Các phượt tử ơi, cứu tớ với
Số là tớ sẽ bay Hanoi-BKK vào 19 này và dự định bắt xe bus đi Siemriep.Check thử lonelyplanet thì có một bài viết về tuyến bus BKK-SEP làm cho tớ hơi hãi hùng.
Đầu tiên tớ vô cùng xin lỗi vì post nguyên cả đoạn tiếng anh này lên nhưng mà tớ không còn đủ thời gian và tinh thần dịch nữa he he. Cao nhân nào đã từng đi cung đường này cho tớ biết ý kiến với nhé. Vô cùng cảm ơn
NOTE: Due to the fact that the road is now completed and the drive time from the border to Siem Reap can be achieved by bus in as little as two hours, one of the major elements of this travel option - dragging the trip out as long as possible to increase the likelihood that you stay in the guesthouse you are sold to - is no longer feasible. It is also quite likely that in short time, scheduled buses targeted at both locals and tourists alike, will begin traveling this route, however one year after road completion this still hasn't happened and this route remains the exclusive domain of backpacker buses.
It is therefore a little difficult to say at this time what the status will be of the KSR Scam Bus. For the time being they are alive and well, but for the first time, it is now possible, even probable that you could arrive before dark. Of course if you traveled independently a 7 am departure from Bangkok could see you in Siem Reap by 1:30 pm, but that's a story for another day...
Most agencies on Khao San Road sell the Siem Reap bus tickets for between 200 to 600 baht. Regardless of price it's all the same crappy scam bus service and you'll find once you're on the bus there will be almost as many different prices paid as there are passengers.
If you're staying off Khao San Road, perhaps in the Sukhumvit area, travel agents may quote prices upwards of 1000 baht.. Ask a lot of questions, because in all likelihood you're being sold the same service as the folks paying considerably less for their tickets on Khao San Road. There are however, some services that offer and deliver van service for the Cambodia portion of the trip. However, the prices for this service tend to be outrageously expensive (upwards of 2000 baht or more per person) and not worth the cost.
If coming from Koh Chang/Trat agents and guesthouses also sell a bus service to Siem Reap which links up with the Khao San scam bus once you get to the border.
Travel times from Bangkok to Siem Reap traditionally ranged from 14 to 18 hours and occasionally as much as 24. However, with the completed road, expect this time to be reduced to 10 to 12 hours.
If you're traveling from Bangkok, most of the buses will claim to depart from Khao San Road around sevenish. By the time they get everybody picked up and sorted out it may be a bit later. As you'll soon discover there are numerous delays along the way - most of which are pre-planned no matter how spontaneous they may seem.
Most of the companies are now using full-size buses in Thailand, usually a fairly comfortable one - A/C, reclining seats, toilet on board, etc., the complete opposite to what you'll get in Cambodia. It is also still possible to get a van or mini-bus for the Thailand portion of the trip.
When you purchase your ticket on Khao San Road they'll probably show you a picture of a bus, maybe two - one for each side of the border. For the Cambodia portion you can almost certainly assume that the bus you get will look nothing like the one in the picture. What you will probably get in Cambodia is a bus designed to hold about 28 people, though they've been known to pack in 35 and more, with no air-conditioning and springs popping through the seats. If you ask them why you don't get the nice bus you saw in the picture, "Sorry, bus break down today."
From Bangkok to the Border
This first part of the journey results in nothing more remarkable than the opportunity to become acquainted with your fellow passengers and stare out the window or sleep. You'll probably stop once for a cigarette/snack/toilet break. The real fun begins when you get near the border and the first scam hits. Actually it's the second scam - the first scam was buying the ticket in the first place.
Crossing the Border
At some point each of you will probably be issued some kind of identification card to wear. This may be a laminated business card or just a colored card or sticker. It's to identify which company you're going to be transported by across Cambodia and to identify you to the touts in Cambodia that you are already paid for and not available to be hijacked.
