Cambodia, at last.

So at the Thai border town of Aranya Prathet I was immediately accosted by the usual moto-taxi guys, and bargained a price to the border, about 15 minutes drive away.

The guidebook had warned me of plenty of scams at this border, so I wasn't surprised when the driver turns off the main road, with the border clearly visible straight in front of us. He pulls up outside a travel agent guy, who of course comes running out and starts pushing forms in my face telling me I have to apply for the Cambodian visa with him. I knew this was the first of the scams, and so told the driver to take me the border immediately. He's a bit hesitant, looking at the agency guy, but I'm insistent. At this point, I see a Westerner guy walking back from the border (he was clearly going the other direction), so I called him over and asked him what the story was with visas etc. He explains that the agency guy is trying to scam me, and that you can get the visa at the border itself. He tells me that the border guards try and scam more money out of you though, and if you refuse, they'll leave you waiting for hours, but eventually you'll get through.

So anyway, I again insist that the driver take me to the border, and he agrees (obviously I haven't paid him a cent yet), so off we head again. Just before the border he pulls over again, to another agency place! This time I can see the border is just 100m in front of me, so I pay the driver, ignore the touts pushing the same visa forms in my face, telling me that I HAVE to fill them in (I just tell them politely 'Oh well, in that case I'll be back so'), and walk straight over to the border. I saw a group of 4 Westerners filling in the forms there, and was tempted to go over and tell them they were all being scammed (the agency charges 200 Baht to fill in the forms, which are free really), but I just couldn't be bothered - they'll learn eventually I suppose, maybe.

At the Thai border the large queues moved quickly and I got through easily. I knew the problem would be the Cambodian side. Luckily, there wasn't any queue at all at the visa-on-arrival counter, and a nice big helpful sign over the booth stated the visa charge was US$20. A 'helpful' border guard gives me the form, lends me his pen, and smilingly states the charge is 1000Baht (US$30). I, of course, say 'No!', and I point at the sign over his head. He then sheepishly tells me to talk to the guy behind the counter, who also suggests 1000Baht.

I had been expecting all this of course, and had deliberately emptied my wallet of all cash except a single US$20 note. I made a very deliberate show of opening my wallet and giving the guy the 'only money I had', telling him, and showing him, I had no more, and pointing again at the sign. He then sheepishly asks for an extra 100Baht, which was a bit pathetic of him really, but I just repeat that I have no more money, and that the visa is US$20. He backs down pretty quick, smiles, and just takes my passport and money, and tells me to take a seat and wait.

Now I'm kinda worried that I'll be left sitting there for the whole day, but just 2 minutes later I'm called over, and handed my passport with the visa in place and the guards are all smiles and 'Thank you's, and off I go.

So with the border stuff sorted out with no problems, the next issue was getting transport to Siem Reap. As soon as I get through the Cambodian immigration the touts are on top of me trying to push their bus services, but I can see immediately that their prices are outrageous. They offer a free shuttle bus to the 'station', so I hop in that (I'm the only passenger), and the bus drives about 400 meters to a tour agency office. So ignoring their pleas and their very helpful information that they had the only bus going towards Siem Reap, I walk on and start asking shared-taxi drivers for prices to the town of Sisyphon (half-way to Siem Reap).

Naturally the prices start crazy high, so I walk on and ask the next guy, and then the next. You always need to let the next guy know you've just refused the price of the previous guy, and so after a few of these guys I eventually get a fair price (according to the guidebook anyway, you can never be completely sure what a 'fair' price is with local fluctuations). With shared-taxis the driver will generally wait until he has a full taxi, but generally they'll leave within the hour if not full, hoping to pick up extra passengers on the way. It was a very slow day when I was there though, and so with just 3 passengers (instead of the usual 6), and after waiting about 45 minutes, we headed off.

The road from the Thai border to Siem Reap used to be the most notoriously bad road in all of South-East Asia for backpackers (apparently a local airline bribed the Government into not improving the road for many years, so that people would pay the extra to fly). Anyway, the road has finally been upgraded - even my guidebook from late 2008 talks about the road being a nightmare, and I just read that they only finished it less than a month before I got there. So it was a total breeze flying along brand new tarmac to Sisyphon. Once there I transferred to another shared-taxi, waiting about another 30 minutes, and headed off to Siem Reap with just 2 passengers (so I had the whole back seat to myself).

Along the way the taxi driver stopped to grab a bite to eat, which turned out to be a small plastic bag of fried crickets. He kindly offered one, and of course I took it - and I swear it was actually very tasty. I've tried fried maggots before, which only really tasted of the oil they were cooked in, and had a big of crispyness to them, but this cricket was genuinely lovely and had a good bit of 'bite' to it. At another stop later in Cambodia I saw stalls of fried crickets, but also huge fried cockroaches and a massive pile of big, black fried tarantulas. I'm afraid I didn't have the nerve to try either of them, which I kinda regret now - if I had someone with me who was game (certainly not Sarah I'm sure), I'm sure I would have. I didn't take any photos even, which was really stupid - for some reason I assumed I'd see lots of these types of stalls, but in fact I only saw it once more and they didn't have any of the spiders.

Anyway, once at Siem Reap it was the same story with the taxi driver - he left me off a little outside the town, with more moto-taxis pouncing on me when I got out. But I wanted to head to a guesthouse a bit outside town anyway, so I just walked there in about 10 minutes. I got a great big room there for just US$3 a night, with attached bathroom, fan and cable TV (Jasmine Lodge). Then I headed out for a top-notch Cambodian curry in the lovely centre of town, and then a few US$0.50 beers to celebrate finally getting to Siem Reap, on this my 3rd attempt (the 1st attempt was when I was with Hanno 10 years ago, but I got 'stuck' on Koh Chang - the 2nd attempt was from Vietnam with Sarah, but I'd screwed up on the Vietnamese visas and lost a few days sorting them out in Hong Kong, and so skipped Cambodia again).