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Published: January 18th 2014
It was quite an adventure travelling to Cambodia. One, because we were crossing in from Thailand the way most locals and backpackers do using local transportation. And two, because I was so sick with a cold I had caught on our trip. I had to repeat positive affirmations in my head the whole time to keep it together. But I wasn't going to miss this for the world! I was going to put on my brave face, cross into Cambodia with my husband, visit amazing World Heritage site Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, and meet up with my awesome Peace Corp friend Megan there too!
Options on how to get to Cambodia from Thailand: There are two ways to enter Cambodia from Thailand: either by flying OR over-land crossing. The easy and stress-free way is obviously flying in... the problem is that flights into Siem Reap are ridiculously expensive! So I started researching how to cross over by land, which is extremely cheap in comparison. However, this option is not for everyone. It means spending a whole day on a bus or a train that is probably uncomfortable, smells, or might break down on the way. It
means keeping track of arrival and departure schedules that are written in languages you don't understand. And it means you will probably get scammed at the border crossing by the sleazy scum bags that are involved in the tourist-scam-mafia (seriously, they exist.)
I really wanted the full experience that the locals have when they cross over into Cambodia. Besides,
we were on a tight travel budget! I came up with a step by step plan on how to do it and presented it to Victor, and to my surprise he approved the plan right away. Since we did this on our own, I usually recommend this option to budget travelers on Tripadvisor, so below is my detailed plan on how we did it and tips to make it easier. If you want to skip right over that, you can read on to our arrival in Siem Reap...
Steps to get from Bangkok to Siem Reap: Decide if you want to have a Cambodia Visa on hand or if you want to purchase one at the border crossing instead. They both cost about the same. We purchased the Cambodia E-Visa online a month before
our trip and took our own pass-port pictures with us too, just to possibly dodge a scam situation at the border.
(1) The day prior, ask your hotel/hostel to schedule an early taxi or tuk tuk ride to the
Hualmphong Train Station in Bangkok around 430AM. Be ready for your early pickup, and once you get to the train station purchase your train ticket to Aranyaprathet for 48 Baht ($1.60 USD) making sure you buy the train pass only (not the train and bus combo) and wait for time to board at 5:55AM.
Take the train straight to
Aranyaprathet (Cambodian border.) It's about a 6 hour train ride and arrives around 11:35AM. You will pass beautiful National Geographic style scenery, so have your camera ready! Be sure to have plenty of snacks and water handy for the long train ride. The seats are extremely stiff, so take a travel pillow if you want to nap on your journey, it's OK... the train will make several stops, but yours is the last and final stop.
(2) Once the train makes it's final stop at
Aranyaprathet, get off. Take a tuk tuk from
the train station to the actual border crossing. It is approx. 4 miles or 10 minutes away (don't attempt to walk there) and they usually charge around 80-100 Baht (about $3 USD.) Now, this is where you have to start being cautious: Make sure you ask to be taken to the official border post, and you’ll be taken there...
BUT Watch out for the "Visa Scam" where they’ll try to take you to a fake "Official Cambodian Visa office" and overcharge you. It's NOT that tall white building, so if they attempt to take you there, just walk toward the border crossing which is on the adjacent path. People fall for this scam ALL the time, so make sure you don't. Also, make sure to dodge any sketchy "overly nice" Thais offering to help you to the border, they are usually up to no good!
(3) Walk across the border. Get your passport stamped at the Thai side, and then walk 100 yards forward to the Angkor “Welcome to Cambodia” Arch. Get your Cambodia Visa if you don't already have one. Walk over to the Cambodian visa post "office" with your visa and get your fingerprints scanned,
and passport stamped again for the Cambodia side, this takes around 30 minutes depending on how long the line is. Watch out for pickpockets around.
(4) Once you clear and continue into Cambodia you have several options: you can sneak away and look for a local taxi that will take you to Siem Reap for a negotiated price ( the drive is about 2-3 hours). OR, you can look for the free bus titled the "Poipet Tourist Passenger International Terminal Bus". This shuttle bus drives 10 minutes to the "tourist taxi/bus/van zone" where transport awaits to get you to Siem Reap. This is the option we took, and we chose to get on a mini van from there for $10 per person which fills up fast with about 9 people total. IMPORTANT: From here on out, you must use American Dollars, so have some handy to pay for transportation etc. Money exchange is awful at the border so I don't suggest you wait till the last minute and exchange here. If you take a taxi here to Siem Reap it should be around $12 per seat when it has 4 people or $48 total per taxi (ask
others to join you and share the taxi fare if possible.)
(5) Arriving in Siem Reap, the van drops everyone off at the same place, then find a tuk tuk that will take you to your hotel. They all desperately want your business, they all want to be your escort for the rest of your Siem Reap trip. So be ready to let them down, unless of course you actually want them to be your driver to Angkor Wat for the next couple days. Your Done!
Safety: Cambodia is a tropical, malaria zone. Try to avoid mosquito bites. If you are a little more paranoid then there are anti-malarial medications you can get from your doctor. But if you are careful, bug spray will suffice.
Language & Currency: If you are American you won't have to worry too much in Siem Reap. American dollars is the main currency in circulation here, and English is used by all the main hotels & restaurants etc.