Representatives of the transport companies are usually hanging around the border and they do a good job of locating their cargo and helping you through immigration (not that the help is needed) as they don't want to lose any of you. You'll also find that if you were able to avoid paying the crooks at the restaurant to get you your visa, the bus company representative will happily steer you in the right direction and probably not try to charge you any extra money. So get your visa now, then breath deeply and say "my, getting that visa certainly was easy!"
But whatever they do, they'll probably make you wait at the border for an hour or two or three or four or ... bring a book. They'll tell you stories like they're waiting for gas money, the bus needs to be repaired, they're waiting for somebody, etc. It's all nonsense. They do not want to get you into Siem Reap until well after dark to be as sure as sure can be that you will stay at the guesthouse you are delivered (sold) to. Did you know that almost every bus has a mechanical problem almost every day?!?!?!?!?!?! It's amazing they can run at all!!!
Eventually they'll toss you into some kind of bus and slowly get you all moving along. It might be 2 pm, more likely it might be 5 pm.
Getting to Siem Reap
Once you finally get on the road, you'll travel all of about 50 kilometers to the town of Sisophon where, you guessed it! A food break! Yes, you ate a few hours ago at the border but they need to waste more time. They'll tell you it's a fifteen-minute break and then the van or bus will drive off and not come back for one or two hours. They'll tell you it needed a repair, though you'll be forgiven for not noticing any mechanical problems with the bus, because most importantly, they are just wasting more time. Nobody's repairing anything, they're off doing karaoke or something.
Now, the restaurant does pay the bus people money for bringing you in, but that's a worldwide business practice and I have no complaint with this. What I do complain about is making you wait for up to two hours even though everybody finished their meals in twenty minutes.
You'll probably then manage to travel all of another 50 kilometers before, you guessed it again! another stop! This time in Kralanh which is the toilet capital of Cambodia. Or it was anyway, ... it's a long story. Okay... Cambodians are great imitators. About six or seven years ago somebody got the idea to build a block of clean toilets and advertise this fact with a large sign in English, Thai, and Khmer. The plan worked as taxis, buses, trucks, etc., especially those carrying foreigners, pulled up and weary travelers poured out en masse paying the happy toilet owners 500 riels for the privilege of using the clean facilities. So what happened? All the neighbors began building their own rest facilities and at one point there were about ten of these places in this small village. But competition being what it is, most didn't last a year and now there really are only about two.
Eventually you'll finally reach Siem Reap and pull into a guesthouse that paid as much as $7 a person to have you delivered there.
For some time I had been cautioning tourists about being hassled for trying to leave the guesthouse they are sold to. However, while the problem has most certainly not been eliminated, I am hearing less frequent reports of tourists having problems leaving.
That said, the best advice is that you take a look at the place you're delivered to. If it looks good, stay there, though don't expect a particularly favorable room rate as they do have all those $7 kickbacks to recover. But, if you want to leave, perhaps you had another place in mind, or a reservation somewhere, then leave. Some of the guesthouses have been quite cooperative, even supplying a motorbike driver to deliver you to your chosen destination. What will likely happen is they will ask you where you want to go and if it's a guesthouse they know will pay back some or all of the $7 as a commission then they will of course obligingly provide you with transportation to the other facility.
In the unlikely event you are on a large 40+ seat buses, they usually stop the bus outside of town and then shove everybody into smaller vehicles for delivery to various guesthouses.
When the nonsense of selling the entire busload of tourists to a guesthouse began there were many problems with how some of the guesthouses treated their purchase. In some cases, if you tried to leave you were at the very least told lies about Siem Reap being dangerous after dark. This is nonsense. Nobody's been held up here in years and the locals all know that if they were ever caught sticking a gun in a tourist's face their punishment would be fast and harsh. The Siem Reap authorities are very image conscious and the result is that Siem Reap is one of the safest places is Asia.
thank ya!
