tsong raider

The 14 hour bus ride from Saigon to Siem Reap was a real long one, though it wasn't that triring compared to an 8 hour bus ride here in the Philippines and I think the main contributing factor is that Cambodia really has a flat landscape; you can barely see trees or mountains and the road starting from the Viet-Cambo border is mainly a straight one--no sharp turns nor zig-zags like the one we have in our Bicol route (bituka ng manok). So if you fall asleep in the bus you can basically have a 2 hour or more of unperterbed sleep unless if the bus instantly brakes and screeches to a halt or stops over for some wee-wee break.

We stopped over at Pnom Penh to change buses, and one of the bus employees there asked the names of those who doesn't have a pick-up in Siem Reap. The person said it was free that the bus provides so I gladly signed my name there and boarded the next bus... so tra-lala another long straight bus ride, and I managed to eat fried locusts for the very first time in between stop-overs.

The bus arrived at around 9pm in an empty lot somewhere in Siem Reap (def not near the city centre), I remember leaving Saigon fresh and very early in the morning; so after 14 hours of land travel I was just so enthused seeing my name written on a piece of paper; there was my tuktuk driver picking me up. Hurrah! there indeed is a miracle. Now knowing who to trust and not to trust made me all aware of the dangers; so I asked Mr. Tuktuk Man and verified if the ride to my guesthouse is free (I already had a reservation at Jasmine Lodge), Mr. tuktukman said yes enthusiastically, and so again I happily hopped on his nice and shiny tuktuk with a big smile on my face...

*Before going to Siem Reap, my mind was set to riding a bicycle from my guesthouse to the temples of Angkor Wat. It's cheap; about $1 or $2 for a whole days rent and for the white bikes the proceeds actually go to charity (i think to a foundation that helps children traumatized by land mines).  So I would have saved a few dollars, have a good excercise and a bonus of giving to charity.

So I thanked Mr. tuktukman for the ride... and just when I was about to carry my bags and walk to my lodging, Mr. tuktukman told me that he can pick me up tomorrow for my Angkor Wat visit and he added it's only $15 for the whole day ($12! that's like worth more than my 3 day stay at Jasmine's lodge). I told him not to bother since I will go biking tomorrow to the temples. This aparrently wasn't good news to him, and to which he said that the ride was only free if I get his service for the temple tour tomorrow. Ha! fat chance.

He was asking $3 for the ride which I again compared to my $4 a night lodging... bummer! I managed to bring it down to $2 though and walked out of the now not-so-honest tuktukman... I take back my miracle statement from a couple of paragraphs ago and wished I'd tuktuk the tutukman some couple of minutes back... haha...
...so I think the real lesson here is to really examine the word free whenever its thrown at you. lol.

I did ride a bicycle but not to tour the temples (that's another story)...
The temples were amazing, I had a 3 day pass for $40 but decided to take off on the third day. I figured there's nothing much to do in Siem Reap but visit those wonderful temples... and maybe have a dinner and couple of drink or two on Pub street downtown.


...on my second night, I booked a $10 taxi the following day to Poipet, Thai-Cambo border and dreamt of Bangkok, woot!