The Cave

Never ones to do things the easy way, we planned our escape from Thailand to Cambodia the…well…more interesting route.

Still, it wouldn’t have been half as interesting if we hadn’t…

It all started off with a five hour train journey (third class) from Bangkok to the border town of Aranya Phrathet. No aircon, just open windows… and lots and lots of dust and straw blowing about. Happily we did manage to get seats, and the view was very interesting. The knots in my hair after being blown about for 5 hours were not so interesting!

Aranya Phrathet is a small town, not exactly hip and happening. A bit dirty, a bit dodgy. But on the whole, not bad. We found a place to stay which was basic but decent, and had dinner at a street stall in the market area.

The next day, about mid-morning, we caught a “bus” (a large, brightly coloured pick-up truck with a roof and benches down the sides) to the border: a crazy hustly bustly place. People, chickens, fruit, veg, funiture, more people, vehicles of all shapes and sizes, everywhere!

We crossed the border on foot, which just involved avoiding the pick-pockets (this was a real threat here - I litertarlly had to bat the groping, wandering hands of these kids away and scare them off), and standing in a long queue.

Once we were in no-man’s land it was a short walk to the Cambodia Visa desk, then on into Cambodia.

There’s a “scam” that’s run which involves tour buses, and we were well aware of it: the tour bus takes you from the border (Poipet) to Siem Reap, takes AGES to get there, then drops you directly at the hotel they want you to stay at.

We went along with the scam, but said we wanted to get off in Sisiphon. Just as well really. The bus was seriously cramped, and there was no aircon - just open windows and lots of dust. We were unceremoniously dumped at the side of the road!

In Sisphon, getting our priorities straight, we stopped off for a beer…then headed to the bus station. We got a pickup truck (a small pickup this time) to Batambong - the second largest city in Cambodia. We managed to get seats inside (not fancying our chances clinging on to the back with some of the locals, and some more chickens). Also squeezed into the back with us was an English-speaking tour guide. We got to Batambong quite late, but our new-found friend sorted out accommodation for us, which turned out to be very cheap and pretty decent!

We managed to find some dinner - at a restaurant I’m sure was run by gangsters.

The next morning, bright and early, we got the boat to Siem Reap: a journey we were expecting to take around 5 hours.

10 hours and two boats later we arrived…

The first boat was a tiny river boat, just about big enough for eight people but with around 20 squeezed on. After 5 hours, we met up with a larger boat and we all swapped over.

The trip up the river was actually really good - it was so interesting to see the river communities. But 10 hours is a long time!

Happily, our friend from Batambong had hooked us up with a tuk-tuk driver relative of his in Siem Reap: Som. Som was a really nice guy, and we got to know him quite well over the next week or so.

Well, it was more interesting than flying, at any rate!