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Published: March 16th 2010
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Cambodia...we
Shea, about to cross into no-man's-land. Day 1
Caught our 3:30 AM bus out of the Mor Chit Bus Station, tickets cost us 212 baht each. The seats were hard but the ride smooth and we dozed most of the way. Arrived at Aranyapatet just after 7:30AM and caught a tuk-tuk to the border (50 baht) and the confusion began. There aren’t any clear signs as to which way to go and a bunch of guys telling u different things. Good thing we already got our visas and didn’t have to deal with the visa scams. There were men trying to charge 20 baht to fill in departure cards, arrival cards and border passes, whatever it takes to make a buck I guess. Anyway, got through all of that, picked up a bottle of Penfolds Bin 8 for 400 baht (probably a fake) in the casino/no man’s land area, got through Cambodian immigration, tried to call the hotel for more details on the pick-up taxi, no response, got accosted by a BIG bunch of taxi drivers, resigned to the fact that our taxi isn’t going to show up….so got friendly with a Korean couple also looking for a taxi and agreed to share one to Siem Reap.
Cambodian countryside
Flat as the eye can see. Finally agreed on $30 for 4 of us and was told to walk about 100m down the road to avoid the police (payoff) but the poor guy got continuously hassled by 4 cops refusing to let him pick us up forcing us to keep walking another 100 odd meteres until he turned into an ally where they finally forced him to cough up $5 and then let us into his black Toyota Camry with a cracked windscreen and boot that refused to shut properly. He swung by his house to pick up some stuff he was delivering to S.R. and his son, David, who at first he tried to squeeze into the front between him and the driver’s side door! We made him sit in the back with us. Poor kid never said a word the whole 2 plus hr trip! Note on taxis, if they tell you that you that you can take a free shuttle bus to a taxi terminus and then you can get a taxi from there, it’s a scam. Our taxi driver showed us the terminus, it’s out in the middle of nowhere and you’d have no choice but to take one of their taxis
House 2
Subtle touch of blue. and pay about $10-$20 more.
We dropped off the Koreans first, the taxi driver had trouble finding Mekong Angkor Palace Hotel until I explained that in spite of the ostentatious name, it was really just a guesthouse. He promptly turned off the street where the 5 star hotels were located and pulled up to a tuk-tuk, explained to the driver and then told me that he couldn’t take us there cos the streets were too narrow for his car! Talk about being put in my place! The tuk-tuk promptly found it and yes, it is true, the good man wasn’t lying.
We checked in after they showed us two rooms, neither being the one they initially promised us, we settled for a ground floor room right next to the pool, Shea help to decide. I explained the taxi situation to them and they couldn’t understand it either, they did offer to upgrade me to a larger (3 occupants) room but I was ok with the one we were in. That one was on the 4th floor, no lift.
It took less than 20 min to sort out our itinerary for the next 3 days and we were all set.
House 1
Traditional colour scheme Angkor Wat…here we come! Unpacked, napped and at 4:30PM headed out to have a look at Angkor at sunset stopping first to purchase our 3 day pass ($40 each, this evening was free) and we were there. Pictures tell the rest better.
We ended our first day with a Cambodian dinner at a roadside restaurant and a dip in the pool, Shea’s asleep now, she’s exhausted but has really enjoyed the day.
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Joy Newman
non-member comment
Nice
Hi Sunny and Shea, Angkor Wat looks good......but how is Cambodian food like? Any chance of a recipe book (in English) from there? Enjoy the rest of your visit and take care. Lots of Love, JoyXXXXXXXXXX