The journey on the road from Siem Reap to Sisophon is appalling. It is the worst road I have been on in South-East Asia and we were on it for 4 hours. It is only 171kms from Siem Reap to Battambang, and it isn't like Laos where you have to climb over mountain ranges, The land is perfectly smooth apart from the road.
The road is terrible because it appears whatever old road existed has been ripped up to build a nice new road unfortunately construction seems to have stopped at the ripping up stage. The road now is a dust bowl which is heavily rutted. It was so bumpy that trying to read was nigh on impossible as the words appeared to be a blur before my eyes. They have started to put irrigation sections in and the most uncomfortable parts of the journey were going up and around these new constructions. The roads between Siem Reap and Phnom, Battambang and Phnom Penh, and Sisophon and Battambang are all fine. The reason why a key road between Thailand and Cambodia has been so delayed is apparently due to Bangkok Airways. The rumour is that they pay Cambodian politicians to hold construction of the road back. Bangkok Airways has a monopoly on the route between Bangkok and Siem Reap.
The journey wasn't helped by the bus not having any air conditioning. The only source of ventilation was a skylight near the front of the bus. The road was swirling with dust and this quickly filled the bus. It was boiling hot, humid and dusty. The locals onboard were not happy and when the locals get animated you know its bad. I was squeezed next to a family, or at least a dad and two children.
I bought the ticket from Sam So Guesthouse for $6. The bus was an hour late picking us up from the centre of town. It is possible to catch a boat from Siem Reap to Battambang. I had reports advising the bus journey was a safer option. However, if I had known the road was going to be so bad I may have given the boat option more serious consideration. It took 4 hours from Siem Reap to Sisophon and then 2 hours to Battambang.
I should have known the road would be bad because of the Scam Bus. The Scam Bus is not one bus but a broad name for buses running between Khao San Road and Siem Reap. The tickets are cheap in Khao San Road but as the journey progresses you pay more and more money, including an expensive border crossing. They then take the bus on a circuitious route so that you arrive in the middle of the night in Sioem Reap and stay at the guesthouse they want you to, if you try and go somewhere else they kick up a fuss. Lots of people had told me about the Scam Bus throughout my time travelling and I was surprised to bump into people in Cambodia who had been on the Scam Bus. I met one woman who had been told by a travel agent in Khao San Road that they could only sell a return ticket on the bus to Siem Reap and she bought it. She decided to fly back to Bangkok from Siem Reap because the journey was so appalling. Click here for a link to Tales of Asia with stories of the Scam Bus and click here for Travelfish's guide of how to get from Bangkok to Siem Reap.
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