bye bye bus... not...

...immigration stop at the border

on my birthday, i gave myself a present - trip to vietnam... all just fell into place for this trip... my wife thought this would be good for me (we celebrated my birthday the night before with friends), a dear friend, m - conceded to my invitation of going to vietnam on a short notice and my work contract has not come out.

this trip was supposed to be for the philippines but due to circumstances that favored me staying - the vietnam idea came up...

bags packed - including cameras - one on my belt (a back up point and shoot) and another one inside a carry on camera bag. my friend m procured the day before tickets for us and arrived at the house twenty five minutes before departure time... left the house still at a comfortable time of fifteen minutes.

as we were nearing the bus station, i remembered that i picked up my mother and sister at another bus station when they visited cambodia before. immediately, we informed the tuktuk driver to proceed to another bus station - five minutes before departure. i was already feeling uneasy thinking that we wont be able to make it. we got there on time but the bus was nowhere to be found. it was stationed at the location where we originally was heading. alarm bells started ringing loud. we definitely are not going to make it.

phone calls were made from station to station. and we were informed to intersect with the bus station in route. i feel like we were on a mission - it was an adrenaline rush and the tuktuk driver was pushing his engines to the limits (could do more actually). as we arrived at the designated intersection, we saw the bus turning and i thought, this is it. we definitely will be able to make it. i was wrong. the bus didn't stop. phone calls again - loud harsh voices from our end of the line asking them to stop for we are already tailing them. the bus kept on going. another phone call - this time harsher and louder. again, it didn't work.

heavy traffic ahead - the bus crawled into a very slow pace, my hopes went up again. we got to the side of the bus and the tuktuk driver started banging on the side of the bus for them to open the door, to no avail. up came the bridge - i said to myself, if we don't make it this time, trip is canceled. phone calls again - the bus will stop at the foot of the bridge on the other end. it stopped. we hurriedly got off the tuktuk, carried our bags and settled comfortably at our assigned seats. the trip is on. as i normally would say on these kind of instances - it was a photo finish. vietnam, here we come...

090527

on the way to my post... micah

as part of the arrangement, if michelle is not in country, i tag along micah to travels that i have to do... in one of those trips... i burst into laughter seeing what she was doing at the back of the car as we cruise along the highway going to koh kong... and this is usually what she does on travels... entertain herself.

revisited: picnic recreation area

much to my pleasant surprise, i found these photo files again. not much of photo quality but these reminds me of the scenery as the sun goes down in the area...

a jewel in sre ambel

after being bumped off from a foodshop for they ran out of food, i and my colleagues settled at another inexpensive alternative... when we had our fill of calories, i queried where we could have a relaxing time in this hot humid weather, thinking actually of a beach or a riverside oasis... this is the place where they brought me... a sight to behold...

Koh Sdach Island

night stroll in sihanoukville...

here now in sihanoukville for the trip tomorrow morning to the island named kirisakor to do our routine monitoring of the activities at the health facility there, i thought of going around the vicinity and of course, took photos in the process...

as i was doing this, i was constantly nagged by the thought that it is dangerous, what with the news of people being mugged and valuables taken away -- my enthusiasm in taking photos prevailed... it was only when i was entering the gates of hotel we were staying at for the night that i noticed my colleague. i was oblivious of his presence as i walked around taking shots. he was there to watch / guard me. it was such a very endearing gesture. rithy, thank you for that...