So today was the day that I made the crossing from Thailand into Cambodia. We left Bangkok 1 hour late and travelled East to the border town of Poi Pet. For the first half of the journey I pretty much slept due to the jet lag I was experiencing.
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| On the bus to Poi Pet |
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| Beggar on the streets of Bangkok |
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| Poor puppy :( |
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| Just for Katie ;P |
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| Elephant Statue |
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| Sign at the petrol station |
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| flowers on the side of the road |
About 7km from Poipet we stopped at a random restaurant for lunch where our bus driver and guide attempted to convince us to buy our Visa’s off them because we wouldn’t be able to do it at the border. Luckily I had been forewarned about this particular scam and joined forces with 2 sisters, Emily and Lucy, from Britain who had also been warned. We refused to buy the Visa from them and said we would get it at the border and eventually they left us alone. We felt bad for those who had fallen for it though as they ended up paying twice as much as us and having to wait just as long to get through the border.
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| Welcome to Cambodia!!! |
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| Sign on the back of our bus!! |
Once through the border we boarded another bus that took us to a bus station where we changed buses once again. This was to be our bus into Siem Reap.
What should have taken 1 1/2 hours ended up taking 4. Who knows why because the bus worked fine and the roads were very good so basically we decided that they just wanted to scam us again into booking rooms in their guest houses because we would be arriving after dark.
After stopping again at a random restaurant for dinner where we met another Brit, Dave, we again boarded our bus, Dave happened to be on our bus too, we just hadn’t met him yet.
Another hour, and a couple stops to drop off and pick up locals, later we arrived on the outskirts of Siem Reap. Apparently the bus wasn’t allowed into the city so we had to stop off in a dark alley and were given free rides on Tuk Tuks into town (it turns out the Tuk Tuk was part of the bus fare). Lucy and Emily hopped on one Tuk Tuk while Dave and I went on another. It was quite funny because our driver wanted to make sure we found our friends even though we kept telling him we were traveling alone and it didn’t really matter. He insisted on finding them, so we drove around the city a few times while he looked for the other Tuk Tuk driver until finally he got a phone call telling him where they were.
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| Dave and I on our Tuktuk into Siem Reap |
Our driver very kindly let me borrow his phone to call Wendy who runs the orphanage with her husband Tim so that they could come and pick me up. And to cut a long story short I arrived safe and sound at the orphanage and am now heading off to bed.
Good night!!
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