good vs. Evil at Angkor Thom’s Impressive Southern Gate
• The Baphuon Temple and the Terrace of the Elephants at Angkor Thom
• Visiting Siem Reap’s War Museum
• Where to Stay in Siem Reap
• Visiting Siem Reap’s Markets
• Give your taste buds a disco at Siem Reap Night Market
• Responsible Tourism at Joe to Go in Siem Reap
• What to See and Do in Siem Reap
• Which Siem Reap Floating Village should you visit?
• Memorable Boat Trip from Siem Reap to Battambang
• Libations and Bric-a-Brac tempt our purse strings in Battambang
• Vegetable Amok at About the World Restaurant in Battambang
• Cooking Classes at Nary’s Kitchen Battambang
• Pomme Bar, Restaurant and Hostel, at the Core of the new Battambang
• An educational trip around Battambang’s Central Market
• Sightseeing and things to do in Battambang Cambodia
• Bayon VIP Bus from Battambang to Phnom Penh Cambodia
• Exploring Phnom Penh’s 172nd Street in the dark
• The challenge of wandering Phnom Penh’s streets
• A visit to Phnom Penh’s Central Market
• Exploring Phnom Penh’s Markets
• Phnom Penh Photo Diary
• Tops sights to see in Phnom Penh
• Touring S-21 Security Prison (Tuol Sleng Museum Phnom Penh)
• A reflective visit to The Killing Fields
• Taking a train from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville
• The majesty of Otres Beach sunsets
• Our Workaway Gig at Otres Beach Market Cambodia
• Working Away to make Cambodian Bagels
• Cambodia Pastry Wars: The Battle of the Quiche
• Our Cambodia workaway gig renovating a market stall
• Unwind on Cambodia’s Koh Ta Kiev Island
• Cambodian Beach Massage and Grilled Seafood
• Building Community during our Cambodian Workaway
• Gecko Village in Kampot Cambodia – a Photo Essay
• Christmas Eve in Kampot
• more coming