We had to be at the meeting point TAT Tours to catch our bus to Siem Reap at 7am. We had no problem getting there and boarded our taxibus with a lovely family from Sweden who we fast became friends with. Our connection was of course Hockey and the Sedins.
One of the ladies was actually cousins with Mats Sundin.
The ride itself was eventful but not in a good way. We'd thought we had heard about all the scams the Cambodians would try but it was different at first hand. Confusion seems to be their approach.
They first stopped us well short of the border for a so-called passport check. Here they told us we only had a bus for Cambodia wheb we had booked a taxi. They wanted an extra $20 or so to get us into a taxi, but we were lucky in that our Swedish friends had another taxibus with room to spare, and so we joined them for the trip from the border to Siem Reap in Cambodia.
We did fall for one scam - we were told to exchange our Baht for Cambodian Reils and were given a false exchange rate. Luckily we did not exchange much and lost out on maybe $25. We should have known that in Cambodia, the US Dollar is the defacto currency and all prices are quoted in USD.
We have since learned that Cambodia is considered one of the top countries for scam artists (mainly around the border). In the main city most folks could not have been nicer.
That said, we were in for a treat when we arrived at our beautiful and luxurious hotel in Siem Reap - the Royal Angkor Resort. Simmi and I were impressed with their top notch service, friendly staff and spacious and stylish room. The hotel has a huge pool (we were overlooking the pool and could see Angkor Wat as well), and a large courtyard.
We settled in and then went out into town and found a restaurant (Khmer Kitchen) which seemed very popular. We were looking forward to our first taste of Cambodian food but found the curry to be mildly disappointing.
As far as our first impression of Cambodia itself, we found it hot, dry and dusty. Not altogether different from the feel of Jaipur, but not quite as much pollution. It is certainly a third world country but is fairly clean considering the circumstances. You definitely experience the fumes of petrol from the many motorbikes and buses, but no sewage.
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