We get up at dawn, there is only one local bus that takes us to Pakse. Supposedly it leaves at 6.30 and we're at the "glorieta".
Champasak
The music starts like the day before and the PA system. Half an hour goes by and the bus doesn't come, we ask and think we understand that it doesn't arrive until 9. We buy drinks, cereals and Virginia tobacco in a shop for 1.000 LAK.
Champasak
Finally at 7 o'clock it appears, it is a small truck with seats in the back covered by a canvas with longitudinal benches. The road improves as we leave Champasak.
The driver doesn't like the way the truck is going and stops twice to look at the rear axle. Each time we go more slowly. There is a woman who likes my nose and doesn't touch it anymore, they are all flat. We stop for the third time and people are looking for shade to settle in. It seems that the breakdown is going to be long... they tell us to relax, but our plane leaves in three hours and we still haven't reached Pakse.
Fixing the bus
The driver and his assistant remove the wheel and start banging. One van stops and the driver pulls Laotians out of our truck and gets people out of theirs. We tell him to take us but we can't fit. Our truck is still stopped and they can't fix it, we insist to the driver and finally he calls someone on the phone and tells us that a transport is coming. A pick-up truck arrives and we get in with my friend with the nose, her daughter and some doors. They drop us off at the day market in Pakse. We have plenty of time to visit the market.
Our partners
We take a tuk tuk to get to the airport. We have lunch there, which is surprisingly inexpensive. The airport is quite small, they're putting in automatic doors. There's only one door for luggage.
The plane is propelled, noisy but stable. An hour later we arrive at Angkor International Airport in Siem Riep.
Views from the plane
We are in Cambodia, it is mandatory to have a visa, we did it online. At the exit there is a counter where they offer you a taxi or a motorbike to get to the city, we take a taxi. The tuk tuk can't get to the airport, they stay outside.
Siem Reap
It's a clash with Laos, in Laos everything is discreet, in Siem Reap, the road, the buildings, everything is much more developed, it's also more ostentatious, a few million visits of tourists a year are to blame. We exchange some money at the airport in dollars, in Cambodia the official currency is the rail (KHR) and the dollar.
Cinema
The taxi drops us off at Mon Papa Guesthouse, the accommodation is clean and the value for money is good. We stay here.
We will visit the center, the city has grown exponentially by tourism, the Temples of Angkor are the best attraction.
Siem Reap
We change money in a bank to get rails, in the street stalls they don't change us dollars.
It has several markets. They haggle hard but not as much as the Chinese. They have practically the same in all the stalls, although they have very cool things. When you leave the main avenue, the streets are not paved.
Siem Reap
We have dinner in the most touristic area with buildings that remind us of the Indochina of the movies. We had a barbecue in a curious kitchen, the top part is shaped like a squeezer, in the part where the orange is broken the meat, prawns and squid are placed. Where the grill would be so that the juice would fall there are no holes. This part is filled with water for cooking vegetables. It is made of metal and is placed on top of a heat source. Everything is delicious, the only bad thing is that the kids get too heavy to sell you things and they don't leave you alone.
Siem Reap
Our dinner
Siem Reap
A street pancake and go to sleep.
Visa Cambodia: 25 euros.
Plane ticket from Pakse to Siem Riep: 120 euros with Lao airlines.
Local bus: 40.000 LAK 2 pax.
Tuk tuk: 30.000 LAK.
Breakfast: 1.000 LAK
Lunch: 50,000 LAK 2 pax.
Accommodation: Mon Papa Guesthouse 10$ double room with bathroom 2 pax.
Food: 3$ 2 pax.
Taxi from airport to Siem Riep center: 7$.
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