anyway today we'll be heading down to Aranya Prathet...yeah... this is the town at the Thai-Cambodia border. y did i say tat we head there instead of Siem Reap (tat's the town tat we're heading)?? Coz having read lots of guidebooks and also searching on the internet for information before we made our decision, we decided to stay at Aranya Prathet coz we'll need our energy for the 'Thrilling' ride from Poipet (the Cambodia border town) to Siem Reap.
So we woke up early again today... (hahaha... when have we not wake up early on this trip???) we woke up at 4.30am. hahaha...coz the taxi that we've arranged to pick us up at our service apartment was coming at 5.30am. hahaha... coz we kiasu mah...
so we reached Moh Chit bus station 1hr before the time for our bus. we were so tired, we juz slept there while waiting for the bus... and at the bus station, we hear the songs tat were being played on the bus on our journey from Luang Prabang to Vientiane... hahaha... so now i can conclude tat those songs we heard on tat bus were Thai songs. hee hee....the ride from Bangkok to Aranya Prathet took 4 1/2hrs. most of us slept on the bus most of the time. hahaha... coz tired... and i slept to conserve my energy coz i dun feel very well. along the way, the bus stopped now and then to let passengers get up and down the bus. and when we were almost reaching Aranya Prathet, the bus stopped and this time the person who came up the bus was someone unexpected. it was a Thai soldier and he checked all the passengers passport... yeah... surprising right???
after tat, we finally reached Aranya Prathet. goodness we arrived at the town at 11.30am lor... and it was super early... and i was really feeling quite sick in the stomach... hiaz... i juz din have the mood to talk to the others and it was really very hot and we were all carrying very heavy bags...
and u kno wat we did, we went to some sheltered place tat was outside some shop houses... and come to think of it... it was pretty rude of us to sit and put our bags there... coz some people do not like it as this will hinder them in doing their business... but since no one came and tell us to 'scoot', i juz din bothered... and tat time 5 of us were deciding if we should stay in Aranya Prathet for the night or we should cross the Thai-Cambodia border...hmmm... in fact Keiko was in favor or crossing the border... and they asked me if there are things to see in the town, i told them tiredly tat the guide book and websites said tat there are nothing to see in Aranya Prathet and its a very small town.... nothing to do there... when then heard this, all wanted to cross the border tat day. so now i've got another headache (besides feeling the bloatedness in my stomach)... coz crossing tat day means tat we've got to have accomodation in Siem Reap tat night and that someone need to come and pick us up at Poipet later... coz all the websites and guidebooks tat i read, say that Poipet is a rather dangerous place and that people will outrightly cheat u of ur money... and somemore the evisa tat the gals were holding state tat they will enter Cambodia on 28th Dec not 27th Dec. hmmm... so i'm not too sure whether we'll be able to cross the border... so u can say tat i was rather apprehensive.
so we got our lunch at the nearby 7-11 store... and i was the last to go and get my lunch... coz before tat i went to a nearby hotel to ask them if there is any internet tat i can use as i wanted to send the guesthouse in Siem Reap to tell them tat we wanted to reach there earlier by 1 day. hmmm...but u kno wat? there was no internet access in tat area tat we were in..and to use the internet, the nearest internet cafe was abt 10min away... wah lao..i din have tat time lor.. so no choice.... then i bought 1 youghrt drink and a burger... even not hungry also need to eat... coz i need strength and alertness when we cross the border... coz u can say tat i've got to protect the other gals.... hiaz... really heavy responsibility... coz having read all those terrible stories online... it really freaked me out!!!
yeah... anyway i told myself... already here... juz go for it!
so we took a tuk tuk (but in fact is a lorry) and it drove us to the customs at the border. each one of us paid 10 Baht for the ride there... hahaha...tat's pretty cheap... something tat we did not expect...coz the guidebook tat i was holding said otherwise... as they said tat we need to take a tuk tuk to the border for 50 Baht. hmm... i guess if u multiply 10 baht with 5 u also get 50 baht huh... =P
after a short ride on the tuk tuk, it stopped and let all of us get off the tuk tuk... hmmm... then Thai people came up to us asking us whether we need visas.... but i told them 'NO', and asked them where are customs.... (u've got to ask coz there are no directions to indicate the customs and worse u can't see the customs). but the people pointed us to a direction...and i saw quite a no. of people pushing wooden carts in the direction they pointed and think perhaps we juz follow these pple...
so we manged to find the customs and earn our chops for exiting Thailand. wah i can tell u manz... the Thailand customs really take their own sweet time in giving us clearance lor... and we waited like almost 45min to 1hr... and the whole place was super hot and suffocating.... and somemore there were so many people... and it was at this time tat Keiko started to feel really bad in her adomen area... and worse she started to pale and looked pretty green in her face... all of us were really worried for her... coz its such a drastic change... i mean juz now she was perfectly ok... but now she looked really sick...
we told her to take a seat while we queue... when its near our turn, we'll ask her over.... and in front of us are a couple of guys... hmmm think they are from one of the european countries and they were holding passports in maroon colour with some foreign words on it. but they spoke americanise english... tat's pretty surprising huh...
so we managed to clear the Thai customs... and haul our bags and cross the Thai-Cambodia border on feet.
