16th to 18th day, Sunday, January 11, 2015 Off to Cambodia

Djum Riap Sua (Hello) and Swa-kum (Welcome) in Cambodia

So I changed countries and I am now in Kampong Cham on the Mekong River in Cambodia. The day before yesterday, it was time to say goodbye to a very beautiful country, Laos. It was really fun, except for the goodbye.

Because I really don't like being forcibly declared a criminal by border officials. But I had no choice, just like all the other tourists who use this border crossing every day.

It was supposed to be that everyone (without exception) had to pay a flat fee of 2 dollars for the exit stamp from Laos, and hardly anyone wanted to accept that. For this reason, I also asked the officer directly for a receipt for the fee, the officer just smiled, I said I had already paid 40 euros at the Laos embassy in Berlin, and then he said a bit more firmly that I was here in Laos and not in Berlin. I immediately looked him in the face and mentioned that this was corruption, after which he apparently couldn't discuss anymore. He stood up and left his post and the room. It didn't help, in the end, everyone paid.

Well, that meant a 2-hour border stay, and since there was still a long way to go to my first destination in Cambodia, on partially catastrophic roads, we only reached Kratie shortly before dark.

There, we quickly took the ferry to the nearby island of 'Koh Trang' in the Mekong River and took a scooter taxi to the hotel 3 km away, and it was really beautiful again, in the middle of nature, and there was only electricity from 6pm to 10pm, which was good because it came from the generator and would have disturbed my sleep otherwise.

The next day, unfortunately, it was time to say goodbye to this beautiful place again, and we took the bus (4 hours) to Kompong Cham, which is already a slightly larger city, but it is also relatively relaxed here, except for the scooters everywhere, including the cars, they seem to love honking, honking, honking...

Well, the following day was of course sightseeing again, and everything was within walking distance.

First, we went to Wat Nokor, 2 km outside the city. Here you are alone again and you can see some remains of an old, small Khmer temple from the 11th century. Then we went to the city's second attraction, the bamboo bridge to the nearby island of Koh Pbain.

Unfortunately, I didn't see much or anything at all from the island because when I arrived on the other side, they actually wanted to charge me a fee to cross the bridge. Of course, I waved it off, turned around, and walked back to the mainland.

So, that was it again. I spent my evening on the market square, marveling and eating. Tomorrow I will finally go to Siem Reap, 'Angkor Wat' is waiting for me.

Until then...

Djum Riap Lia (Goodbye)