The truck to Poipet was supposed to pick me up from my hotel at 6:30am, but I was awoken at 5:30am to be told that the truck was waiting downstairs for me now! I had about 5 minutes to get dressed and to finish packing. I had paid US$12 for a seat inside the air-conditioned cabin, what I didn't know, was that I had to share it with two Cambodian Buddhist Monks! After the driver drove around Siem Reap for over a hour trying to pick up some extra passengers, we left for Sisophon and the Thai Border at about 7:00am. Ten km's out of Siem Reap and the road turned to shit, then to crap!  

This photo was taken on the 19th July'99, about 30-40 km's west of Siem Reap on Route 6
on the way to Sisophon and the Thai Border.

Route 6 in Cambodia would have to be the worst road I have ever travelled on!! There were potholes that could almost swallow a car!! We had to stop 3-4 times as vehicles in front of us had got stuck/bogged! We had to get towed thru one bit, where the road was flooded. The area from Siem Reap to the Thai Border was controlled by bandits and the Khmer Rouge two years prior to me being there, so most of the bridges had been blown up at some stage and had ad-hoc repairs made to them. 

The first 70 km's was the worst, as the road was built up, with paddy fields on either side and we were probably averaging 5-10 km's a hour. I spent the first 4-5 hours with my knees in my face and about every 30-40 seconds, we would hit a bump in the road and my knees would get banged against the side of vehicle. Then I would swear or moan under my breath. This seemed to delight the driver and his offsider!

This bridge is about 5 km's east of Sisophon.

We were 5 km's outside the town of Sisophon, when we had to stop and transfer to another pickup truck on the other side of a river, as the bridge had recently collapsed or had been blown-up!!

We stopped in Sisophon for about 5 minutes to pickup and drop off passengers. Sisophon seemed to be very dirty town and apart from being a transit point, I couldn't think of a good reason for stopping there.

It took just over 2 hours to travel from Sisophon to Poipet. The road between Sisophon and Poipet is in reasonably good condition, but it still has its fair share of potholes. Apparently it was rebuilt in 1992, by Thai soldiers who were serving there with the UN Peace Keeping Force. We were dropped off at the marketplace in Poipet, about 2 km's from the Cambodian/Thai Border Crossing. With the assistance of a moto driver, I changed some US Dollars into Thai Baht and then he took me to the Cambodian Border Post. 

It took me about 10 minutes to get processed at the Cambodian Immigration Office, then I walked across the border into Thailand. We got to the Thai Border about 2:30pm after leaving Siem Reap about 7:00am. The journey from Siem Reap to the Thai Border at Poipet, a distance of 150 km's, took about seven and half  hours!

The Thai Immigration Officer didn't seem very impressed at the sight of another scruffy backpacker, but he stamped my passport and gave me a 30 day visa. Immediately after leaving the Thai Immigration Office, I was approached by a tout who was offering to take me directly to Khao San Road in Bangkok for 250 Baht. I initially said no, but I eventually agreed. As I walked across to the mini-bus, I noticed the railway line from Bangkok and where it crossed the border over a bridge into Cambodia.  I  was hustled into the mini-bus by a Thai and a Cambodian. The mini-bus was full of, pissed-off backpackers and tempers where starting to fray. When one of the Thai's tried to stick a backpack on my lap, I spat the dummy and got off the bus. I grabbed my backpack and caught a Tuk Tuk to the bus station in Aranyaprathet for 100 Baht. A bus to Bangkok was about to leave as I turned up and after purchasing a ticket for 144 Baht, I got on the bus. As we were leaving I couldn't help, but notice how clean and tidy Thailand was, compared to Cambodia. It took about 4 hours to get to Bangkok by bus and we arrived at the Northern Bus Terminal at about 7:30pm. From there I caught a taxi to the Atlanta Hotel off Sukhumvit Road.