Pilgrimage to Cambodia

11pm, 12/28: get on night boat in Koh Tao 6am,
12/29: arrive at pier in chumporn, thailand 7am,
12/29: get on bus to Bangkok 4pm,
12/29: arrive in Bangkok 4pm-12am: find a room to stay for the night, research travel to cambodia, decide which luggage I will store in bangkok, buy new sandals, go to sleep
5am, 12/30 get on mini-bus to Thailand/Cambodia Border
12pm, 12/30: arrive at border
12pm-4pm, 12/30: stand in line, get my visa, cross into cambodia on foot
4pm-10pm 12/30: take bus from cambodia border to Siem Reap (Ankgor Wat). the road is unpaved, uneven, barely a road. also, we got a flat tire on the way!!! it takes 6 hours to do about 100 miles

Well after about 48 hours of hoping busses and boats, I make it from Koh Phangan /Koh Tao to Cambodia. I could have done a train on the 30th but it left too early and I was tired! The Thailand - Cambodia border was a bit crazy. I arrived there just as all of the tourist busses showed up. I was heading toward Siem Ream, and the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. This is THE PLACE TO SEE in Southeast Asia, and I was right in the middle of the high season. I waited in line at hte border for a few hours before I entered Cambodia on foot. It was funny though; all the tourists with their package tours didn't get into the country any faster than I did, and they spent probably 5 or 6 times as much money as I did.

The road from the border town of Poipet, to Siem Ream was HORRIBLE! I mean Cambodia is a poor country and many of the roads are horrible, as you would expect in a poor country. However, this road to Siem Reap is the most used road in the country, and should not be an uneven dirt road. I mean you could barely call it a road. I think we did 180 km in about 6 hours. There is a rumor going around that there are airlines that pay Cambodia NOT to pave the road...so the tourists willfly instead.