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Published: February 10th 2010
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Immigration
The fan you can see didn't work!!! But the next one did... To get to Cambodia we had a few options; bus, train or plane. We decided on the bus as it was the cheapest, and supposedly, the easiest mode of transport. The choice was bus all the way to Siem Reap, or bus just to the border... we thought it would be simpler to take the bus all the way (maybe not in hindsight...).
We had an early start to be ready for our bus pickup at 7am but the inevitable delays meant we didn’t get onto the bus until around 8:30am! It was smooth sailing until we got to the border town on the Thai side. We stopped at a restaurant come visa agency where we were advised we would stop for an hour lunch break and then he would guide us over the border. Once off the bus, he asked all people without visas to pay US$35 for them to arrange a Cambodian visa. A heated argument started as some of the other travellers wanted to do the visa themselves as the actual rate at the border is US$20. We had already had our visa (as well as visas for Lao and Vietnam) which we had arranged in Bangkok
Queue
Sweating it out in the queue. Notice the tree next to my head... they built the shed around it!! so we stayed out of the argument and had some lunch! In the end, a small group left for the border (independently) to do the visas themselves while we endured more delays. Before departing we were advised that the bus from the border to Siem Reap would take 6 hours... so of course they had a discounted taxi, taking only 2 hours, which we could upgrade to... for a cost! We declined and finally departed the restaurant 2 hours later!
Immigration was a collection of dusty old sheds with no air conditioning and one or two working fans. The queues moved slowly as there were only three or four officers on duty and in no rush. The highlight of the queues was getting into a position where you could get some relief from the fan!!
The delaying tactics were starting to take their toll and we were gradually being worn down by the humidity, dust and lack of information. After being told for a third time that the bus took a very long time and we wouldn’t get into Siem Reap until after dark, we finally relented and accepted the shared taxi option... along with two others who
had reached tipping point as well! In the scheme of things it was only an extra 300 baht (6 pounds) each for a long journey.
Side Note; we also were pestered to exchange money at the border, definitely do not as the rates are not good and Siem Reap is full of banks, ATMs, money exchangers etc. US Dollar is the currency of preference (not the best since the pound is so weak at the moment!).
True to their word (for once), the taxi was faster as it was able to overtake along the route but the road definitely wasn’t as bad as mentioned as while the taxi took 2 hours. We think the bus would do it in 3-4 hours... not the 6 that the touts mention at the border! If we did the trip again, we would probably catch a train or bus direct to the border town and then a shared taxi to Siem Reap. There are plenty of other travellers to share taxis with and it will work out cheaper.
When we finally arrived in Siam Reap there was still time for one more scam. As soon as we were in the city,
the taxi pulled over at the side of the road where a number of tuk tuks laid in wait... our taxi driver would go no further! ‘Free’ rides to hotels equated to booking them for a tour the next day or paying a higher rate for the room. Luckily we had a booking but had to negotiate hard for a good rate... we finally rolled into our hotel at 6:30pm!
Total time from leaving our hotel in Bangkok to arriving at our hotel in Siem Reap... 11.5 hours!! However the actual travel time (time on a bus or taxi) was only 6 hours!
Apart from the temples (which we will cover in a separate blog due to the amount of photos!), Siem Reap is a big and bustling town fuelled by the tourist trade. The old market sells everything from fruit, vegetables, clothes, silk works, shoes and kitchenware to the touristy knick-knacks. We spent time wondering the alleys and haggled for some canvas oil painting and Birkenstocks (only US$6 so they are definitely original) before enjoying a fruit smoothy at one of the small local cafes.
There is also a night market which is aimed at the
tourists. It is a great place to amble and grab a beer before heading off to the busy town for a bite to eat in one of the numerous restaurants around Pub Street. We found a really reasonable restaurant where we ate local Cambodian curry called Amok, the portions are huge so one is enough for two. Most of the food is between US$2 and US$3 with beer a thirst quenching US$0.50!
We spent an hour watching a film about the Pol Pot regime. Cambodia has a sad but fascinating recent history which we are going to learn more about when we travel to Phnom Penh via Battambang on the river...
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