Siem Reap Day 4+5

Waking up at 5:45 am on vacation is already tough, and then spending 8 hours on a bus doesn't make it any better. But the destination Cambodia should make up for everything. But let's start from the beginning. Since showering is totally overrated in this climate, we quickly freshened up, packed our backpacks, checked out, and at 6:30 am sharp, Maren could enjoy her cappuccino. Since the bus didn't depart until 7:45 am, we actually had enough time. But apparently, none of the taxi drivers wanted to take us to the bus station because the roads were once again completely crowded. So at 6:50 am, we had to charter a taxi from Hotel One. "Coming in nine minutes" yeah right. We boarded the taxi at 7:25 am, and since we didn't really expect to catch the bus anymore, we started looking for an alternative flight. Thanks to the printed ticket, I called the bus center in Cambodia by accident, which then connected me to the bus driver in Bangkok. Taxi driver and bus driver sorted it out. Whatever they sorted out, we were by far the last ones and still made it. Just the Asian +- half-hour rule. We got a comfortable bus and a lunch package on top of that. Since the bus company offers a VIP procedure at the border to Cambodia, everything should have gone quickly there as well. It was quite simple: bus attendant collects passport plus an extra 5 dollars (2.50 dollars for the tour guide, 2.50 dollars for the border officer. Just a guess. According to Transparency International, Cambodia ranks 144th in corruption and stuff), stamps everything, returns the passport, everyone crosses the border. Done. Stupid thing was, half of the bus was made up of people who had the intellect of a goldfish. It is to his credit that the guy remained so calm despite all the questions and mistrust. Others would have simply shot our fellow passengers and thrown them into the vast rice fields between Bangkok and Cambodia. I mean, it's a huge company we're traveling with, and all the procedures were clearly stated on the bus tickets and could be found on the so-called internet. Well, the border was crossed with a significant delay thanks to the goldfish and penny-pinchers. Thanks, now Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Cambodia are on one page of my passport. Not! We finally arrived in Siem Reap at 5 pm. The rest of the day and the following day were spent by the pool in the best weather without any other guests, and in the evenings, we ate well along the promenade. A day of rest is nice too. Cheers!