Entering Cambodia was a shock.. in a positive way. Arriving to the border 10 minutes before it was closing, we were greeted with shining hotels and casinos, something that was not surprising after reading Amit Gilboa’s “Off the Rails in Phnom Pehn”, but remarkable still. After we paid the very helpful border guards 1000 bath for a visa (20USD, so use dollars if you have any), we haggled a taxi to Siem Reap for 35USD.

After a three hour drive in total darkness evading pedestrians, stray dogs and huge trucks on a dirtroad that was in truly awful shape, we arrived to Siem Reap, the basic destination for anyone wanting to visit Angor Wat. We took a tuktuk to a hostel in the centre and after leaving our bags ventured out to get something to eat. The ‘Bar street’ in Siem Reap was quite packed even though it’s not season.

A tip to anyone travelling to Cambodia from Bangkok: Don’t use the basic tourist busses from Khao San. Take a public bus from Mo Chit to the border town. It costs around 215 bath (4e) + tuktuk to the border + taxi to Siem Reap, so it’s a bit more expensive, but saves you time as the ‘scam busses’take 12h to reach Siem Reap, and as the name suggests, they tend to scam tourists on visa costs, etc..

Now I’ll have to stop this nonsense and return to the streets. Still a lot more to see in this town and even more in Angor Wat, which we’ll probably visit tomorrow.