As I had mentioned before, the road from the Cambodian border (after crossing from Thailand to Cambodia) to the city of Siem Reap is known as the worst in Southeast Asia. It's known as a right of passage among travellers. It's only a five hour journey, but depending on how well you planned or how much you spent, it can be made in the back of a crowded pickup truck or on a crowded crappy bus.

Well, we were relieved to get the crappy bus. Coming off only a few hours of sleep the night before, we expected it to be hell. What we found out is that not one of our fellow travellers had been on a bus from Chanthaburi to Aranyapathet. :) Talk about right of passage. But that was all behind us.

The bus from the border to Siem Reap was actually small and archaic and without air conditioning, but it had cushy seats. It was overly crowded, Pam and I were the last two board and got the back seats right over the wheel well, but it was loads better than the bus the night before leaving Chanthaburi. We set out on a paved road with the windows open, cool breeze blowing through our hair with a bunch of local Cambodians and two German guys. There were no pigs or chickens or other animals. Only one screaming baby. I remember thinking, "Geez, this is nothing!" And the first hour and a half was delightful.
THEN we pulled off the paved road and on to a dirt road that picked up dust and debree and was full of massive pot holes. We had to close the windows and we all began to sweat. We crossed bridges that seemed to be built of toothpicks... and had to go around some of the bridges because they were washed out completely. I remember wincing as we crossed a few, waiting for them to fall. I worked out in my head my plan of action just in case it happened, made sure I had my passport on me, etc.
Still... I remember thinking, "This is really not that bad."
We passed shanty house after shanty house, cows, rice crops, etc.
We stopped for about 30 minutes at a small, dusty village (for lack of a better term... it was simply thatched huts on the side of the road selling drinks, etc) and there we were acousted by children trying to sell us a set of postcards for $5.00 U.S.
Freakin' 200 Baht! That's a lot of money here.
We didn't buy any postcards but handed out a few of the sparkly pencils that I had brought with me for JUST this occasion. It's funny, they acoust you and act so disappointed when you don't buy what they are selling, but within seconds they are smiling and actually saying "Thank you" and just being so darn cute! As we were pulling away in the bus, Pam and I (being the only caucasion women on the bus) had a group of little girls with sparkly pencils running after the us, waving, blowing kisses, etc.
Ya gotta love it.

After about 3 1/2 hours, it started to hit me.
We were sweating uncontrollably... the windows had to be up because otherwise you'd constantly be inhaling dust and dirt. Even with the windows closed, we were eating it, breathing it. The dirt was in our eyes, ears, nose, mouth. There was a poor teenage Cambodian boy right across the isle from us who was sick and puking out the window.
JUST when I began to think that I could not take any more dusty, bumpy, dirty bus ride, we pulled up to the station. We were met by a guy holding a sign that read, "Erin Friend" for a free ride to the Sunway Guest House. Much to our surprise, we each had to get on the back of a motorbike as opposed to a tuk tuk (a motorcycle that pulls a little carriage with seats). So I had to eat my words and ride a motorbike.
We were carried through a very pretty city, very green and clean with everything moving at a nice, slow pace.
The Sunway Guest House is great. There isn't any hot water, but the toilet flushes and the beds are comfy. Plus, it's only $6.00 U.S. per night.

Tomorrow, we begin our three day tour of the Angkor complex, ancient ruins of both Hindu and Buddhist religions. Supposedly one of the highlights of Southeast Asia.