Decided to do the trip from Bangkok to Siam Reap in Cambodia ourselves, hard core. This involved getting a bus to the border town, crossing the border ourselves, and then getting onward transport to Siam Reap once in Cambodia. The bus to the border was grand, about 3 hours, and once we got off, we haggled with a tuk tuk driver to take us to the border. He took is to a Cambodian Consulate where we got our visas. 
We were also told there that there was no more buses to Siam Reap that day, and we had to get a taxi for the 3 hour ride. The price he was quoting was what they had on Lonely Planet - so we went for it, and the guy said he'd escort us all the way. USD$15 each seemed grand for a 3hour taxi ride!
Back on to the tuk tuk and we were dropped off at this crazy place that was apparently the border - but we had our taxi salesman guy with us. We got to the Thai immigration side first and got the 'departed' stamp and on we went. We thought we were done as there was loads of people around and casino's etc - but we later realised that we were between the borders. The taxi salesman guy then introduced us to this Cambodian guy - and said he'd take us the rest of the way. The lads exchanged cash, and a bottle of whiskey which was hilarious. So on we went following the next fellow and eventually got to the Cambodian visa check which was in a tiny hut. Once we were done there - we were taken to our taxi driver, loaded up the luggage, and hit the road.....if there was one!
Had a quick look around Siam Reap that night, and went for dinner in a restaurant serving Khmer food - local Cambodian stuff. It was the nicest meal I'd had on the trip so far, excellent. I'll definitely be seeking out Cambodian food if I can find it. The town is a very makeshift place - obviously there because of the Ankor temples nearby. There was actually paved streets in the town, but it was still very muddy around. That was a fairly eventful Monday - next up was the Ankor temples.......
We were also told there that there was no more buses to Siam Reap that day, and we had to get a taxi for the 3 hour ride. The price he was quoting was what they had on Lonely Planet - so we went for it, and the guy said he'd escort us all the way. USD$15 each seemed grand for a 3hour taxi ride!Back on to the tuk tuk and we were dropped off at this crazy place that was apparently the border - but we had our taxi salesman guy with us. We got to the Thai immigration side first and got the 'departed' stamp and on we went. We thought we were done as there was loads of people around and casino's etc - but we later realised that we were between the borders. The taxi salesman guy then introduced us to this Cambodian guy - and said he'd take us the rest of the way. The lads exchanged cash, and a bottle of whiskey which was hilarious. So on we went following the next fellow and eventually got to the Cambodian visa check which was in a tiny hut. Once we were done there - we were taken to our taxi driver, loaded up the luggage, and hit the road.....if there was one!The changes from Thailand to Cambodia were huge. We could immediately see how poor this country was.They don't even use their own currency, its USD all the way. There is no road from the border to Siam Reap, just a dirt track - I couldn't believe it. The taxi ride was unreal - we had to swerve to avoid cows sitting on the road and there was so many people walking, often in the middle of nowhere. The country is very flat,and mainly rice fields everywhere. There was bridges under construction along the road - so we had to swerve around them to the makeshift bridge. It was complete craziness - but we got to Siam Reap eventually - and got a tuk tuk to the hostel.
Had a quick look around Siam Reap that night, and went for dinner in a restaurant serving Khmer food - local Cambodian stuff. It was the nicest meal I'd had on the trip so far, excellent. I'll definitely be seeking out Cambodian food if I can find it. The town is a very makeshift place - obviously there because of the Ankor temples nearby. There was actually paved streets in the town, but it was still very muddy around. That was a fairly eventful Monday - next up was the Ankor temples.......
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