Bus to Phnom Penh

Thursday, Jan 12. We are back in Phnom Penh for one night. Stephanie Boag from Australia (now living in Vietnam) has joined us for the rest of the trip. Left Battambag at 8:00am for what was supposed to be a four to five hour trip. The bus hit a pothole and there was a loud bang and a whole lotta shakin. There was hissing and alarms as we pulled over onto the side of the very busy highway. We all got out and kind of stood around in a field. Oddly there was an old toilet. We thought perhaps a flat tire or a brake issue but it turned out to be a broken spring. I thought we were going to be sitting in the heat for hours but after about 45 minutes our amazing bus driver did a roadside repair and got us going again.  We got back on but all had to sit on the left side. After a few kms we broke down again. Our leader called for a new bus which had to come from Phnom Penh -about 2.5 hrs away. After another quick repair we were on the way again and this time made it all the way. No need for the other bus. We were only about 2.0 hrs late getting in. Getting a new bus tomorrow for our trip to Takeo Province. Takeo is primitive and rural. We are there for 5 days and will be working on bikes the whole time. No pool and only two suitable restaurants which we will alternate eating at. Lisa (our leader) has been here before and has trained the restaurants to take the heads off the fish and gut them - for our western tastes. After that we are going to the beach at Sihanoukville for a few days of R & R before we get back to work. Posted by Dave