Cambodia

From Bangkok's Kao San Road it's very easy to book an organized mini bus tour to Siem Reap in Cambodia. In fact it's very cheap, so if you are looking for the cheapest way to get there, book it there. Don't expect the hotels they are heading for to be the cheapest but if you are willing to search your own one in the middle of the night when you arrive it's fine. But it's boring. You're sitting in a mini bus among other tourists and will reach the very touristy town of Siem Reap without having contact to anybody from Cambodia. So why not travel on your own?

We took the train (only 3rd class available) from Bangkok to the border town of Aranyaprathet. Everyone in Bangkok told us that the tracks are flooded and there will be no train - don't believe them (every time someone tells you in Bangkok that something is closed, it's not true). The train ride through the landscape was nice if there wouldn't have been the only Thai child we've ever seen crying all the time. We've had to stay at Aranyaprathet overnight because the border is closing at 5:00 pm At the next day we took a Tuk-Tuk to the border and - well - we thought we've already seen a lot of poor countries and a lot of border crossings, but this one is really special. As soon as we got off the Tuk-Tuk, tattered begging children surrounded us and it took us great effort to fight our way through them to the visa hut. In front of the border crossing was a large queue of hand-pulled wooden trucks with old emaciated men waiting patiently for a chance to pass through. "Surprisingly" we had a companion who wanted to show us the way through the customs, but that's really not necessary. The visa costs 1000 Baht - including a fee for someone for something.

Then we reached Cambodia. A few meters across the border have been perfectly paved roads, but this is (nearly) unknown in Cambodia. Ankle deep we sank into the mud. When we first saw a map of Cambodia we saw only six to roads and thought these are surely the big main roads and the smaller roads are not displayed. That was wrong - we've seen all the roads of Cambodia on that map.

It was a good tactic not to head directly for Siem Reap, since most of the touts immediately lost interest in us; unfortunately we had to find the correct pickup for the further transport on our own. We thought that we had found a vehicle that was ready for departure, because on the loading area the purchases where piled up, but far from it! We drove for an hour through this filthy town Poipet, until 20 persons were squeezed together on the pickup.

With high speed we drove over the potholes and - how else could it be - we had a flat tire. Unfortunately no-one was able to unscrew the spare tire, but the people are very relaxed: The driver just stopped another pickup and asked for their tire. The locals are bitterly poor, but unbelievably friendly.

In the next city we were pulled on the next car (it's the same procedure for Cambodians). As there is no public transportation system in Cambodia - no buses, only one train route, "private" taxis - every transportation is organized with pickups and the drivers are waiting until their car is really full before they depart. To achieve this goal they are really practising every bad trick: Our driver hijacked a child out of a just arrived car and put it in his pickup; the whole family had no other choice but to join him. After we had been grilled in the midday heat, the car was full again and the journey went on. Sitting in the back of the pickup with no space to move or to stretch a leg we asked us, what they would do if it's raining. A heavy monsoon rain answered our question and thankfully we took the offered tarpaulin for cover. It's a good way to come in contact with the locals by the way.

After a 10-hour travel we arrived in Battambang. First we thought we would never been able to move our aching legs again, but we found a very nice and cheap hotel there and a hot shower and a good meal took away all pain.

From the French colonial style that was described in the Lonely Planet, was nothing left and after the UN organisations left the second largest city of Cambodia, it sinks again into insignificance. But there are a lot of Wats and the monks have plenty of time to talk to you and show you around. A crowded market is also available where you can buy nearly anything but astonishingly nothing you will ever need. At the rooftop restaurant we had some nice evenings talking with the local peoples and we met Paul, a guy from America, who is studying in Bangkok. If you read the report from Thailand you will hear from him again.

We could have taken a couple of pickups to get to Siem Reap but our backs told us to find another way. And there is one: a speedboat! Not cheap (20$ per person), but we had not really a choice - and it was a lot of fun! The fishermen are surely hating this boat, because they are sometimes falling out of their boats when the waves are coming, but it's a fast and convenient way to get to Siem Reap. The beautiful river flows into the Tonle Sap Lake, which is densely overgrown. A network of narrow channels leads to floating villages, where we've had plenty of stops to let local passengers disembark. So a sightseeing tour to the floating villages was included.

The temples of Angkor are really unbelievable and around Siem Reap are dozens of them. Some of them are more than thousand years old and well preserved. Those unbelievably precise statuaries are originated in a time, where in Europe awkward blocks were built. Others are overgrown by jungle giants, whose roots clasp the buildings.

On our way back to Bangkok we thought that the mini bus would be the more comfortable vehicle. For eight hours we jolt at a snail's pace through the potholes and hip deep water. After another seven hours we reached Bangkok.