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Published: February 13th 2007
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Suanlop Night Market
This is where Chompu and friends took us for beer. Leaving Bangkok yesterday was somewhat bittersweet - sad to leave cheap and superb Thai food but also glad to be on the move again. We had our last roadside dinner, then went out to meet our Couchsurfing friend Chompu who had a bunch of other friends in tow. They were having a picnic in Lumpini park while watching a performance by a local brass band, something like jazz in the park. Capped off the night with a tower of Chang beer and some good conversation.
We slept early in preparation for the marathon border crossing which awaited us in the morning. Woke up at 3.55am, caught a taxi to Hualomphong train station and hopped on a 6 hour 3rd class train from Bangkok to the Thai border town Aranyaprathet. I was ready for the worst but to my surprise, the train ride was comfortable and somewhat enjoyable too! Once we left Bangkok and started to pass by the rural towns along the way to the border, we saw the unseen side of Thailand - miles and miles of barren land in every direction. Very calming, very zen haha. It was nice to be on this train that was almost completely
devoid of farangs. Well, if you do plan to ride on this train, do not roll your window all the way down or you'll be covered in bits and pieces of dried vegetation, ash and the like. I felt like a scarecrow coming off the train, leaving a trail of debris behind me.
Once we got to the border, our anti-scam defense mechanism kicked in and we basically said NO to everyone. The stories of people getting scammed while crossing into Cambodia are numerous, but recently, much effort has gone into making this transition less agonizing. Caught a local sangtheow (basically a truck with 2 long benches behind) for 10B from the train station to the actual border, walked to immigration and got stamped out of Thailand. After that, we crossed to the Cambodian side and got approached by a suspiciously friendly Cambodian who said that we needed to get Visas. Upon showing him our Singaporean passports (Singapore is an ASEAN country, so there is no need for Visas in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam among others) , he quickly escorted us onto a FREE trolley service that ferried us to Cambodian immigration! WOW! Breezed through immigration and the same
guy escorted us onto a FREE shuttle bus that took us to the transportation center! I was just shocked at how easy this supposedly infamous border crossing was.. we didn't even get a chance to get scammed.
We then found a Canadian couple at the transport center and we shared a toyota camry taxi to Siemreap. It cost $50 in all, but $12.50 per head sounds great especially when the bus costs $10. While planning for this trip, I was considering taking the pickup truck all the way to Siemreap and this would have cost $2, but as soon as we got onto the roads of Poipet, I was so glad we didn't. As anyone would tell you, the road from the border town to Siemreap are the worst in the road. For the first 2 hours of the 4 hour journey, it was a sandy dirt road riddled with potholes. At many points, the sandstorms prevented us from even seeing the vehicle in front of us, and the potholes and uneven terrain made it feel like we were racing in Motocross! I was curious to find out how fast we were going but the speedometer was broken, perhaps
Asha Guesthouse
All packed and ready to go at 420am it was for the better anyway. Our driver was obviously a professional driver, speeding head-on into huge trailers and trucks and swerving away at just the last minute, cutting in and out of traffic, blasting his horn at every opportunity, all the while driving with one leg under his butt, with one hand on the wheel and his handphone plastered to his ear. That was definitely the bumpiest ride of my life. However, it was a really exciting one too.
Yes, so we finally arrived in Siemreap at 5pm after 13 hours on the move. Checked into the penny-picker rooms in Rosy guesthouse and we aren't impressed to say the least. Tiny tiny rooms which kinda resemble storerooms, with pathetic trickling cold water showers in the shared bathroom. The more expensive rooms downstairs are lovely, but are slightly out of our range. Tomorrow we are upgrading to Popular guesthouse.. for US$13 a night, we get an AIRCONDITIONED twin room with 66 CHANNELS OF CABLE TV! This will be our first time spending so extravagantly on accommodation, but it's all within budget. Can't wait to check in there tomorrow.
We are doing Angkor Wat on Thurs, Fri and Sat,
On the train
As you can see, plenty of local people on this train. Schoolgirls too! so expect PLENTY of pictures in our next post.
Oh, and happy Valentines day everyone! Perhaps we'll find some nice ladies tonight, Cambodian or tourists will do, if not it's YL and I.
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Ril
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I'm flying!!!!!
I got my FOC ticket with compliments from Cathay Pacific on Business Claass. I'm flying soon!!!!!!!! :) :) :)