In order to see a bit more of the country, we
decided to get the 4am bus to Cambodia rather than fly. This meant having to
cross the border at Poipot. We felt relatively prepared, having read about the
many scams. A few small bribes later (“and 100 Baht for my pocket”) we managed
to get our visas quite easily. However, we did manage to pick up a tout who
followed us for over an hour…seems we’d forgotten the key rule ‘Never
talk to touts’. Already feeling a bit
on edge from our experience at the border, we dubiously accepted a taxi ride. After
about 5 minutes, he pulled off the road, got out of the car, removed his ‘taxi’
signs and disappeared out of sight. We exchanged a few worried looks. It turned
out all he wanted was a bit of privacy for a wee “comfort break”. After lots of
crazy over-taking manoeuvres and stopping
to collect a package (!?) which he was to deliver for a small sum, we were
transferred into a tuk tuk to continue our journey. This tuk tuk driver took us
to a different hotel to the one we’d booked and swore that it was indeed the Golden
Temple Villa. Upon closer inspection, it was clearly nothing to do with the
Golden Temple Villa, but was in fact just another scam. 100 Baht later and a short
journey round a few corners and we finally arrived.
Never have we been so glad to
arrive at our hotel and we were greeted by some beautiful Cambodians. After a
lazy afternoon people watching and drinking coffee in Siem Reap, we’re feeling
very refreshed and ready to explore this smiling nation.
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| Batmobile |
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| Who needs clothes to ride a moped? |
Awesome pictures! We loved Cambodia. We seem to get good ones of scenery but not of people. These are awesome. Make sure you have a back up of them though. We have met too many people who have lost all their snaps through dropping/breaking/leaving/losing a camera
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