Angkor Wat/another overland border crossing

After three days of Angkor temples, Lee, Lisa and I took a long bus ride to Phnom Penh. They had an old classmate there who is working at an NGO, as seem to be all the expats in Cambodia. Even though it's exciting to get lost in a new city, it's also nice to be with someone who knows the place and what's fun about it. Shannon took us to a nice vegan Khmer restaurant, and we had some amazing curries and stir-fries.

But overall for me, Phnom Penh was a rather depressing trip. I visited the S-21 museum the first afternoon. It used to be a school, but during the Khmer Rouge's deranged regime, it was turned into a prison and interrogation center for intellectuals, monks, children, Vietnamese, and later on even the party's own members. In many ways, I was more touched than when I saw the Nanjing massacre museum--or at the very least, more chilled. Rusty beds and ankle shackles are still in the classrooms. The officials kept meticulous records of all their 20,000 prisoners, and their severe, black and white headshots are on exhibit in mind-numbing rows. I'm by no means superstitious, but when I walked through the hallways of tiny, brick cells, I felt as if there are ghosts there. One point of controversy for the survivors' families is that the remains at Choeung Ek (the killing fields) are either memorialized in a stupa or are still buried---Buddhist traditions call for cremation so that souls may be at rest. The killing fields were also very depressing to visit, but the grassy fields are much less jarring than the prison.

Sadness aside, Phnom Penh was actually a very nice city, despite the massive amounts of construction and car exhaust. I suppose that's the price of modernization. I would have liked to do a cyclo architecture tour and learn more about the French history as well as the New Khmer Architecture movement, but my itinerary was relentless...bus to Pakse, Laos and then plane to Luang Prabang.

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I want to describe the border crossing, since I had some trouble finding information on this online and maybe this can help other travelers. As of this year, VOA for overland crossings is available for the Cambodia-Laos crossing--you do not need to get a visa in Phnom Penh, unless you just want the extra peace of mind. I took a 12 hour bus from Phnom Penh to Pakse with Soray Transport for $26, which seems to be the only transportation option. The first travel place told me there was a 9 hour minibus, but upon further inquiry, it was no longer in service and 9 hours would have been impossible anyway.

The ride was uneventful, up until we got close to the border. The Sorya bus guy told us we would all have to pay $1 on the Cambodian side and $2 on the Laos side for fees--but he would take care of everything for us if we gave him just $1 more. Everyone just ignored him, which was good because it turned out that the border crossing is incredibly easy. Pay $1 for who knows what at the Cambodian side, get some stamps. Walk maybe 30 meters to the Laos side. Pay for your visa and $1 for overtime at the first window. Walk to the next window and pay another $1 overtime fee to get your passport back. All the overtime fees are BS, since there's no way you can possibly get to the border before 4 PM, but it's not worth the arguing to get out of it, because the guards won't budge.

By the time we got to Pakse exactly 12 hours after starting, it was dark and pouring rain. I paid $3 for a tuk-tuk ride to a hostel, and then left the next day for Luang Prabang. Not much to do in Pakse.