Back to Bangkok
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2006
1
97
228
Trip End
Jul 15, 2008
Bangkok, Thailand
Monday, May 14, 2007
We've finished with the Temples of Angkor and ready to head back to Bangkok. We will be leaving Cambodia through the Poipet/Aranya Prathet border crossing. Our bus tickets for the entire trip cost $12/person. A mini-van is to pick us up at our hotel at 7 AM and take us to the Siem Reap bus station where we will get on a bus to the border. The same ticket will get us on a bus on the Thai side to continue on to BKK. The night before our departure we had attended the traditional Cambodian dance performance and walked back to our hotel. It was a pleasant evening. But when we got down to the hotel entrance with our bags in the morning we were shocked to see the entire street flooded. It was now a branch of the Tonle Sap. Debris was floating pass in the current and motorbikes were stalling out in the water. We had to step back when wakes washed up from passing cars
14-01
. There wasn't any way for us to get on the mini-van without stepping into the street. Fortunately the bus station was on higher ground. The bus turned out to be a decrepit over sized van, not a real bus. It was a long cramped bouncy rocking 8 hour ride to the border on muddy rutted roads, with a couple unscheduled stops for repairs. It was an appropriate send off from Cambodia.This time the border crossing was all that we had been warned it would be ... long lines and long waits with suspicious immigration officers. When we finally boarded our Thai bus it was really a relief. The rest of the trip was in class-A roomy air conditioned comfort. When we arrived in Bangkok this time we knew exactly where to tell the taxi drive to take us . . . back to the Liberty Gardens Hotel. B850/night. We appreciate Bangkok a lot more since our Cambodian adventure. Chris and Duang have invited us to another party Wednesday night, again at the same hotel. They also organized the Pattaya party where we met people from England, German, Australia, China, UAR and Singapore, as well as local Thais. We even got an invite to stay with a couple in France; that was nice but Western Europe is not on our itinerary for this trip. We are looking forward to having fun at the party and maybe meet some people who can tell us what to expect in Laos and Vietnam.
