Lessons in Transportation

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We got to Cambodia safely last night, albeit ridiculously tired. Our bus ride over here was a real scam. Our travel agent in Bangkok said that we would be taking an air conditioned bus to the border (4h) and from there we change buses and drive in a big, nicer bus to Siem Reap (6h) - he even showed us a picture! The first part was almost accurate - except they drove us to a restaurant 15 minutes from the border where we were going to wait for our next bus - about 2 hours. Then once it arrived, it wasn't a bus, but more like a giant truck with benches and a canopy. It took us to the consulate office, for our visas, and then to the border, where we had to walk through customs. Then we took a bus to the bus station. Then, finally, 8 hours after we had left Bangkok, we got on our final bus. Except this wasn't the grand air conditioned bus with cushy seats and a bathroom from the photo. It didn't even have proper windows. Or shocks. It was the most rickety thing I had ever seen. The seats were vinyl bench seats with thin backs and there was basically no leg room - this means that the person behind you has their knees in the back of your seat. Everything rattled and clattered. On top of that, the road was the worst road ever - there's a rumour that the airlines are paying the government from paving it so that more people will fly. The trip from the border is only 160km, but it took 6 hours. And we had to stop at this restaurant for dinner for an hour. Apparently the guesthouse operators have a scam where they make a bunch of detours and get you in to Siem Reap way later than you planned and you're exhausted - and then it turns out that the bus drops you off at their guesthouse, and it's the only stop they make, and it's 10:30 at night and you don't want to go out looking for a place so you just stay there. So we did, but we checked out at 9am this morning and found a better place right away. Damn crooks.

Siem Reap is very disappointing. You can tell that if it wasn't for the Temples of Angkor, there would be no town. We'll probably only be here for 2 more nights and then we'll move on to Phnom Penh.

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