The longest bus trip in the world
Well, we can't say that we weren't warned - we
did know that the overland trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap would be terrible.
But we also knew we had no choice - we really, really wanted to see Angkor
Wat, and our budget couldn't stretch to 500 pounds for us to all fly there
and back. So instead of the 1 hour flight, we endured the worst bus trip
we've done as a family. We had a 7am start at Bangkok, where the bus picked
us up outside our accommodation - even at that time in the morning, it
was obvious that the air-conditioning was nearly dead, and the thousand
mozzies in the bus made a meal of us all. But this was a backpacker-special,
and we've noticed that tour operators can get away with things that the
Thais would never put up with. The trip towards the border was slow -
we were overtaken by everything, including a dustcart - and every few
minutes we were passed by a coachload of cold Thais, while we sweated
away in our sauna-bus. Finally, after 180 miles on motorways and highways,
and 6hours, we pulled into the lunch spot, 6 miles from the border. Basically
the trip is run by a bunch of people who want to get every penny possible
out of you, so the stop was designed to get people to pay them to collect
their Cambodia visas in advance. We didn't bother, because we knew we
could get it instantly at the border, and for a lot less than we were
being charged - but we still had to wait for 2 hours anyway. The finally,
at 3 o'clock we were piled into another minibus and driven to the border.
The crossing was easy, and the visas issued quickly. We had to walk across
the dusty bridge and road between the two countries, past the swish casinos
that sit in no-mans-land. At the other side we our bus chap collected
us, and got us into a tuk-tuk to go to their office for the minibus -
and then got us back out of the tuk-tuk because the minibus had come to
us! But that only went 300 yards, before dropping us at their office.
And then we waited while everybody was sorted into different minibuses.
Finally, at 4 o'clock we were off, in a jam packed midi-bus. The story ended at 11pm, when we arrived in Siem Reap,
dusty and exhausted. For the full sotry of the trip, and our time in Cambodia, read our Cambodia diary
The crossing was easy, and the visas issued quickly. We had to walk across
the dusty bridge and road between the two countries, past the swish casinos
that sit in no-mans-land. At the other side we our bus chap collected
us, and got us into a tuk-tuk to go to their office for the minibus -
and then got us back out of the tuk-tuk because the minibus had come to
us! But that only went 300 yards, before dropping us at their office.
And then we waited while everybody was sorted into different minibuses.
Finally, at 4 o'clock we were off, in a jam packed midi-bus. The story ended at 11pm, when we arrived in Siem Reap,
dusty and exhausted. For the full sotry of the trip, and our time in Cambodia, read our Cambodia diary