tuk tuk loaded
It’s the middle of the night, no really! The alarms… four of them, just in case - begin howling at 03h30! We spent the previous evening packing our bits and pieces to ensure we had enough time to get ready for the taxi’s arrival at 04h15. This was so that we could be carted off to the Hua Lamphong Station. Our train for Cambodian border leaves at 05h55.BUT, it’s a third class train all the way, no aircon and absolutely no padding on the seats! (Okay, so it only felt that way after the first two hours)And it was first come – first serve! There was plenty of room on the five and a half hour journey. At the cost of TB48… which translated means R15.00 give or take! It seems to be the dry season… dry paddy fields, water buffalo have been relegated to being dust buffs… and yellowed grasses was what accompanied us out the window.
On arriving at the border Town, we negotiated for a tuk tuk to take us to the border post… after being taken to an agent.. then the consulate, because we were being scammed for the price of our visas, only to discover that the consulate was scamming tourists too… we eventually got to the border post and paid the correct amount for our visas! After that was quite a walk in no mans land and then further into Poipet, where we tried to avoid more scheisters after our money! Poipet is the border town just inside Cambodia- being called a town is a compliment! Huge dust bowl holding unbelievable heat, is more accurate. We decided to get something to eat, only to realize we have absolute no concept of the written language including numerics… we have no idea what we paid for what was CERTAINLY NOT CHICKEN! Yet we ate it! They sold water… and one bottle was even cool! Eventually , after being fortified with whatever it was, we braved negotiating for a taxi to take us the 150km to Siem Reap. NON STOP was the deal! With complete agreement and understanding we embarked on our journey… only to go around the block, on dirt roads, to the car workshop to replace a tire. Non stop my foot! Hardly got to the edge of town when the taxi careened to the other side of the road for gas-which we had to pay for!
We were not off to a good a good start! Good new road for the first hour or so, then on to ‘road works’ for another hair-raising hour finishing on the remainder of road in desperate need of repair! After transferring to yet another tuk tuk… we finally made it to our planned destination! Apparently its quite a feat to manage the trip in one day… a miracle!
view from our room
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