Shaking all over
If you want to do the bus trip between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap then don't choose Paramount Angkor Express, as their bus that carried me between the two, leaving the capital at 6pm, was one of the most uncomfortable I've ever been on. And believe me I've been on some crap buses. I got into their Siem Reap bus park, in a sidestreet off the main bus depot at midnight after being shaken, stirred and whatever else for six hours. I thought the bus was going to fall apart with everything including seats, windows, tv, etc, shaking violently for the whole trip. We stopped for 30 minutes to pick up a group of twenty backpackers at Skun which provided some momentary relief but the bone-shaking soon continued as we raced through the countryside to our final destination. The fare was $10 (I got mine for $6) and it ain't worth the money. Spend a few dollars more and take the Mekong Express at a more acceptable departure time. Thanks to my pal Kim Rieng I had a lift to my hotel for the night, the Royal Bay Inn, which has a very pleasant breakfast setting around the pool and gardens. I'm in the office today with lots of people to meet. Tomorrow is hotel day with visits to about fifteen hotels on the cards. Saturday I hope to get out and visit a few other places of interest.
Labels: Paramount Angkor Express
posted by Andy Brouwer at
11:05 AM
2 Comments:
Hi Andy, we rode the Paramount Express from Sihanoukville to PP, from PP to Siem Reap and back and I can not confirm that the bus was uncomfortable at all. Kampong Saom to PP had been picked by the Orchidee guest house but as we were so content with the way the driver behaved (no dangerous overtaking, very sensible driving) we went looking for Paramount on our other trip as well. We learnt, that drivers at Paramount receive a special training regarding road safety. This may be true with other companies, too, however it was very noticeable with the Paramount drivers. So we had absolutely no reason to complain.
Good to hear your experience with Paramount was better than mine. I couldn't comment on the driver's ability as it was at nighttime so difficult to talk about his driving but for sure, the bus he was in charge of had seen better days and needed some new screws fitted. By comparison the Mekong Express bus to PP was considerably better.
Andy
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