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Published: October 31st 2007
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You looking at me?
Bayon Temple, Angkor From Bangkok we thought we'd take the notorious scam bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia. The bus is known for its border crossing hassle and the eternity it takes to go about 600km!! We thought we'd give it a go anyway just for the experience and were glad to say that we've done it but would never do it again.
From Bangkok to the border was a breeze, nice little nap to settle in the trip and off we go. Knowing that you can get a Cambodia visa on the border for $20 (if you don't get scammed that is) we thought we'd wait untill the border to get ours. The scam of the visa fee started at the Thai border with the bus company stopping for 'lunch' and to get our 'other bus tickets' sorted!! However, we knew what was coming and was ready for the fight...they wanted 1200baht for the visa, we refused point blank as this would have worked out to be around $37, thats $17 in their pockets...not a chance. They weren't too happy about us refusing but we didn't care. Now, at the Cambodian border is where all the fun started. Whilst refusing to look us
in the eyes they demanded a range of 1000-1200baht depending on which official Cambodian immigration officer you spoke to. We had no baht on us and just had the $40 for the two visa's but after around 10 minutes of Becs S demanding to see a 'manager' (not too sure they have them at the border as there all corrupt, but it was funny to watch as all she got back was a 1000baht as a comment...on ya bike), we finally got the visa's for the $40 as we chucked 10 indian rupees (8p ish) at them and some random english money (1.20 ish). We had never seen someones face light up so much as the visa suddenly became $20!! Naughty boys. Here both the Becs would like to say a huge thank you to Becs and Dom (BallingerLewis) as reading their blog made us aware of this little gem of using other currency to get you into Cambodia, thank you so much guys and we miss you lots.
So, the town at Cambodia's border, Poipet, was a seedy little place with everyone out to rip you off. On the bus to Siem Reap more fun was yet to
Ta Prohm
Bec C and the fight against the elements be had, the 150km ish road to Siem Reap took a total of 8 hours due to 'breakdowns' and the extemely poor condition of the road, seriously bumpy, not one single stretch of road was flat, you had to drive at 20km/h all the way...mental.
After an exhausting 17 hour trip things really picked up, Cambodia is an incredible place, absolutely beautiful. Before visiting the mighty Angkor we took a trip to the Floating Village of Chong Kneas, and its exactly that, a village that floats. It had a school, hospital, shop and most bizzarly a floating basketball court. Amazingly the village moves up and down the river depending on the time of the year and the water levels. Becs S even got to drive the boat we were on which was alot of fun although i think the lads who owned it thought she was going to smash it up as she was alittle to keen on the speed but not on the break, nothing changes!
We took a relaxed two days to get around Angkor which meant we got to see the temples at our pace and as in-depth as we'd like. Its easy to say
that we had a lot of fun climbing the temples, some where extremely steep. We had a wonderful couple of days and the temples were great, our favouries being the Bayon, Ta Prohm and the brilliant Angkor Wat.
Bayon is said to epitimise the creative geneius of King Jayavarman VII. It was fantastic, it had huge faces literally coming out of the rock (said to be the face of Avalokiteshvara but with a very clear likeness to the King himself). At any one time you had a number of the 216 faces staring down on you thanks to the position of the 54 towers. Ta Prohm was equally fabulous and not only for its use in the Tomb Raider film but for different reasons. Bayon like so many of the temples is very well preserved, Ta Prohm on the other hand is not and therefore it was interesting to see how nature and the elements had taken its toll on this now weathered temple. Its pretty cool to see a massive century old tree sat on top of the wall of the temple. Apparantly this would have been how all the temples at Angkor would have looked when they
were first rediscovered.
Not only was Angkor Wat the biggest temple (and apparently the largest religious structure in the world), it was also the temple we got to see at sunrise which was a magical experience. On this trip so far we've seen numerous sunsets but as Bec C is a lazy bones and loves her sleep, sunrise was one thing for us still to do. However, leaving it for Angkor Wat was perfect. We arrived in darkness, all around you could here the wildlife and see the lights of the other tuk tuks whizzing around the temple area. Upon arrival you could bearly make out the outline of the temple but could hear the foot steps of the other visitors making their way through the gate. Sat upon a ledge in the main area inside the temple was exciting, although Bec S was disppointed at the great number of people that had turned up and the fact that none of them would just 'SUSH' and appreciate the moment. Bec C didnt help either as she is such an excitable person and whittering away is quite common even at 5am. Although seeing the temple come to life as dusk
broke was a moment to remember.
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Bex
non-member comment
oh the corruption!!
Ha ha ha!!!! Thanks so much for the comment guys we're really missing u too..thats so funny you had that experience..i'm glad u found it amusing..dom was so mad when we were there..Ur blog is beautiful we can picture the two of u scampering over the temples cos we no what they look like and loved them so much..keep enjoying urselves miss u loads bex and dom xxxxxxxxxxxx