13 January 2015 - Can we trust our taxi driver? or the11 hour journey to Siem Reap, Cambodia

Hua Lamphong station is familiar to us now even though we always see it in the dark.  Our 5.55 AM train for the Thai border - Aranyaprathet - left a little late.  Our 3rd Class tickets cost a grand 48 Baht each (less than $2 AUD) for the 6 hour, 200 kms milk run.  Once at the end of the line it is still 6 kms to the Thai-Cambodian border, so trying our best to avoid the scams we had read about, we negotiated a tuk tuk for 5 of us and squeezed in.  We were thankful that we had been able to leave our big packs in Bangkok as travelling with our day packs for these three days was so much easier.

Train to Thai-Cambodian border

Knee room

The journey begins...

Food for journey - I tried green mango and salty sugary stuff

The long single track

Luke loving it all

Guards thinking Luke is cute!

Luke looking at the long track through open door, no concern for safety!

This guard bought Luke a coke!

Border town - then a 6 kms tuk tuk to the border....

So, after queuing and filling out forms and dodging scams and being finger and thumb printed we were through to the "other side", Poi pet, Cambodia.  And the offers and scams continued, as we  had been warned.  We noticed immediately the difference between Thailand and Cambodia (apart from driving on the other side of the road) was the much poorer living conditions and Karl compared it to the anarchic Wild West!  We agreed on $25 US for the 2 hour taxi ride to Siem Reap but were wary of the driver.  We had been warned!!!...and were not disappointed.  At one stage, he pulled over and four men raced to his boot and we thought we would lose all our belongings...and there was more...why did he stop to check tyre pressure in the middle of nowhere?  When he asked if we wanted a toilet stop we quickly assured him that we didn't!

Karl on scam alert duty!

Squeezy...

Border traffic

In Cambodia - almost

We had also read about the tuk tuk scam on arrival at Siem Reap when the taxi drivers claim that they are not permitted into the city or even that the hotel you booked has burnt down!!!  These are poor and desperate people.  We had insisted, when we accepted the taxi ride, that he would take us to our pre-booked hotel and after a bit of wrangling and great reluctance on his behalf, he did so.

We warned Tim not to take any driving skills from the driver!  Double and even triple overtaking, driving in the middle of the road, toot tooting, opening his window and chucking out rubbish without a blink of an eye.  However, it most alarming when he pulled over a number of times for seemingly odd things such as checking his tyre pressure on the side of the highway that got us worried.  AND when he pulled over and four men surrounded our boot, we were sure they were going to take our packs.  They didn't, and we got to Siem Reap and when the dodgy driver told us we had to get into a tuk tuk  to get to our pre-booked hotel, we stood our ground and insisted that he take us to the hotel.  With a certain amount of grumbling and phone calls, he did.  Thankfully, we had heeded the travelling warnings about scams and got to our destination in daylight and safely. It cost $25 US which turned out to be a good price.  Others we met on the train had had other scam attempts and manage to avoid being ripped off and have their own stories to tell!

And so we arrived at the very lovely, very welcoming and peaceful V and A Villa - aaah!  A cold bottle of water was most welcome!  It is a beautifully kept Tuscan coloured villa built in French Colonial style with a pool, huge comfortable beds and a pleasant communal outdoor setting.  The Cambodian-English couple who run the hotel are lovely!

V and A Villa Siem Reap

Large comfortable rooms

Reviving cup of tea

Reviving swim

So nice and so relaxing after our hair raising journey

View from balcony

After a quick refreshment, we set off to look for dinner.  We walked past street cafe after street cafe and wandered around feeling hungry as but Karl was on a mission.  The kids were so tired and grumpy and so we went back to the hotel and ordered from their menu there and were not disappointed! Full tummies make such a difference to family mood!

Luke is fascinated by all the different currencies and entertained the international visitors here who then gave him samples!  Must be his lucky day as he made friends with one of the train guards who insisted on buying him a coke despite my protests.  Little blonde kids who will talk freely to anyone who will listen seem to become favourites.

Andy, the host here, is an English chap married to a Cambodian lady.  It is a good combination for tourist information and local knowledge.  They have their own tuk tuk drivers here and so we will journey around the temples by tuk tuk tomorrow.

So, bed time at last.  A busy day.  Full of newness, excitement and trepidation.  By the way, you are not supposed to put toilet paper in Cambodian toilets and at first it all seems peculiar to put toilet paper in a bin but that, too, we have gotten used to.  The extraordinary becomes ordinary so quickly!

Whoops, I forgot to mention about our long wait to cross the border.  When I finally got to the counter, the guards changed shifts, the new one sat down, swigged some coke, loudly burped with no excuse, and then proceeded with official business!  Quite a welcome!