Blogs from Siem Reap, North, Cambodia, Asia - page 210

Part 14 February 13 Siem Reap, Cambodia Surely there is a Cambodia beyond Siem Reap, a town that seems to have been rapidly transformed by the sudden "in-ness" of Cambodia and particularly Angkor Wat. From stepping off the plane to the sharp old airport aside the under construction new one, you can tell this is a big step above Laos or India in terms of tourist orientation. Driving into town (with a taxi driver speaking fine English), we passed dozens of spanking new, remarkably similar looking, giant hotels (all named Angkor this or that). And past all this, in the former backpacker part of town, we found "Bar Street," lined with balconiued restaurants that wouldn't look out of place in Seattle or San Francisco (except for their pricing--a bargain by US standards at $3-5 per meal, ... read more

Cannot believe how fast the weeks are flying now. Back in Siem Reap now after a 6hr public bus journey from Phnom Penh. The worst journey so far due to the drivers constant beeping of the out of tune horn at absolutely everything in sight even if it was 2 miles away on a straight stretch of dirt track.....extremely frustrating and meant trying to 'zone out' the sound to get some sleep. We arrived in Siem Reap sometime in the afternoon and unpacked our big backpacks which we left here for the 2 weeks we were travelling about...was really nice to have clean clothes again since everything seems to have turned to an off sort of orange colour. We went to a Bettocello concert on the recommendation of someone which turned out to be absolutely ... read more

GETTING HERE Well, Jim and I are in Cambodia at the moment. A lot of people regaled us with their horror stories about travel from the Thai border to Siem Reap, such as 17hour bus journeys from hell, scams where the 'VIP Aircon bus' is neither VIP nor Aircon, rickety buses that 'break down' then take you to some dodgy place late at night and intimidate you into staying etc. I started thinking perhaps this was a necessary 'right of passage', then I thought "Am I CRAZY?" Jim diligently researched transport options on the net and we opted for what seemed the best way to go: a cab all the way from the border to Siem Reap - some 160 odd km. Crossing the actual border was pretty easy once we'd shook off the touts wanting ... read more

We had heard the horror stories of the bus to Cambodia. Armed raids to rob you of your belongings, a 17 hour trek across the worst tracks ever, corrupt officials at the border, bus scams leaving you stranded at horrible guesthouses until you paid more money....Well at least some of the above are not true or at least did not happen to us! We started thinking perhaps this was a necessary 'right of passage', then we thought "Are we CRAZY?" The journey started off pretty badly to begin with. Leaving Ko Phi Phi was hard enough as it was. You must all read this thinking "poor buggers, look how hard their lives are"....BUT the truth is that it is the longest we have stayed in one place and we have no other home so as soon ... read more

Well after passing my IE it was time for another small trip and I had to do a visa run as well. I had some company on this jolly little adventure in the form of Chicago and Gaz from the dive shop. So we decided to head to Siem Reap and then we will be off to Phonm Pehn. Leaving Pattaya by car we headed up to Aranya Prathet which is the border town in Thailand to cross into Cambodia and the border town of Poipet and from there it was on to Siem Reap. Entering the border area was easy and straightforward alot more than many people or books would have you think. There are guys on the Thai border side that will sort out your Cambodian visa for you so you do not have ... read more