Exit into Thailand

Asia » Cambodia » North » Siem Reap
September 11th 2008

Published: September 14th 2008

Today was our coach into Bangkok. We had been told to be up and in reception of our guesthouse at around 7.30am for our pickup and transfer to the coach. We were also told we would be in Bangkok for 6pm this evening. Sat in reception I kept thinking it would be silly to waste a day travelling but with flights to Bangkok over 10x the price of the coach we had no other, economically feasible choice!

Sure enough at 7.30am we were picked up from our hotel. Not by a bus, car or even tuk tuk....by a single man, working for the bus company. Apparantly the car picking us up had broke down! Looking around reception I counted atleast 6 other people on the same trip....perhaps he meant the minivan had broken down? Either way we were walking to the coach.
Forming an orderly line we single file walked, like a walking school bus to the tourist office where we booked our tickets. It was not far and better for the environment so nobody complained. (We booked with Capitol Tours by the way!). Once here we waited, sat outside the office on the chairs provided for the coach to arrive. A few touts arrived, selling bread and other breakfast items but nobody purchased anything, perhaps they had all planned ahead like us and bought food the night before. When our coach did arrive we all boarded and sat in our seats. I say our seats but we were not given a specific seat number, one of those first come first served situations. The coach was not full anyway so it wouldn't have mattered. We left Siem Reap at 8.30am and began our journey to the border, albeit half an hour late.

Soon after our exit from Siem Reap the roads turned to dirt and the ride became alot bumpier. Travelling in the day both Rachael and myself realised that we were not going to sleep at all, especially with Cambodian television blairing on in the background. Luckily I had by IPOD so in an ignorant bliss I lay back and enjoyed the scenery.
When the roads turned from dirt to mud things got a little more interesting. Clearly there was an issue with drainage because although it had rained the night before, we had just come from dry dirt roads and all of a sudden there was this muddy mess! The driver however, clearly used to these conditions, just ploughed on using a new method of driving I only thought existed in movies such as The Fast and the Furious- drifting! For those that don't know drifting is where the driver tries to slide vehicle sideways along a road or other surface. Here, because there was mud and little grip in various parts of the road the driver would swing the coach sideways, spin the wheels so we slid sideways along the road and eventually we would get some grip. Then he would swing the coach the other way and repeat. Unfortunately the times when the coach got grip was usually just before hitting an oncoming vehicle (performing the same manuevure) and so we had many close, extremely close encounters!
Eventually the mud became really deep, I mean tyre deep and we where sliding everywhere to get grip. The road itself was now just a raised ridge of mud, probably 4 cars wide but with only half of it drivable. All around you were rice paddies as far as the eye can see (and probably many invisible landmines). In front of you was just more mud reaching into the horizon only interrupted by the frequent road diversions (some drainage maintenance work I think). It was not long before the inevitable happened and on one of the drifts the back wheels of the bus ventured too far into the really deep mud at the side of the road and we became stuck. After burning the clutch until it stank the coach out the driver ensured we were really stuck and gave up on trying to pretend he could get us out. Now being stuck after a drift is not good because it means you are sideways and in a coach this means we were blocking the entirity of the drivable side of the road. Now I am sure that people could work together to sort this situation out, I have seen it in the uk, but everyone here was out for themselves! People were pushing from both directions trying to squeeze through a gap no bigger than a single car with huge lorries, cars and mopeds. With the ensuing rain and spinning of car tyres soon the road became far too muddy for any sensible driver to even attempt to pass us. We were 'dead in the water' so to speak.

After an hour or so the wait became too much and realising we were not going anywhere soon I had to go to the toilet. I got off the coach, leaving my footwear behind (mud splatter is not good on flip flops) and made my way over to the side of the road where others were doing the same thing. A few steps away from the coach my foot disappeared into the mud, atleast half way up to my knee. I shimmyed my way to the side of the road before heading back to the coach, my feet and legs caked in mud! Outside the bus people were arguing and shouting and just not doing anything constructive. Then from no where a lorry carrying stacks of rice came ploughing through the mud, sliding past the cab of the bus before losing grip. Spinning his wheels furiously the driver fought the slide and luckily managed to slow the lorry down to a very slow skid but it was no use. The lorry edged its way toward the coach before coming to a gentle rest upon it. Inside the coach everyone breathed a sigh of relief but now even the small drivable gap, suitable for mopeds and motobikes was now blocked.

Two hours passed sat in the mud watching locals attempt to get through to completely undrivable side of the road, gradually blocking it more and more as they got stuck. Everyone seemed to have just accepted they were going nowhere and so eventually the muttering of suggestions amongst the tourists became ideas we were trying to preach to the locals in dis jointed Cambodian. After a few attempts we were able to stress that if the lorry was not moved we were not going anywhere, period! With this we managed to move the lorry after a few attempts with minimal damage to the coach- excellent! This meant small cars and bikes were able to manuevere around the coach with the aid of manpower pushing the cars away from 'stuck in' vehicles whenever they slid too close.

Closer to three hours after becoming stuck we heard the rumbling of what sounded like a tractor but was actually an digger adapted to work as a snowplow. With ease the driver cleared the road ahead of us and towed us out. With the new addition of the coach bumper in the aisle we were on our way and every metre we moved began to feel like a small victory. We made it 500m to the next diversion when the snowplow dissapeared around the corner, clearing the road ahead for us. After almost getting stuck again we rejoined the cleared road to find...a queue of traffic....what? Ignorant and impatient drivers had seen the cleared road and immediately driven onto it, causing another queue. Now a two way road had became one way....deadlock! After 15 minutes of horn blowing and shouting we moved most of the traffic, except one car. All the locals left their car and gathered around the remaining one, screaming and shouting...he would not move! In fact only a member of the road police was able to move him...he was completely ignorant to what was happening around him! The rest of the journey to the border was comparitively uneventful!

Poipet is worth a mention. Arriving at 5pm and after a fair amount of rainful the town looked disgusting! Mud and rubbish everywhere, horrible run down buildings and pretty unfriendly people. We were also told it was not very safe. The most reasonable looking area was actually the border crossing, although it still resembled just a gateway and ticket office! Hurridly we got ourselves stamped out, carried our bags across the border and got stamped into Thailand- excellent! It was like walking into paridise. Finely decorated buildings cafes and better roads, the weather even appeared to be better. After being ushered into a cafe to wait we sat down and took a sigh of relief, we had made it to Thailand!

As the coach arrived I looked down at my watch 6.30pm, we were supposed to be in Thailand half an hour ago! The coach was great, very luxurious and decorated in Winnie the Pooh style. Needless to say Rachael was impressed. In fact I think the interior could have been rotten through and she still would have been impressed!

We arrived in Bangkok on Khao San Road at 10.30pm, 4 hours late and around 14 hrs of coach travel. We and and a few other travellers from the coach plodded around a few guesthouses before making a joint decision to stay at one with a reasonable price. That evening, I hate to say it, we ate at Macdonalds for dinner before getting to bed just before 1pm.

What a day! You always get there in the end!

P.s. I must add that Rachael was suffering with terrible Sinus Pains, a cough and a sore throat throughout the entire journey making it that little bit harder! I think it is mostly the lack of sleep!

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