wah... when we enter Cambodia lots of children dressed in rags, without shoes and children as young as 3yr old came upward to us begging for money... and some even were bold enough to come and grab our bags.... wah... u can say tat its rather scary.... one child did tat and i juz stared and her and told her angrily tat the bag is mine and told her to go away. and she really ran away... i guess i was very fierce to her... but if i'm not fierce to her... i believe she will juz continue to pester me and not go away. but this is really a sight tat's really very heart-renching... and when u stepped onto Cambodian soil, the sight around u (i mean the structures) tat greeted u is juz so completely different from the sort of people u meet when u enter Cambodia! Coz all over Poipet, u see very nice and clean buildings.. and these buildings are Casinos...and the Guidebook said that becoz gambling in Thailand is illegal, over the weekends, Thai people will come over to Poipet to indulge in gambling... and its really ironic to me tat in such a town (u can say rich with all these huge casinos) u see so many beggers, so many poor people and the roads are super super horrible.
and when u enter Cambodia, by right u'll immediately see the customs right? but... the customs were further away... and we had to asked people along the way... coz we were afraid tat we are walking the wrong way... and along the way, we see Cambodian policemen, men dressed in the customs uniform sitting under the tent, swapping away the houseflies... they seem pretty bored and not doing anything....
anyway we managed to cross the Cambodian customs with no problems and the 2 European guys came up to me and ask if we would like to share taxis with them... as this will be cheaper...i told them tat's fine with us... but they'll have to wait for my other frens... and whilst waiting... some cambodians came up to us and ask us if we want to take their taxis to Siem Reap. (anyway the foreigners who cross the Thai-Cambodia border @ Poipet 90% of the time will be heading to Siem Reap). and the websites and guidebook have all cautioned me to be super aware of those touts who will cheat us of our money... hmm..meaning tat they will charge us a super exorbitant price to drive us to Siem Reap. anyway, the 2 guys later told me tat they were going 1st as its not good to have too many people sitting in the back as the super bumpy ride to siem reap will make us feel like vomitting after the 3 1/2hrs ride. so yeah... we bade our farewells and wish each other pleasant trip and good luck...and they were really nice.. they even gave me 5 car-sick pills juz in case... hahaha... nice guys looking out for us. =P
anyway we managed to get a taxi to Siem Reap after haggling with the price... and all 5 of us pile into the Camry. and we start our super super bumpy ride to Siem Reap!
y did i say bumpy and thrilling ride is becoz, throughout the 3 1/2hrs ride, the road from Poipet to Siem Reap is super horrible.... the roads are unsealed roads... and to have 4 people sitting in the back is really a trying thing... hahaha.... but its really an experience tat i think i'll not try again... hahaha... and along the dusty road we'll see vast lands of paddy fields with farmers ploughing in the fields... but the road is red with dust and pot-holes... and it somehow made me sad and also angry at the Cambodian Government...
coz its not as if there is no income coming into the country... how come the Cambodian people are still so poor??? Cambodians are even poorer than the people in Laos... this is something tat is really unimaginable to me... and somemore the lands in Cambodia are so vast... but they are not being utilised properly....
oh yeah... do u kno why the highway (state highway) from Poipet to Siem Reap is so bumpy??? the guidebooks and websites said tat one of the airlines paid the government to not repair the roads... hmm... sort of for tat airlines benefit... this is really evil isn't it??? tat's y corruption in Cambodia is still very huge and its everywhere....
anyway along our way to Siem Reap, i see lots of tents along the dusty red road... and these tents are people's houses.... and u'll see women cooking food over some-sort of stove using wood or charcoal as the fuel. and u'll also see children playing in the paddy fields walking on the dusty roads and they didn' even blink an eye when a car or truck drive pass and raise up the dust from the roads....
the children play so carefreely in the ponds (ponds were super muddy lor) along the roads and i even saw a group of children catching something in the pond.. and when tat boy held up his hand in triumph, he was holding a struggling frog in his hands...such is the life and scene u see along the way from Poipet to Siem Reap.
wel... by now some may be thinking how come the 5 of us take public transport and then taxi by ourselves?? y not go to a tour agency and book all these transport to Siem Reap from Bangkok?? well..... becoz having read thru all the comments online and from the guidebooks, found tat its no good to book the transport thru agencies in Bangkok (Khao San road)... coz all these tour agencies cheat ur $$$...and usually the taxis tat pick u up at Poipet will drive many many hours and reach Siem Reap at night fall. they will then drive u to a guesthouse and tell u to check in for the night... coz these tour agencies have some connections with some of the guesthouse.. by doing this, they will earn commision mah.... so the guidebooks advise us to get thru all these transport and travel to Siem Reap independtly... hahaha... so u can say tat the 5 of us are pretty daring huh... =P
after 3 1/2hrs, we finally reached our guesthouse.... and we were really very lucky.. coz the guesthouse had vacant rooms for us!!! yeah we checked into our rooms... and once again i was room-mate with Harumi while the rest were room-mates with each other. =D
our rooms look pretty ok... hahaha.. and the rooms were pretty cheap i mean... we pay USD 12 (2 rooms) for the 1st night as the hot water dispenser was not available for us. but for the next 2 nights we'll be paying USD 14 for each night.yeah...tat night, keiko was not feeling well, so she went to bed without taking her dinner.. whilst the rest of us juz took our dinner at the guesthouse.. coz we were too tired to walk out and we were unfamilar with the place...
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