Trip Report: Day 8 Siem Reap - Bangkok
We were late again and the taxi driver was already waiting for us. As we had got bread from Blue Pumpkin the day before, we decided to forgo the baguettes and boarded the Camry which looked at least 10 years old. It was a right-hand drive and had no car registration plate. We would be in for one hell of a ride.
Leaving at 5.50am, we hoped to reach the border by 9.30am and Bangkok by 2.30pm. When we got out of Siem Reap, the roads started to turn bad progressively. At first there was still tarmac but the potholes became bigger and more frequent. After a while there was no more tarmac road and dirt was flying all over.
Average speed was about 50-60 km/h; the driver was quite skillful in trying to dodge the potholes but I was still nervous especially when he was driving on the opposite lane. There was a near miss but luckily he managed to steer away in time.
Along the way I got to see how the locals travel: pick-up trucks. Each pick-up truck had at least 20 people behind; one of them got so heavy at the back that I thought that it was trying to do willy.
The car had been bugging the driver since we left Siem Reap and he decided that he needed a mechanic. We stopped at a workshop to fix whatever that went wrong. After deliberating for quite some time, all the mechanic did was to clean one of the engine parts and put it back. It delayed us for one hour and we only reached the border at almost 10.45am.
Just like Bavet at the Vietnamese border, Poipet has its share of casinos. At the Cambodian immigration, there was this Malaysian man who had to pay 200 baht to get stamped out of Cambodia. There was no need for the immigration officials to be subtle at all. Luckily he didn't make me pay any money.
There were many fanciful casinos in the no man's land between Thailand and Cambodia. I tried to use the toilet of one of them but were refused. Then we walked down to the next one and the porter was friendly and allowed us to use. By then we used up all our riels and had nothing to give to the beggars who lined the streets all the way to Thailand.
Cambodians did not need a passport to enter Thailand and they had to line up at a separate place for their day permits. Foreigners meanwhile had their own queue at the Aranyaprathet immigration. No one even bothered to check our bags when we left the customs and many touts asked us whether we would be going to Bangkok.
There was a immediate difference between the countries when we crossed into Thailand. Thailand was cleaner and definitely more prosperous. We followed one of the touts to check out the minivans which would be leaving for Bangkok. One would be leaving soon at 11.45am and we paid 300 baht each. We would be dropped off at our hotel or at least somewhere near it.
I got my lunch of rice and omelette at a rest stop. The driver did not use the toll roads to enter Bangkok or else we could have reached there earlier. The two other passengers were dropped off at Khao San Rd at around 3.30 pm and it took nearly an hour to reach Silom where we alighted. Mandarin Hotel was roughly 500 m away and we managed to walk our way there from Sala Daeng BTS station.
Bangkok wasn't too foreign to me; I had been there last December. Ho Teck's friend Winnie was holidaying with 3 other friends and we were supposed to meet for dinner. After a long wait followed by a fair distance on foot, we finally decided to have Teppanyaki at MBK.
It was dessert time after dinner but we never seemd to reach the Baskin Robbins. Reason? The girls stopped by all the stalls along the way to look at the wares on sale. The 50m stretch took us nearly 45min to clear through. Kok Wai proved useful by helping them to bargain with the vendors while I was amused and amazed at the same time by the girls' ability to shop. It was no surprise that they had used up much of their bahts at Chatuchak earlier in the day.
All of us felt much more comfortable in Bangkok than in Cambodia; mainly because of the familiarity as well as the modern comforts available. Rest and relax as well as practicing my rudimentary Thai would be the agenda for the final stop of the trip.
Leaving at 5.50am, we hoped to reach the border by 9.30am and Bangkok by 2.30pm. When we got out of Siem Reap, the roads started to turn bad progressively. At first there was still tarmac but the potholes became bigger and more frequent. After a while there was no more tarmac road and dirt was flying all over.
Average speed was about 50-60 km/h; the driver was quite skillful in trying to dodge the potholes but I was still nervous especially when he was driving on the opposite lane. There was a near miss but luckily he managed to steer away in time.
Along the way I got to see how the locals travel: pick-up trucks. Each pick-up truck had at least 20 people behind; one of them got so heavy at the back that I thought that it was trying to do willy.
The car had been bugging the driver since we left Siem Reap and he decided that he needed a mechanic. We stopped at a workshop to fix whatever that went wrong. After deliberating for quite some time, all the mechanic did was to clean one of the engine parts and put it back. It delayed us for one hour and we only reached the border at almost 10.45am.
Just like Bavet at the Vietnamese border, Poipet has its share of casinos. At the Cambodian immigration, there was this Malaysian man who had to pay 200 baht to get stamped out of Cambodia. There was no need for the immigration officials to be subtle at all. Luckily he didn't make me pay any money.
There were many fanciful casinos in the no man's land between Thailand and Cambodia. I tried to use the toilet of one of them but were refused. Then we walked down to the next one and the porter was friendly and allowed us to use. By then we used up all our riels and had nothing to give to the beggars who lined the streets all the way to Thailand.
Cambodians did not need a passport to enter Thailand and they had to line up at a separate place for their day permits. Foreigners meanwhile had their own queue at the Aranyaprathet immigration. No one even bothered to check our bags when we left the customs and many touts asked us whether we would be going to Bangkok.
There was a immediate difference between the countries when we crossed into Thailand. Thailand was cleaner and definitely more prosperous. We followed one of the touts to check out the minivans which would be leaving for Bangkok. One would be leaving soon at 11.45am and we paid 300 baht each. We would be dropped off at our hotel or at least somewhere near it.
I got my lunch of rice and omelette at a rest stop. The driver did not use the toll roads to enter Bangkok or else we could have reached there earlier. The two other passengers were dropped off at Khao San Rd at around 3.30 pm and it took nearly an hour to reach Silom where we alighted. Mandarin Hotel was roughly 500 m away and we managed to walk our way there from Sala Daeng BTS station.
Bangkok wasn't too foreign to me; I had been there last December. Ho Teck's friend Winnie was holidaying with 3 other friends and we were supposed to meet for dinner. After a long wait followed by a fair distance on foot, we finally decided to have Teppanyaki at MBK.
It was dessert time after dinner but we never seemd to reach the Baskin Robbins. Reason? The girls stopped by all the stalls along the way to look at the wares on sale. The 50m stretch took us nearly 45min to clear through. Kok Wai proved useful by helping them to bargain with the vendors while I was amused and amazed at the same time by the girls' ability to shop. It was no surprise that they had used up much of their bahts at Chatuchak earlier in the day.
All of us felt much more comfortable in Bangkok than in Cambodia; mainly because of the familiarity as well as the modern comforts available. Rest and relax as well as practicing my rudimentary Thai would be the agenda for the final stop of the trip.
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