I've not had a chance to update for a little while, so hopefully I don't miss much out! (This is a long read!)
Monday I got up early to travel on to Cambodia. Typically on Sunday night I met some of the nicest people I've met so far who were from Brum and had a few beers with them... which meant I started the longest and hardest day of my trip yet in a very tired state! (Not a good plan given what I know now...)
I bought the exact same ticket as Steve from Koh Chang, as his trip was trouble free (well, apart from trying to cut his own leg off, but thats another story!) and he got into Siem Reap around 7:30pm. The price worked out a little more than if I was to do the trip independantly, so it seemed worth it... I figured that seeing as I didn't have any pressures of time, that even if I was delayed it didn't really matter.
The aircon minibus was on time and picked me up at 7:50 and the ferry ride was also on time and pretty dull as I sat there nodding off for the 30 minute crossing.
Once on the other side we had a quick break to use the toilet etc and off we went for the boarder at Poipet (which is on the Cambodian side).
As is typical with these package deals, we stopped 20 minutes short of the boarder at a cafe only to wait 45 mins for the next bus on to the boarder itself... it was an opportunity for them to make cash from us eating there and they obviously offered to do the visa paperwork (which involved them taking your passport away). I opted out of this as I new I could do it at the boarder in a few minutes and probably cheaper. I didn't eat at this point either, which I later regretted!
I met a very friendly Norwegian trio (a guy and two girls) here who were going on pretty much the same trip as me, and had planned on staying in the same hostel I had picked, so if our tickets kept us together we were going to travel together on to Siem Reap.
Once the bus arrived we all packed in like sardines with the bags piled up in the middle and drove to the immigration area. During this part of the trip I met a great young couple from Canada called David and Bex, who were also going on to Siem Reap. The Norwegians were given different tickets from me, so I guess I might catch up with them later.
Once at the boarder I joined the queue for the boarder crossing and spoke to a police officer there (who are seriously corrupt by the way!) and tried to arrange my visa. I turned two away who wanted the same price as the cafe up the road and found one who did it for 1000B. I filled in the form, gave him my passport and ran off to get the visa while I carried on queueing. The queue didn't move fast as there were 3 desks and hundreds of people, and the process was very slow. About 5 mins later the policeman came back with my papers and was a little disappointed when I didn't give him a tip after taking my passport back from him... he'll live! ;)
After getting through this point I was through to the Cambodian side and little did I know at this point, was about to have probably the worst bus journey of the next year! Lol
I got on another bus to take us away from the boarder area and where we would wait for the next bus to take us all the way into Siem Reap. Whilst waiting here David and Bex arrived and we got chatting a bit more. We ended up waiting here about an hour before the worlds crappest bus pulled up and we were directed to board... seriously, this thing looked like it had done 400,000 miles! We were about to travel for hours on this thing on the worst road in South East Asia... talk about adventure! :/
At this point I foolishly only had one small bottle of water and once we were boarded and started driving off was told by the tour óperator'that we would stop in about three and a half hours! Doh!
I chatted a bit more with David and Bex and we settled in to the thinly padded seats for the journey. This road is amazing, and I was so glad it was dry! The bus was so old and battered that it pretty much didn't get above 30-35 kilometers per hour and all the windows rattled like mad and kept jumping open after you'd shut them to avoid the dust. There was obviously no aircon, so the dusty air from the windows was the only relief from the afternoon heat. There are pot holes all over the road and it is basically a thin layer of concrete over an old dust track which has just been compacted down by the traffic. It is really bad!
By the time we stopped for a break I was very uncomfortable in the backside area and we realised we would not be in Siem Reap until very late evening. Obviously this is part of the package tour scam where they tire you into submission to get you into their hotel for the commission. I didn't care that much as the hotel was only $5 for the night with a private bathroom and I could move on the next day if it was a crap hole. The break was nice though and we all stretched our legs, used the bathroom and had some food and water.
We talked with Joanie here too, who was a lone traveler from Canada too, who was sat further back on the bus.
Once back on the bus I put my ipod on for the remaining two hours which helped shut out the noise, but the dust by now was bad and the backside would need a few days to recover, Lol!
Once we got into Siem Reap we were taken to the D&D Angkor Villas, which was only just outside of town and took a look at the rooms. They were fine and so I checked in and took a cold shower... which was lush! Soooo much dirt came off just from this one trip... Lol.
Got to drop off to sleep about 00:30 after the 07:00 start and 6 hours sleep the night before.
Before we went of to bed, Joanie, David, Bex and myself agreed to meet in the morning around 8ish to arrange a tuktuk tour of the temples.
At 6am I was very rudely awoken by the most amazing racket from right behind my room! I was pretty confused and thought there was a party going on out front, but it was out the rear of the hotel and there were lots of people there and a stupidly loud music system playing Cambodian music with drums and horns!! Aaaaaargh! Unbelievable... My first thought was that the bastards at the hotel were taking the piss, but we later found out it was a wedding and they always start at 6am. They could have bloody told us that when we checked in!! Fuckers.
Even with my earplugs in, a pillow on either side of my head and all the windows closed I could still here it!
I got up and went down to get some breakfast and water and wait for the others.
Obviously the whole hotel was woken up and plenty of the disgruntled travelers were checking out right there and then...
The manager apologised (gee, thanks!) and promised us it was the last day of the festivities and would not be there tomorrow.
We waited an age for breakfast, which I swear they were cooking over a candle or something, and once done with breakfast we agreed a deal with a friendly young tuktuk driver for a day at the temples and off we went... this will be a seperate entry.
For those traveling this route I would recommend just getting to the boarder, sorting immigration yourself and then finding some people to take a shared taxi with into Siem Reap. The taxi's are air conditioned, fast and comfy, although some people didn't like the ride as the drivers can be a bit crazy, but what the hell, its much quicker and cleaner! The taxis seemed to be priced between 300-400B per person for a full car and will drop you where you want to go when you get to town as long as you make it clear before you get in.
I'm glad I took the trip even though it was so tough. I met some great people and it was certainly and experience and a good eye opener to the state of the country and the desperation of the people that live along the main road into Siem Reap. Once you get through the madness of immigration, the place is not bad at all.
I will be flying back to Thailand from Phnom Penh though... oh yesssss! ;)
