Tomb Raiding in Cambodia

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Arranged an overland trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap (Near the Ankor Temples in Cambodia). For a trip that cost 300 baht (about 4 pound), I should have known it was a bit too good to be true.........

Bus picked us up at 8am in the morning. We got to the border at about 1pm (so far everything was cool). Then at the border the company wanted an extra 5 quid to arrange our visa, OK so that's where they were making their money................ The "Tour Guide" then explained to us that there were only 2 international cash machines in Cambodia, and that you could only spend Real (Cambodian currency). So I took about 200 pound worth of baht out from the border cash point and the tour guide took me to an "exchange place". Feeling that something may be dodgy, I "only" exchanged about 80 pounds worth - found out in Cambodia that he had given me an exchange where I lost about 25%!o(MISSING)f the 80 pound!! ...... Then our bus which was meant to arrive in Siem Reap at about 7pm, actually arrived at a hotel at about 10:30pm conveniently enough when everybody was too tired to look for other accommodation!!

Anyway I was there..........

Bought a fake copy of the Cambodia Lonely Planet the next day (for about 2 pound!!), and there is a very helpful section on the "Scam buses" which take you across the border, if only I read that one day earlier, anyway good start to trip to Cambodia!

Next morning arranged a three day tour of the Ankor Temples with a little Cambodian guy who was my scooter driver. The temples are approx 1000 years old, and part of an era when Cambodia Empire stretched across Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. There are absolutely loads of different temples to see (or climb if you want), and def recommend the three day option. The highlights for me were Ankor Wat which was just huge and Bayon with it's 100 or so faces carved into the stones.

Also another famous temple, that featured in the film Tomb raider that I went to was called Angor Prohm. Pic on this site is the place where Lara Croft picks a flower and falls through the ground (into a Hollywood studio I guess!). Here they have just let the tree attack the temples for a more authentic and overgrown look and feel.


After Visiting the temples, took a 6 hr bus journey (thankfully with no further scam stories to report) to the capital of Cambodia -Phnom Penh. To be honest the biggest tourist attractions they had here were related to the old Cambodian Pal Pot who murdered millions of Cambodians as part of his Khmer reign in the 1970's. Went to the Killing Fields where 1000's of Cambodians (not just the convicted person was executed but where their family were also executed). It had aa tower stacked with skulls and bones and old bits of clothes from the deceased scattered around 😞. After also went to the infamous prison where of the 4,000 odd inmates it had, only 7 actually survived it. There were black and white pictures of all the inmates who lived out the end of there lives here (Men. women and children are on display).


After visiting the Killing Fields the driver of our Tuk Tuk driver sensitively asked us did we want to go to a shooting range, we said yes.... Think it was an illegal underground shooting range, but they had everything on offer from Ak47, sawn off shot guns, grenades, rocket launchers and even a tank in the mountains if you had the money!! For a laugh we asked how much it would cost to shoot a cow, we were told we could not do it, but then asked how much we were willing to pay!! Dave had a few rounds on the AK47, I just chose to have my pic taken with a few guns, including the old cold war favourite of the Russians (AK47).




Thankfully had arranged a flight back from Phnom Penh to Thailand for my 2nd Installment of Thailand.........

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Photos

Phnom Penh - Killing Fields
Is there a joke about Hamlet here, or is that just bad taste?

Cambodia - Shooting range
What you looking at punk?

Comments

[Joel-Canuck from Xian]

Don't feel bad about the scammers. We came to Cambodia the hard way, and it wasn't much cheaper than what you described. Although, we called their bluff on the extra costs about the visa...No matter what, going by land to Cambodia from Thailand is a pain in the butt. Later