In the light of various travel advice; that the border between Thailand and Cambodia is a hot bed of industrial scale scams; that descriptions of the Cambodian border town of Poipet include phrases such as "Be wary. In this town the bad things you've heard are true", and "a town of no redeeming features, appealing only to those of warped aesthetic"; that Poipet is the outlet from which all the corrupting influences in Cambodian tourism vents itself; I decided to break it into two parts. I travelled to Aranyaprathet, the border town on the Thailand side yesterday, and stayed in a hotel there. Today, I got up in a fairly leisurely manner, had breakfast, and arranged a tuk-tuk to the border. All the descriptions I had read suggested it would take about 1 1/2 - 2 hours to pass the border formalities; about a further hour to arrange travel on to Siem Reap, the journey taking anything from 2 1/2 to 4 hours. As a result I was very pleased to travel from hotel to hotel in four hours total.
Cambodia is (at least the route from Poipet to Siem Reap) is flat. There are a few small, isolated hills close in to Siem Reap. Even from the road it is apparent that this is the poorest, least developed country I have been in. Most of the buildings are built on stilts - allowing movement of air beneath the building while providing shelter from the rains. Many of them are built out of galvanised iron.
If feels a lot hotter in Cambodia than Thailand, though the temperatures are only a degree or two higher. The rainy season has different aspects in the two countries - in Thailand when the rain starts, the rain taps are turned on, they pour out rain steadily for an hour and a half to two hours, then the taps are turned off. In Cambodia, the rain descends as part of the display and bluster of a tropical storm - first of all the wind machines, then the storm clouds, then the rain enters on the wings of the storm. All in all a much more showy display.
Cambodia is (at least the route from Poipet to Siem Reap) is flat. There are a few small, isolated hills close in to Siem Reap. Even from the road it is apparent that this is the poorest, least developed country I have been in. Most of the buildings are built on stilts - allowing movement of air beneath the building while providing shelter from the rains. Many of them are built out of galvanised iron.
If feels a lot hotter in Cambodia than Thailand, though the temperatures are only a degree or two higher. The rainy season has different aspects in the two countries - in Thailand when the rain starts, the rain taps are turned on, they pour out rain steadily for an hour and a half to two hours, then the taps are turned off. In Cambodia, the rain descends as part of the display and bluster of a tropical storm - first of all the wind machines, then the storm clouds, then the rain enters on the wings of the storm. All in all a much more showy display.