7/24 Backpackers Only

I woke up at five, even though my ride was at eight. Roosters were announcing every where that the morning had come. And I shouldered my bags ready to go to the station.

I had bought some cloths in Thailand, and after stuffing everything inside my main backpack, it felt like it was on the edge of exploding. It's really a shame that I had no space to carry the two rolls of tissue and five bottles of water provided by the hostel.

After getting back my 1000B of deposit at the front counter, the cashier said good luck to me and I set off early in the morning. The air was fresh and a little bit cold, and I was light on my feet, it took me 20 minutes shorter than the day of arrival before reaching the National Stadium BTS stadium.

I exchanged the money for coins in order to buy tickets (you can only buy tickets using coins), took the BTS to Siam and transferred on another ride to mochit, everything was pretty smooth. I waved for a taxi after departing the station and found my way to the North Bus Station an hour earlier than estimated time.

What's worth mentioning was that the taxi fare was 67B, and since I only had 61 B and a one thousand in cash, the driver was nice enough to accept the 61 and let me go XD

Well, the North Bus Station was much bigger than I had expected, and it was full of people even though the sun was barely showing. I asked for directions at the counter Thai Ticket Major, and the lady there was nice enough to tell me that I was supposed to buy my ticket to Siem Reap in Counter XXX. It cost me 750B for a ride to get there.

I was a little nervous going to Cambodia, and I had also read many information about the border of Cambodia saying that many of the officials there were taking bribes and being very rude to passengers, that got me really worried.

Many more backpackers seemed to be arriving at the benches after some time, and thee idea of having company really eased my mind. Eventually, I was chatting to two hippie-like female backpackers who were sitting next to me. They were filled with enthusiasm and talking at a high volume. The one with long hair is called Anne, and her friend who had her hair tied is called Angie.

They were also going to Siem Reap, and had their tickets booked before the actual date of traveling.

I was really fortunate to meet them and made friends, for they had been to Siem Reap before, when direct bus from Bangkok wasn't yet provided.

Angie told me about their story last time they traveled there. First, they took a small van to the Thai border Aranyapraphet and spent lots of money for a tuk tuk to take them to the Cambodian border Popeit. Then they started to walk across the border, filling up forms and having their visa stamped. And since they were unwilling to pay extra money to bribe the officers, they stood waiting in a small heated room for almost an hour before their documents were finally granted permission to pass.

At last they took an very expensive taxi ride to the center of Siem Reap... what a nightmare.

So I guessed I was really lucky to travel to Siem Reap at this time of the year, after a direct bus had been built. There's still going to be scams at the borders, but at least the transferring of vehicles and lots more troubles could end.

Now, a quick introduction of the rest of the backpackers on board. The couple in front of me were 21 and from Britain, the guy was called Franco and the girl Mag. They were fast on their tongue and with heavy accent. They kept making out and snoggle through the whole trip, but were really friendly to chat with.

There was a foreign guy in orange jumpers sitting next to me and he had really fuzzy beard. He had been eating through the whole journey, seriously. And every time we stopped for WC or a small break, he went off the bus to get more food.

At the front of the row was a dark skinned, cool looking girl who had many tattoos. She was always sharing chips and cookies with the rest of us; as for her neighbor next to her was a woman with glasses who was hot on her books and seldom joined our chatting time.

Oh, how could I forget the French family composed of two young parents and two little daughters! Each of them had a backpack on their backs and were really cute. Their English were not very good but still tried their best to blend in with the rest of us. The younger one of the daughters kept asking me whether I wanted some nuts and crackers or not, which was really generous of her.

The little girl was called Sal, and she was always smiling at me, which made me hard to refuse any offer of food by her. I even tried my best to talk her with my broken French that I had learned in my junior XD

(There was this old guy who was pooping in public, at the bus station! But no one seemed to be shocked.)

As we approached the border, people started to ask the bus driver about the situations there, and I could feel the tension between the backpackers started to form. The woman who had been reading the whole time even asked whether she could just pay the driver and he filled and cross the border for her...

As for myself, since I had Anne and Angie to lead the way, I was less nervous. Good luck!

The bus arrived at the border at approximately 12 o'clock, our bus driver handed each of us a card to hang around the neck and some soldiers came aboard to check on the bus.

Later, we encountered the so called scam. The bus stopped and there came a guy telling all the passengers that we could buy a visa for 900B, and that you won't have to wait in line for the stamps at the border. Though we had heard about the scam many times online, some were still moved by the lecture. A few bought the visa and we set off for the border. (Most of the passengers trusted in Anne and Angie, and planned to get the visa themselves at the border)

The bus company provided us with lunch and drinks, it was some kind of fried rice with carrots, but so far I we had to live with it. We moved forward in a line as soon as we arrived at the border and got off the bus, with Angie in the lead.

Everything was pretty smooth and at last we gathered at the small cabin, filling up forms. It cost about 20 USD and 100 B (the so called bribe) to get the visa, well and then you wait with patience in the room watching the officials threw your passports around and smoked while laughing wildly.

Anyway, we made it to the exit of the border and got back on the bus. As for the guys who bought the visa before reaching the border, they were really unfortunate to have purchase the fake ones and fell into the scam. They were told to buy the visa again for the ones they bought earlier were fake.

Our bus went quiet and departed toward the city Siem Reap and most of the backpackers went into a small nap.

The bus hit the brakes and we were dropped in the center of Siem Reap town. Angie, Anne, some of the rest of the backpackers and I had dinner at KFC and waved goodbye at each other. Friends along the way were precious, but sometimes the time together just didn't last long. Good luck to you all, and may you keep the enthusiastic mood through the whole journey.

I asked many pedestrians for the direction to my new accommodation, it was really cheap and spacious, but without air conditioning. What's amazing was that, the whole town of Siem Reap blacked out from the afternoon to 10 o'clock at night, no wifi and no light, no fan...

What a day XD

(We hit a cow on the way to Siem Reap, but the driver told us not to panic, and we just drove away...)