5-Day Siem Reap Trip for Two for Only P38K- Part 2

Aranyaprathet/Poipet Border

Aranyaprathet-Poipet Border

Finally Hubby and I arrived, taking a tuktuk from the bus station to the border. And I was amazed by the stark difference between Thailand and Cambodia. From asphalt pavements to dirt roads, from nice 3 star hotels and casinos near the Aranyaprathet side to basic countryside stores along the Poipet border. We visited last 2007, so I'm not sure how it is today. But if you look at this scene from the air, you can see a two-faced landscape, one totally different from the other.

The immigration station was relatively quick. I was a bit worried about the cab ride because we asked our guesthouse to book it for us. I've heard of scams from the tales of Asia website. Instead of the agreed pick-up point from the border, we took a van going to a transportation office. A bit nervous now... but our driver finally arrived. His name is Mr. Heng. Although he seemed like one of the antagonist of an FPJ film, he was very nice. He saw that I was worried, so despite the language barrier, he called the guesthouse so they can reassure me that he was the designated driver. Thank you, Mr. Heng!

The infamous dirt roads (from wikipedia)

The ride was an aircon Toyota Camry, without shock absorbers, so we literally felt all the bumps for a good 10 hours since we were traversing through dirt roads. Even if we wanted to, we wouldn't be able to sleep. It's a good thing I wasn't pregnant. I would've popped the baby right there.

Cost:
Tuktuk from bus station to Poipet - B 80 (Php 120)
Taxi to Siem Reap- USD 45 (Php 2,115)
Adventures with Mr. Heng... priceless!

Rosy Guesthouse

We stayed at the Rosy Guesthouse, a really nice place. The owner is a Caucasian, and he was very friendly. The staff was nice, too. We slept as soon as we laid our faces on our pillows, since we were dog-tired. It took almost 24 hours for us to travel, but we relished every experience of it. All in all, we stayed for three days in this lovely guesthouse. Great value-for-money (or VFM, as I usually say)!

Front view of Rosy Guesthouse

After sleeping off the tiresome journey, we went out to see the city at night, stopping along the Angkor Market and seeing fellow tourists enjoying the nightlife.

Cost:
Overall stay (3 days) - USD 158.75 - not bad! certified Value-For-Money (VFM) (Php 7461.25)
Food for day 1 - USD 20 (Php 940)