An early train heads east from Bangkok to the Cambodian border, covering the 255 kms in a little more than 5 hours, at a cost of 49 Thai Baht (only US $1.50). Never too crowded, the number of passengers varied, but generally decreased as we left the outskirts of Bangkok. The windows opened wide to let in the warm breeze and there was an oscillating, rotating fan on the ceiling (1).
Hawkers come on the train selling food and drinks, calling out their wares in sing-song voices (in Thai, but I can point). The steady procession of them getting on and off at various stations ensured warm food and cold drinks (2). The fried egg with rice and carrot bits was tasty and set me back 20 Thai Baht (about 60 US cents).
The train ran through the southeastern Thai plains, with rice fields obscured by the morning fog, which lifted as the sun rose. Further east, the rice fields yielded to groves of tall, spindly trees planted in neat rows. Many flocks of birds were flushed by the noisy train, taking to the sky.
The train arrived at the border station on time. Clearing outbound Thai immigration (very grouchy officer) and inbound Cambodian immigration (officer, indifferent) took about 45 minutes. Nothing in the border town of Poipet invites lingering, so I moved on, opting for an air-conditioned taxi (3), rather than a crowded bus to Siem Reap.
At the hotel in Siem Reap, A local family, friends of the hotel owner came by banging a drum and jumped on the pool. Playing an informal pool basketball game, I was the ball retriever when it bounced out of the pool. As dusk, the mosquitos appeared (4), followed by the hotel proprietor with a mosquito coil, then the muezzin's sonorous call to prayer from a nearby minaret.
A later walk revealed the city to be noisy and loud, with a very honky-tonk feel. The girls working in the massage parlors were particularly aggressive, standing beside each other to try to block my passage down the sidewalk.
(1) A man sitting opposite asked (in mime) if the fan bothered me and showed me how to shut it off if I wished. I didn't.
(2) This is common practice in South Asia. On a Vietnamese train a few years ago, the vendors would said "hot" or "cold" and put the food or drink against my arm as proof.
(3) Bit of a disaster. Nearing Siem Reap, a Police officer pointed at the taxi driver to pull over for talking on his phone while driving (a). Instead, the driver dashed down a rutted dirt road to avoid the fine; the police, not wanting to endanger the undercarriage or suspension did not follow. I was glad to get out at the hotel.
(a) While I rarely take taxis, I had a similar experience in Bucharest a few years ago. The taxi driver was clearly manipulating the meter and I called him on it. Coincidentally, a cop soon pulled him over for mobile phone use while driving. I simply got out of the cab and walked to the opera in the rain.
(4) Malaria is considered eradicated in Siem Reap, but not in the surrounding countryside.
Tidy railway station
Grove of spindly trees
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