8th April – To Siem Reap Cambodia

Today we have a 284 kilometre drive to Siem Reap with a border crossing into Cambodia, where we will say farewell to our tour guides.

Last nights accommodation was magnificent  one to remember for a future holiday destination. Dasada Resort is set on many acres with lush gardens, lakes, pools, aviary and a fabulous plant collection.

We drive to the border with 1 short stop to top up with petrol and use the last of our baht.

The Cambodian border is chaotic with people, buses, trucks, cars & motorised carts everywhere.  We say farewell to Win & Supercon & his wife as we do battle with traffic and make our way to the border crossing.

We have to stick to the bumper of the car in front otherwise we will get separated as we make our way out of Thailand. As Cambodia drive on the right side, The cross from the left side of he road to the right was interesting we just had to pick a gap with on coming traffic & go for it! We have an escort to show us the way fortunately.

The cars are first to have their paperwork done then we have our passports processed and we’re on the Cambodian side, pretty smooth really.  We are met by our Cambodian guides Henk &a Sam who speak excellent English, take our passports to be processed and lead us to customs to get the cars in. The whole border process took about 1 hour for 16 people & 8 cars which was amazingly quick & easy. Thanks to Jan at Helloworld & Dan at Interasia for organising these great guides they Really took the hassle out of our border crossing.

The drive into Siem Reap is  hot & slow as  its only 1 lane each way, although they’re wide lanes as you pass driving over the dotted lane down the middle, so wide enough for 4 vehicles across!

The road surface is pretty good & the Cambodian people are very friendly, waving & smiling as we pass. The tour guides take us to a restaurant for lunch before going to our hotel.

When we arrive at our gorgeous hotel in Siem Reap we have a swim to cool off before happy hour & our nightly meeting. Afterwards a group of us walk to Pub Street and wander through the night market where Maja buys a new hat, as she lost the one she brought with her in the excitement of the tuk tuk ride the other day. Pub Street is certainly the place to go at night, with live music, bars & restaurants.