Day 7: The Never Ending Bus Ride

On day 7 we left Pakse and took a bus from there to Siem Reap, Cambodia. We left at 8am the bus was to get there at 9pm. A total of 13 hours.

Throughout the whole trip we had been nervous about the boarder crossing because we had read several placed that this boarder was one of the most difficult to cross at. That to get from Laos to Cambodia you needed prearranged visa. We didn't find this out until 5 day when we left before our trip, too short of a time for us to be able to get the visas done at embassy in Manila. Everyone had told us that it was super easy to get in to Cambodia, it turns out they that had all crossed at the Thai or Vietnamese boarders. Other travel sites had told us as long as we're willing to bribe the boarder guards it usually works out ok. So fingers crossed we started our journey.

This is the current boarder crossing station

This is the one that they are building. Our visa fee magically went up from $20 to $30, I feel like this is the reason why.

This is no mans land between the two countries, you have to get out of the bus with your luggage and walk it across the boarder. This was particularly entertaining to watch the European women with the large wheeled suitcases and the high heels attempt to walk it across the dirty road. 

So we arrived at the boarder in good time. We took the tourist bus, which was supposed to be direct and better equipped to help you with the visa process. At the boarder we were informed that our visa for Cambodia would actually cost us $30 each instead of the $20 that was posted everywhere else by government agencies. And then we had to also give the guard an extra $5 to overlook the fact we had not arranged for these in advance. 

We then got back on to the bus and surprise our 'VIP Tourist Bus' was not exactly as promised. It turned out that they also picked up random locals along the way making it a milk run rather than an express. In fact your ticket did not even guarantee you a seat, several people were sitting in the middle aisle on their bags. This is when our 13 hour bus ride turned interesting. So we drove.

And we drove...

picked up randoms and we drove...

dropped off randoms and drove...

and drove...

and drove.

And then it got dark. And we weren't even half way to our destination yet. We were supposed to reach Siem Reap at 9pm. We got in at 3am. The next morning we had to get up for sunrise to visit the temples of Angkor Wat. We got an hour and a half of sleep in a bed before we work up.