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I was planning to get the 6am bus from Bangkok to the Border, however when the dreaded alarm went off at 5am, my sub conscious decided it would be better to get the 9.30am bus. This was due to two things, one being the night before I had slipped in the shower and really hurt my back making it difficult for me to get a round at a good speed, the other being I have been eaten alive by mozzies so hadn't managed much sleep as scratching all night.
I get to the bus station after a great deal of haggling with a taxi driver who wanted to charge me a small fortune for a 20 minute journey. Eventually we agreed on a reasonable price. Arriving at the bus station I buy my ticket, which cost 250bahts ( about 4 quid), to go the distance to the border, this is on an executive bus, which means it has air con, WC and you get a free bottle of water.........it must be what National Express should be like in the UK, but it never is!
The journey itself to the border is fine, takes about 5 hours on that we stop once. I'm the only westerner on the bus and none of the other passengers can speak English.
Once at the border we are herded off the bus like cattle,as soon as you step foot off the bus motorcycles and tuk tuks are trying to get your custom to take you to the next border point. I get a tuk tuk who takes me to the Cambodian embassy to sort my visa out. I'm pretty worried about this as I have read and heard that they will insist on $100 for the visa as oppose to the $30 is should be and as I only have a hundred dollar bill, I thought I would get charged the $100, however much to be relief I just get charged the $30. From there on I'm taken to the check point, here I fill out a lot of form and get ferry-ed from one point to another by motorbike.....without a helmet....don't tell mum and dad!!
Once I'm through all security and border check,my first impressions of Cambodia are it smells and the street kids scare me, they would rob the shoes off your feet given a chance, also it is case of kids on fleas,not fleas on kids....seriously you can see the fleas jumping off them as they scavenge in the bins. I eventually get put into a car with 3 Spaniards to make our way to Si em Reap, which takes about 3 hours. I was warned about the conditions that you travel in but but honestly nothing could have prepared me for this. I was sitting in the front passenger seat of a car that appeared to have bullet holes on the front windscreen, I had no seat belt. The roads are nothing more than dirt track, their version of the M1 is just a muddy dusty dirt track. They have started to tarmac some of it but by god they have a looonnggg way to go!
It is great drive though once you get over the uncomfortableness. You see real Cambodian life, people setting up homes on the road side, elephants wandering down the street. Cows and donkeys at work, kids coming back from picking rice etc.
I was relieved to arrive alive in Siem Reap and the guest house was fairly nice, with a good restaurant. Once again only a few dollars for the room that was basic but clean.The following day i set off early with my tuk tuk driver to take me to Angkor Wat, I cant really say a lot about this except it is fascinating. I'm sure the photos (once I can upload them), will say it more. Angkor Thom was my favourite one though. I was there most of the day, only stopping to go to a market on the way back.
That evening I went to check out the Dead Fish Cafe bar, wow what a great place, it has a crocodile pit and the best cocktails. I ended up hanging out there with a few people and having a laugh with the bar staff. The following day I strolled into town for a wander and some lunch. However I was getting picked up at 3pm to go on my cruise of the Tonle Sap.This was another great trip, first we went to see a floating village, that was like something out of this world. They actually have a village on the water, it has a floating school, a floating doctors and even boasts 4 Karaoke bars!!!!
From then we went for a meal on the river, and watched the sunset on the deck, it was lovely. We also then had to race back a a thunderstorm was literally chasing up back out at sea....very scary!!!!
This was my highlight of my time in Siem Reap. Next stop Phnom Penh............
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