Cambodia part I

First things first, after arriving in Bangkok, Anna needed her nails done...Actually, I needed a massage and we ended up with a footmassage, followed by a pedicure.... However, Bangkok was just a start, the real trip was Cambodia!

The trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap is notorious. On Khoa Sang Road travel agencies sell tickets for the 'scam bus', for 500 Baht (11Euro) they'll transport you all the way from Bangok to a guesthouse of their choise in Siem Reap. However, cheap has a price. Instead of travelling for 6 to 8 hours, it takes 12 to 16 hours, and instead of paying 1000Baht or $20 for a Cambodian Visum, you'll pay double. So we decided to travel independent. We took the 'normal'/1st class airco Thai bus to Aranya Prathet for 420 Baht, where we changed into a tuk tuk to the border for 80Baht. Here, the troubles or complications or fun or whatever-uoi-call-it started. First the tuk tu drove us to a Visa Office, whose services we politely refused. After all, a visum at the border would cost $20 and they charged us 1200Baht which is roughly $35. >When we tried to explain this to another couple, the gentlemen from the office started waving goodbye and told the tuk tuk driver to drive away. Which he promptly did. Then however, we faced a dilemma when he drove us to the Cambodian consulate. Here, they charged us 100Baht for the visum, still more than at the border, but it was the consulate......so we fell for it. We paid a little more and 5 minutes later we got our visa. We hopped bac into the tuktuk for....another stop at the visa office, "do you need taxi in Cambodia, very cheap only $30!" We thought no way, but if we had known....

At the consulate we met two Finnish guys and together we crossed the border, only to find out that a 'tourist bus' offered by the 'Ministry of Tourism' was waiting for us to take us to the bus station where we could take a taxi or bus. Anna checked with local law enforcement and it turned out to be ok. NOT! Yes we did board the bus, and got out 800 meters down the road to find out that we had fallen in the hands of the local transportation mafia. Another couple had refused the bus, and tried to board one of the 'normal'taxis, but a nice gentlemen told the taxi drivers not to take them, so they ended up with us at the station. Here we were told a taxi was $60 for 4 people. After a lot of haggling outside, we finally paid $40 for three (including a Swiss guy we had met) and headed in a Toyota Camry towards Siem Reap. AT the stop (the one a the picture) we heard from another couple that they had paid $100 for a taxi for 4! Instead of a scambus, we ran into a taxi scam :-). But in the end, we did make it to Siem Reap, as you can see on the pics below... oops, me in the fancy bed is actually me being ill and therefore we fled to the Meridien Hotel in Siem Reap, with the most kind and friendly hotel manager in the world. Graham Thank you again!