Siem Reap - Poi Pet

We paid $12 each to get us from Cambodia across the border to Thailand and on to Bangkok. Usually such a cheap price for travel around South East Asia would not concern me but yesterday we really did get what we paid for.

A 40 seater rickety bus picked us up from our guesthouse. The bus was already full when we got on but we managed to get 2 seats together and the driver stashed our backpacks at the back. We thought we were about to start our onward journey but no! We went to pick up a further 15 people. The bus really could not accommodate an extra 15 travellers with their very large backpacks but this did not seem to concern the driver who continued to pack the bus with their baggage through the back windows of the bus. Everyone was getting slightly tense, stressed, cross but we assummed everything would work out ok. What happened next was this...........the driver got his hands on a number of plastic garden chairs and squeezed them into the spaces where the luggage had not been placed. Those who didn't have a seat had to sit on the garden chairs for the next 4.5 hours to the border crossing. It's also worth pointing out then once you reach the edge of Siem Reap the road disappears and becomes a dirt track. The rest of the baggage was placed in between the driver and the exit from the bus. Not an inch of space remained on the bus. It was a hot, bumpy and tiring journey and something I do not wish to repeat in a hurry.

Thankfully, after the border crossing we boarded a coach with more room and air con that worked sporadically.