Cambodia - Siem Reap to Thailand - Bangkok

As many people told us the road from Siem Reap to the Thailand border is terrible. Its 150km of mostly dirt road, and where there is seal it has so many pot holes it would almost be better if it was dirt. The dust is everywhere, and it takes for ever.
Added to this the road is currently flooded, and most buses arent running. We (Liz and Cheryl included) asked around Siem Reap and couldnt find a single bus going on the day we wanted. In the end we bought tickets back to Phnom Penh with plans of going around the coast. At 8:30pm (just after booking our tickets) we found a bus going to Thailand. We got a partial refund on our other tickets, and prepared for the nightmare bus ride ahead of us.

We set off at 8:30 (it was meant to be 7:30 but nothing leaves on time). The first 1.5 hrs of the trip was fine, and we were quite pleased. Then we came up to a few parked trucks and buses. In front of us was a flooded section of road, with a number of vehicles stuck in it. The water in the middle looked about 1 meter deep, and the odd car was being pulled through, while more and more buses, cars, trucks, motorbikes, and general people piled up behind us. One bus tried to go through and ended up stuck and leaning over dangerously. There seemed to be no real organisation, cars crossed on any side of the road and ended up blocking everyone else. Once cars did get across they couldnt go far because the other cars had blocked the road up. People were making money by ferrying people across in utes, or by boat. We sat around there for 3-4 hours waiting (I'm not sure what we were waiting for). The bus in front of us tried to cross and very nearly tipped over. It was eventually pulled out and our driver paid a tractor to pull our bus through while we all paid to go past the water on a boat.

These two buses ahead of us ran into some trouble...

Some people worried about their vehicles and livestock, while others took advantage of the break in travel.

Once we got back on the bus, we were still driving through shallow water about half the time. We were told that there was about 15km of flooded road and it seemed about that far. It was a dirt road and was incredibly bumpy, and dusty. About 50km before the border the bus stopped (not sure why) and we had to get into a ute - all 21 of us, and all our gear. They fitted 8 people in the cab, and 13 of us on the back. We then drove for the best part of 2 hrs on a combo of dirt roads, and sealed roads that had more pot-holes than seal. By this time we had taken on so much dust that we could taste in in the back of our throats, our eyes were gritty, and our hair felt like straw.

When we arived in the border town at 8pm (nearly 12 hrs later) we went through getting our new Thai visa, and into the luxury of Thai tourism. Here the bus was a double decker, with fantastic air-con, reclining seats, and showed a movie. And it only took 4 hours to travel all the way to Bangkok. We arrived at 12:30ish and went to the same place we stayed last time we were here.

As a whole we enjoyed the trip. We were expecting the worst and got pretty close. But we knew what was coming.