“Bangkok to Siem Reap Bus Scam”

SEE PHOTOS AT http://web.mac.com/erinfearn/iWeb/SE%20Asia/Bangkok%20to%20Siem%20Reap.html

We read the Lonely Planet guide a day too late.

We were picked up at 7am. Our “coach” was a mini-bus. No, a van. It did not have a toilet, it did not have any movies and it was not spacious. The driver wasn’t even very friendly.

We were taken through roads that were flooded after a night of rain, out of Bangkok. When we were almost at the Cambodian border, at Aranyaprathet (where we would have caught the train to, had we not been so lucky as to arrange the expensive coach ride) we stopped at a beautiful restaurant we where we could get visas in one hour, had we not already arranged ours over a 24-hour period. It was a beautiful and tranquil spot, with chickens, fish pond and a wooden playground.

We arrived at the border around 12:30 or 1pm. Here we got off the bus, we carried our bags about a kilometre in the pouring rain, trying to keep our torn raincoats covering our pockets (so as to reduce our chances of being targeted by a pick-pocket), and trying to walk faster than the children who were begging for our money, and trying not to fall over opium addicts that were scattered on the ground.

We crossed the border and we were advised that we could not use any currency but Cambodian Riel in Cambodia. So we paid, in Thai Baht, to get moto rides to the casino (on the Cambodian side of the Border) where we could withdraw money, given in Thai Baht but charged in US dollars, then go to the currency exchange and pay a fee there for the Baht to be changed into Riel…

We spent about an hour, in the most dodgy and dangerous feeling environment either of us had ever found ourselves in, before we were back on the road. Needless to say, until we actually were back on the road the camera stayed deep in the bag (which was worn under the raincoat). I wish we had some photos of that border crossing to show you, it was just outrageous.

THEN, our ride from the border to Siem Reap, was in another minibus – this one much, much older than the first, that leaked water, had poor suspension and was horribly overcrowded. Our anticipated 4-5 hour drive became an 8½ hour drive, along a road that was so bumpy and pot-holed that we both actually felt winded!

Finally we arrived in Siem Reap, exhausted, at the Driver’s own Guest House. Surprise! Luckily, thanks to Jason and Emma who we were meeting in Siem Reap, we had a room already booked at the Garden Village Guest House, so we did not give him our business.

We took a tuk-tuk to Garden Village. He told us it would cost $10 (US dollars – not Riel!) to get there, as it was 20 minutes out of town. He took us about 3 minutes away (which was just off the main road of the town – hardly 20 minutes away) to Green Village. We told him that we wanted GARDEN Village, not Green Village. He said he didn’t know it, and wanted to take us back to the first Guest House (which was his sponsor), but we insisted that he find it, and then we were lucky enough to see a sign!

After finally checking in, and after a $1.80 cocktail with Jay and Em (who had started to worry about us), we fell into bed, ready for a 5am start to get to see an Angkor Wat sunrise.