The border

between Thailand and Cambodia is not a nice place. If hell turns out to exist, it will be this place.

Getting to Aranya Prathet, the nearest town to Poi Pet, was a nightmare. Our minibus driver tried to scam us, firstly about the cost of a visa (1800 baht to us, $20 to everyone according to our guidebook) and then about where exactly we were. We told him to get stuffed and eventually, forty minutes later, he took us and the rest of the travellers to the place he was supposed to, for the price he was supposed to. Every time you try to do anything in Thailand, you are first offered a scam. Patience and self-control are very useful, to say the least.

Getting out of Thailand was a nightmare. You have to leave Thailand before you can apply for a Cambodian visa. I couldn't get out of Thailand with my paperwork, but Emma could. Forty minutes, one form and a stationary queue later I got out of Thailand.

Getting into Cambodia is a nightmare. Everyone is corrupt. 

Once into Cambodia, getting out of Poi Pet is a nightmare. Eventually we got into a taxi with four other people, all of whom sat in the front two seats. We sat in the back. Two hours later we arrived in the poorest, scruffiest shanty town imaginable.