Tuk tuk lady? T-shirt lady? Massage lady?

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Guide books warn you of scams when it comes to international buses in South East Asia but we thought not too much could go wrong paying 350 bhat (£7) for a 12 hour journey...

And it didnt - if you had some guts. Having been dropped off at some restaurant and immediately accosted by a young man speaking far too good English, we were rushed into filling out forms and asked for no less than 1300 bhats (£26), approximately 3 times the price of the bus ride and more than twice the price of the actual visa... Being the wise and hardened travellers that we are (mwahahaha), we stood our ground (we were the only ones out of the whole coach load) and were eventually told in a rather smarmy way that we could do it ourselves but that it would take 2 hours and cost the same. 

But hey we decided to risk it. On we headed down the main road with all our luggage in 40 degrees C, trying to ignore the endless "where you go miss" (when we were quite obviously walking towards the Cambodian border) which ended up being met with suggestions such as Kuala Lumpur, causing much confusion amongst local touts..

Anyway, despite a moment of doubt on our "5min" (read 3km) walk in the sweltering heat, it turned out to be the best option by far! We queued for about 5min, got our departure stamp and left Thailand. On the Cambodian side, we apparently interrupted lunch but were greeted with a big smile and given our visa for the correct $20 fee all in under 5min.

After all this, we were still only in Poipet and needed to travel the 150km to Siem Reap, a task achieved in a surprisingly short time. We checked into a lovely little hotel, just outside town in a quiet area with super friendly staff, free wifi and, wait for it, a foot-shaped swimming pool! Needless to say, we were rather excited by this and decided to spend out first morning just chilling by it. In the afternoon, we headed into town for ice-cream and were a little surprised at how touristy the place was. A quick wander around the markets and a wonderful massage later and it was time for dinner!

Up early the next morning hoping to avoid the crowds and the heat, we jumped into our hired tuk tuk and tootled along to the Angkor temples. We weren't unfortunately able to avoid either heat or crowds, but it was amazing all the same. They spread over such a vast area, some totally overgrown and really are just as beautiful as they are on postcards!

In the evening, after a lovely swim and hot shower (!!), we felt slightly more human and treated ourselves to a gastronomical French meal - something we have both missed sooo much! After foie gras, steak tartare, magret de canard, red wine and creme brûlée, we were two happy bunnies! 

The plan today was to see Angkor Wat from a hot air balloon but a) they are waiting for certain parts to be shipped from France... and b) we are currently stuck inside due to the torrential rain!!

Despite claims of it being Scambodia and let's face it, a lot of people do want to rip you off, we have so far had a great time and met some lovely people. As our hotel says, life is not measured by the number of breaths taken but by the number of moments that take your breath away!

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