Poipet

Getting to Cambodia was our first real taste of being on our own... And it sure showed, 4 headless chickens in south east Asia!

There are a couple of ways of crossing the border from Thailand to Cambodia, one of the most popular is to use the Poipet border crossing.

Poipet itself is a very weird place, it's literally a small stretch of road which has a several casinos. Gambling is illegal in both Thailand and Cambodia, but as Poipet is inbetween the two it is deemed legal to gamble here. You get lots of Cambodians and Thais that come into the area to gamble, but it's not like las Vegas where there are shiny lights and attractions on the road, Poipet is a dirt road, with huge potholes. Either side of the road are casinos with the worst taste in decor you can imagine.

As I've read in some guides, the best thing about poipet is leaving it!

Trying to leave it was in itself difficult! We crossed into poipet early evening and being clever thought of having a spot of dinner before we moved across into Cambodia.

It was even harder to organise transport to Siem Reap from Poipet as it was a public holiday and the taxi driver was charging us $50US!! But as we attempted to cross into Cambodia, the border had shut and we were refused entry, so we had to take shelter in Poipet for the evening before setting off first thing in the morning.

Possibly a huge blessing in disguise!