Day 49 - Pattaya/Siem Reap

Sunday 26th September

After my late night out with Alan, I didn't actually sleep that well and consistently looked at the clock every hour. I had to be up by 6:30am anyway for the next adventure - a bus ride to Cambodia! I scored breakfast at the hotel which was a game in itself - as I said in an earlier post, all breakfast menus only show 'sets' only, whereas I only wanted scrambled eggs. They kept bringing out the rest of the set, each item for which I would refuse. Then when I went to pay, I gave them 120 baht for a 70 baht bill because I didn't want coins as I was leaving the country - only notes which I could exchange - but they kept giving me my change in coins!

Anyway the mini-van was early and contained the whole of one person (me!). I'd been told it was an 8 hour trip on the same bus the whole way to Siam Reap - 4 hours to the border, then 4 hours to Siam Reap. I was in for an interesting journey to say the least ...

Not much after 3.5 hours in the van we made it into the Thai border town of Aranya Prathet and I was dropped off at a roadside cafe. "You have to swap buses here," said my driver. My new driver came up to me and said, "We have lunch here for half an hour then we leave. But, you pay for bus in Cambodia. Bus doesn't leave until 2:30 and takes five hours. But if you pay extra 400 baht, I call taxi for you and it take only 2 hours". Con job #2. I paid, preferring a 2 hour taxi ride to a 5 hour bus, and then hopped into the mini-van.

"Hey, we know you!" came a voice. Can you believe it was the Germans which I'd gone out with in Bangkok? What a small world it really is. They'd been down to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party and (obviously) were now heading into Cambodia. We had a catch-up on the quick ride to the border, where our driver gave us tips on crossing the border (i.e. keep your bags close; don't give your passports to anyone except the immigration official).

Border crossings consist of two parts: one to leave the country you're presently in; and the second to enter the next country. Exiting Thailand was fairly straightforward; although the Germans were held up - they took about 20 minutes to come through. As we were about to walk through the no man's land to the Cambodian immigration, the skies opened and it started bucketing down (thus, the picture of me entering Cambodia with a rain jacket on). Some enterprising Cambodians started selling umbrella-assisted journeys for 20 baht, but we all braved the rain and the mud.


The Cambodian immigration was like being in Africa. The dirt floors had turned to mud, and the one fan that was working had its cord submerged in a pool of water that had gathered. ""Um, aren't electricity and water a bad mix?", I said to one of the Germans. "Take a look around - does it seem like anyone cares?" he said. Fair point, but I made sure I joined the queue on the opposite side to the fan! Despite many stories about corrupt Cambodian immigration officials who demanded additional payments for bogus fees, I breezed through with my e-visa and joined the crew outside, in a muddy street lined with casinos.


We were taken in a shonky bus five minutes down the road to the "Tourist Station" by our guide. We were told we should exchange money here as we wouldn't be charged commission (con #3: the exchange rate was paying half of the standard rate!) and I was then pooled with 2 Turkish guys to share a taxi into Cambodia. Whilst we were waiting for the taxi driver, I overheard a conversation with a couple of tourists and a guide in front of me. "You take taxi alone then?'" said the guide. "Well, you said it's cheaper to share, so we will wait for others to join us" said the couple. "You can wait all night then" shot back the guide, who then stormed off. Cambodia wasn't getting a good reputation in my books ...

This continued when we hopped in the taxi. The three of us were forced to share the small backseat and leave the front seat free, as apparently the driver would be picking up another passenger on the way, as the price we had paid was as if there were 4 passengers paying. With a little more probing, the driver told us there was no additional passenger waiting, and we would have to split the additional cost between us (which we didn't end up doing).

Farewelling the 'guide' at the tourist centre (who had the nerve to ask, "What do you have for me?" when we left - i.e. a tip), we started driving along the road to Siem Reap. Cambodians drive on the wrong side of the road - and I mean this in two ways. One being that they drive on the right hand side, and two meaning our driver rarely actually drove on the right hand side, preferring to drive either in the middle or the left. Whenever we were within 100m of another car, bus, bike or similar, he would hold his hand on the horn and drive on the opposite side of the road. The two Turkish guys and myself occupied ourselves with conversation instead of the driver's antics instead, although I did see some interesting sights out the window. (You've all seen the pictures of how Asians can and will haul anything on a motorbike - well, we saw a large sow being carried on the back of one, and then saw a parrot in a basket of a bicycle!)

Forty minutes down the road the car pulled into a tiny road-side shack. "The driver needs to clean the car"", the owner said. Um ... con # ??? (what number are we up to now?) The driver simply sat down for a cigarette whilst we were pressured to buy books and food (again, an offer I rejected). Back in the car for the final hour's stint, we pulled into a 'tuk-tuk' stand on the outskirts of town. We'd been told the tuk-tuk drive to our hotel was included in the price, but again (no surprises!) there was a catch: we had to commit to using the driver for our visits to Angkor Wat. I flat out refused again, so by the time I arrived at the guesthouse you can just imagine what I was feeling about Cambodia - get me out of here!!


I'd had just a few snacks since leaving Pattaya, so my first order of business was lunch. I was expecting numerous hawker style set-ups, and was surprised instead to find very modern cafes in abundance. I stopped at the first one, Cafe Central, and had an amazing bowl of linguini with mushrooms, pine nuts and spinach with freshly baked baguettes for the grand total of $4.75. I was to find over the coming days that the food and standard of cafes in this town was amazing (finally - a place with no McDonalds!). And, unlike Thailand, they opened early for breakfast, which was another bonus!

As per tradition, I set out for a walk to orient myself with the city. It has a very French provincial feel with lots of green space. I found a Raffles hotel which advertised high tea and found a number of mini-marts which sold Vegemite (Vegemite is actually offered as a condiment at restaurants) and even Cadbury chocolate made in Australia (most Cadbury chocolate in Asia is the Asian produced version, which tastes very different - and not in a good way). I also scored my first snowdome of the trip, of Angkor Wat, and purchased a book called 'The Lost Girls', which was actually based on a travel blog I had read whilst in Melbourne.


I had initially planned to have a quiet day the following day, but decided I would head out to Angkor Wat instead. I found a travel agent and booked a personal tour, consisting of an English speaking guide and personal driver and car for the massive price of ... $40!

I returned to the guesthouse to veg out for a while - turns out they have free DVDs (DVD players are standard in every room) - so I watched New Moon (terrible - books are much better). The guesthouse also offered free internet, so I jumped on for an hour in the main lobby. Whilst I was on the 'net, a guy came up to the lobby and asked the owner, "How much for dum-dum?" The owner was confused, and said, "Pardon?" The man turned and pointed to me and said, "How much for the girl - how much for massage from girl?" The owner set the man straight and then turned to apologise to me. I'm assuming the guy was drunk .....

After that fun I headed back into town, finding 'Pub Street' with its neon signs and bars, walking along the Night Market, and sampling a Cambodian pancake (I'd had 'lunch' at 4pm so didn't need another meal).
Off to sleep for a big day at Angkor Wat tomorrow!
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