There are direct flights from Hanoi to Phnom Penh on Vietnam Airlines that are less than two hours long, but they are always priced between $450-$600 return. Even worse, one-way flights are between $325 and $450. To add insult to injury, they don’t serve alcohol on the flights.

So I, like many intrepid expats, made my way to Hanoi with a mix of busing and flying, which can be done for less than $70 each way.