Journey to Cambodia

Our journey to Cambodia wasn't a quick one.  From Krabi we took at 3 hr bus back to Surat Thani, then we bought our ticket for the night train back to Bangkok.  We boarded the train around 1am, and quickly settled into our beds for the night.  Sleeping on the train wasn't half as bad as we had expected it to be.  After getting used to the swaying motion of the traincar and reassuring ourselves that we wouldn't fall off the top bunk, we were able to fall asleep (with the help of some Gravol, too!).

 

We pulled into Bangkok sometime around noon and found a guesthouse for the night.

(Bangkok main train station)

The next morning, we were up early to buy our ticket for the train that would take us to the border of Cambodia.  There is only a 3rd class train, but with the windows down the ride was quite pleasent.  We met some other ''farangs" (foreigners) and spent most of the 6 hr ride chatting with them.  Upon arrival at the end-of-the-line, we took a tuk-tuk to the border crossing.  This place is ripe with scams, and despite us telling him to take us straight to the border, he dropped us off at a "consulate" to buy our visa from.  We were well-versed in both the scams and the real process, so we walked with a group of other travelers to the actual Thai-exit and Cambodia-entry.  The border process took about 2 hours.  At that time we made arrangements to take a bus the rest of the way to Siem Reap (about 3 hr drive).

(Crossing the border into Cambodia)

Cambodia's currency is called Riel and it's value is approximately 4000-1 USD, so when we converted our money we felt like millionaires with the wad of cash we had.

We really loved our time in Siem Reap.  There is an awesome night market, and we are had a great hotel.  Travelling this time of year is HOT (it's their summer right now, most days hit 38+) so we are enjoying relaxing in the pool.

In our next post we will detail our time at Angkor Wat.