Day 75 Sen Monorom bus to Kratie

A big normal bus would have cost only a couple of dollars more but taken ages because it wasn't direct. In hindsight it would have been much safer. We sat in the back of a 14seater merc van with 23 people in it and one sitting on the luggage tray out the back. You might wonder how to fit 9 extras in the van, well simple squeeze 4 rather than 3 across, add an extra row before the front and have TWO people in the drivers seat!
The road is decent even by international standards(its brand new) but the assortment of vehicles doesn't make it much safer and he drove fast. It was not long till we past an accident, a large truck carrying a big digger had rolled down a gully, on the plus side it did look like the driver was sitting on the roadside with a couple of bags looking ok. Our guide had told us yesterday that insurance here is new and most people don't have it and people do not stop at accidents to help unless others are there to confirm to the person involved that they did't cause it. Causing an accident here will incur costs to repair/replace 3rd party vehicle, compensation to the victim/s, paying off the police if they come and paying the judge if it goes to court.
In Kratie on the mighty Mekong river very glad to be here safe, we relaxed and ate in the hotel for the afternoon. Our room has internet and air conditioning but the power is so irregular the condenser for the a/c isn't getting enough power to run, the net resets and the fan slows to a visible spin on a regular basis.
Power we are told is diesel generated making it expensive and roughly 14 times what we pay at home.
Picture today is from our hotel balcony looking out to the Mekong river.