Giant Ibis: Bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

Based on Jim and Shane's recommendation to use the Giant Ibis bus, I booked a USD15 ticket for a 368km, 7 hr bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. This included 2 breaks - one 10 minute break around 10:30, 30min lunch break at 12:30pm.

The bus trip itself was fairly uneventful. However I could see why the trip took 7 hers - most of the road was open dustland, with concrete slabs intermittently dispersed in between gravelly roads. This made for an extremely bumpy, at times side lurching, bus trip, so I'm not sure how I managed to nap twice throughout the duration of the ride. Luckily the guy sitting in the window seat was asleep half the time. I loathed every time he went to speak to the Asians in the seats opposite as he had a sever case of halitosis. This progressing worsened the longer the trip and the less water he drank.

Inside the bus - free water, on board movies (Lone Ranger and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), A/C and WiFi (which dropped out once your left the city)

10 minute stop - gravelly and dusty

Enjoying a sugar cane drink (USD0.50)

The lunch break was at a roadside 'restaurant' called Banyan Tree Restaurant, which kind of made you feel like you were being set up. Tuna sandwich and grass jelly drink was USD7, which is positively a rip off in Cambodia. Luckily they had Western toilets!

Road outside the roadside restaurant

Banyan Tree restaurant

Well behaved child on the bus

Some snaps of the countryside from the aisle seat

Made it to a bed!

Arrived in Siem Reap just before 4:00pm. My driver from Angkor Pearl Hotel was waiting outside with a sign with my misspelt name. Yes, I finally got my name on a sign! Felt like a star but did not have the foresight to take a photo of said sign.


I headed out to Pub St around 5:00pm, which was slowly starting to shake off the daily grind. By sundown, Pub St and its surrounds were in full swing. Had dinner at a great place called Khmer Kitchen - highly recommend it :) I had the Khmer curry with rice, pineapple juice and ginger tea for USD7. Better value than the darn tuna sandwich.

Pub St and the adjacent streets are full of restaurants, market stalls and tuktuks. The vibe was really buzzing, especially for the low season. Plenty of faces I recognised from the last few days, be it from the flight or just around Phnom Penh. Started walking back to the hotel around 9:30pm, which was a bit dark and gloomy as I walked off the main road to where the hotel was located. Mental note: Go back to the hotel earlier or concede defeat to one of the annoying tuktuk drivers. If I get called 'lady' one more time, I'll throw my shoe at them.

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I discovered that the locals think I'm strange when they ask 'Where are you from?'. Naturally I reply 'Australia', which then produces puzzled looks, before rephrasing the question to 'Where are your parents from? China?' Grrrr!