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Published: November 12th 2006
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Well I can offically say now that temples are not my thing and before you jump in i have given them a fair go especially considering the trip we took to get to Siem Reap to see the temples of Angkor. that is not to say that they may take other peoples fancy but no more for me.
The trip from bangkok to siem reap... what can i say a test of patience and one i think could be a useful torture tactic that the military could implement. It is a 330km trip from bangkok to siem reap in cambodia, we arrived at the border from bangkok in 4 hrs which was not too bad as it meant we only had 130kms to go. Then the fun began, we were made to wait at a restaurant for 2 1/2 hrs for a bus (that turned out ot be more like a big ute!!) to take us the 6km over the border during which time they tried to say that we had to get our cambodian visas through them for 1300 baht (US$40). but i had heard about this scam and told them I wasnt interested as I knew it was
only US$20 at the border. to which we recieved the response "no thats only at the airport" (the first lie of many) they then cracked the shi$s with us and said "fine get it yourself then". So when they went into the consular office with the other 20 people they had scammed from the bus to get the visas we followed them and true enough the sign said $20 so the other 20 people on the bus had just been nicely scammed and the thai guys made a nice US$400 which in thailand is a small fortune. So off we went to the window but the thai guys who tried to scam us told the guy behind the desk not to give it to us and they all started laughing at which time i said you think this is funny scamming people everday dont you, they werent to happy with that so no luck there, so we had to try again at the border crossing.
At the border this time it was immigration who were trying to scam us not the bus company they trided to tells us they did not take US$20 despite the fact that the sign
clearly stated US$20 (about 700 baht) they instead said they only took 1000 baht and conviently had a exchange window next to the counter so after standing our ground and saying no we will only pay US$20 we were able to negotiate a bribe of 100 baht plus US$20 to get the visas. This is a scam that they try on every tourist and i suppose hats off to them if they can get away with it, it is just so cheeky to charge double, you would think they would only charged an extra 100 baht (US$3) not an extra 600 but even when some people queried them about the prices they had an answer for everything. But the fact that the country officials at immigration also do the same thing is a fairly bad reflection on the level of corruption that exists.
That was however not the end... the bus trip over the border to siem reap was far worse. the road wasn't sealed and it was as bumpy a ride as i have ever been on, continuously vibrating the entire journey. but this is the clincher... it took 7hrs to go the 130kms!!! after averaging 20kms an
hour while feeling like a frog in a blender was sh%t, i never wanted to see another bus again in my life.
So after the fiasco to get to Siem Reap i was like these better be bloody good temples and low and behold no luck there. i was a little bit pissed seeing that this was the only thing in cambodia that really attracts tourists. so we headed on to the capital of phnom phen for our continued journey towards vietnam, it was a nice place and we stayed in a guesthouse by the river which was relaxing but after 4 days in cambodia i think that will do me for the rest of my life, nothing against the people they are great and always happy to have a chat but there is just not much to do.
Time for Hinda's two cents worth!! Yes the bus trip was hell but I thought the temples were great, admittedly one day was plenty and they did start to get very similar after 3 or 4 but the are definitely worth a look if you are near by. The mere fact that these structures date back to the 1100's
is impressive let alone the detail that they have in them. Each to their own!
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Nickers
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I went to the Pub
Hi Guys, Great to here all is going so well. On the weekend i went to the pub, i have some photos but they are a little messy and I don't want to show you guys up cause mine a bit better than your temple things. :-) Miss your gorgeous faces xoxo