First up was a 7 hour bus trip to Phnom Penh filled, as ever, with the blended harmonies of Cambodian Karaoke on the TV, a man hocking and spitting to the left of me, and a woman violently vomiting to the right. Delightful. Spent the first hour becoming Kirstie the mozzie slayer, ruthlessly Jackie Chan catching and crushing mozzies with my bare hands like my brother-in-law taught me. Life skills.
Fun fact: the dengue carrying mosquitoes are quite easy to see, as their backs have white stripes. Handy.
Gross fact: when you kill a mosquito which has just fed, you get a smear of blood everywhere which is probably not yours. Nazz.
Whilst a night bus would be economically ideal (save a night of accommodation and half a day of exploration time!), the reputation for night buses is truly atrocious. Accidents are often not recorded, being chalked up to 'hitting a fallen log' or 'pot holes', security is terrible with reports of random extra passengers being allowed on to sit in foot wells and pathways so the drivers can get more money, and there have been numerous horror stories of sexual harassment and molestations with solo female backpackers. All in all, then, that'd be a hell to the no.