We arrived in Siem Reap and we survived land crossing! yaaay! Arriving in Siem Reap was such a relief since we were
both sick by this point. Luckily I made sure to book the best hotel for last, which meant we'd be sick BUT at least comfortable in a gorgeous room with a plush king size bed. It was called the Siamese Views Lodge. It was quite luxurious by our standards, but for the price we paid it was still soooo affordable and sooo worth it! There were literally fresh flowers in the lobby everyday to fill the hotel with natural fragrance, even my stuffed up nose noticed that lol!
My Friend, Megan! I was so excited to be meeting Megan in Siem Reap, I was practically hopping happy!!! A little information on Megan: I met her before I even met my husband! We went to the same college and both had started working at a newly opened Ruby Tuesday restaurant in South Carolina. We've been good friends ever since, and remained friends even when she moved to Florida to finish her Masters degree in Art. We'd always meet each other when she'd come back into town. One of her original art pieces for college even held temporary residence in my house once, which is so cool! Megan
Angkor ruins
Megan and I!has been through so much in her adult life, and yet, she has overcome every challenge. Its the reason she is so inspiring to me, and why I have such great respect for her. She has a genuinely kind heart, and one of the brightest spirits I've ever met. I was not surprised that she volunteered herself to service at the Peace Corps. For two years now, she has been working as a teacher in Cambodia, putting all her energy and efforts into teaching children everything from art, to spelling, to a gazillion other projects I can't even keep up with! She lives with a host family and is 100% immersed in the Cambodian way of life. And what blew my mind was her Khmer language skills, which I had no idea about until we met up in Siem Reap. I couldn't get used to it... the whole trip I was thinking, "How is this American girl conversing fluently in this language with these people right now?!?" And apparently every single Cambodian felt the same. I watched their shocked and confused faces as my fair skinned, blonde haired, blue eyed friend spoke to them like it was her first language.
She is so smart it's crazy! I'm so honored to have her as a friend, and as our guide in Cambodia. I'm also proud to say I have a "Peace Corp friend", which is why I use that term often to describe her! lol 😊
Angkor Wat wooohooo! Oh my Lord, what can I say about Angkor Wat that hasn't already been said before? Although it is not one of the "World Wonders" I think it should be! It is however, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which means it is a valued and protected part of the world. I kind of hate mentioning Tomb Raider, but for those who saw that movie, Angkor Wat was that beautiful kingdom Laura Croft arrived at with all the monks. Angkor Wat is not just one single building, it is a huge Archaeological park and complex consisting of many temples that are now ruins. Although Cambodia is primarily a Buddhist country, Angkor Wat has a lot of Hindu influences. That's because of the different Kings that controlled the Angkor Kingdom at one point or another.
Climate: It is October.... in Thailand I dodged the heavy rains of
the rainy season. Well we didn't quite dodge them in Cambodia. Siem Reap was raining about 80% of the time we were there. We took a lot of rain gear with us like rain jackets, ponchos, umbrellas, water cameras, and sturdy shoes that prevent you from slipping. Even with it being the rainy season, Angkor was still bursting with tourism. Maybe it's because the temperature, though rainy, was comfortably cool. Not once did I complain about how hot it was! The rain and excess water gave our pictures a mystical look at times, and made all the greenery pop with color.
We hired a tuk tuk driver for the three of us, and had him take us to the major temples: Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Angkor Thom. Passes are $20 currently, not sure if price will change in the future. While we walked the complex we snapped picture after picture and marveled at the ruins. Megan pointed out that it was Pchum Ben holiday, which is when Cambodians pay respects to their deceased relatives. So all around the complex we'd see rituals and offerings going on, which was really cool. We'd find refuge in the tuk tuk
whenever there was a sudden down pour.
Although we should have been concentrating a little more on the ruins, the truth is we weren't feeling too good and we were a little tired. Most of the time I also couldn't help but talk to Megan about her life, I wanted to hear as much about her Peace Corp experience living abroad in Cambodia as possible, and what her future plans might be.
Other Stuff we did in Siem Reap: We planned to do so much more, but decided to take it easy. We visited the Night Market and the Pub Street with Megan one night and ate some really good deserts there. I tried to dip my feet in a Fish Feet Massage thingy, but I could hardly handle how ticklish the experience was! We did some souvenir shopping and Megan negotiated for us in Khmer so that we wouldn't get the crazy high tourist prices. On Our Last night, we went to a nice restaurant called Koulen with Megan to eat and watch cultural Aspara dance performances, which is a traditional dance in Cambodia. The rest of the time was
Coconuts!!
Refreshments after Angkor Wat tour! Got to stay hydrated spent sleeping or watching movies in our hotel room, and taking meds that Megan helped us get at the local pharmacy. She helped us out so much, I can't thank her enough!!
Bye-Bye South East Asia 😞 I was so sad saying goodbye to Megan.... our time with her was so short, and it just sucks saying goodbye to the people you care about. On our last morning in Siem Reap, we had one last breakfast together, hugged, and said our goodbyes to Megan, and then left to the airport to go back home. I grew to love South East Asia. Even our experience in Cambodia was not tainted by our battle with the colds and sniffles. In my dreams are trips to Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and back to Thailand. Behind all the crazy tourist scams, is a region of the world that is so naturally beautiful and has some of the friendliest people you'll ever meet. We have not yet scratched the surface, but we are definitely learning that being open minded about the world's cultures has it's advantages: exotic foods, unforgettable adventures, and lasting memories. Travel is Passion,
Love, and Happiness.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Angkor wat
We loved our time in Cambodia. Very nice photo