Thailand to Cambodia: Crossing the Border by Numbers

1. Our Hotel to Ayutthaya Train Station [Motorbike] - It was 1:30 AM when we quietly walked down to our hotel lobby to hail a tuk tuk to the train station. Yet, there was one, slightly huge problem: there were none operating at that hour. After our hotel graciously called around town, they suggested that the best (and only) solution was to hop on the back of motorbikes (with backpacks, i.e. large, heavy sacks). In preparation, I slung my camera bag (that I stylishly wear on my front on travel days) around my neck like a scarf while Jen, the master packer that she is, was instantly ready to go. In no time we were conducting a dusk balancing act making sure our cargo, and thus ourselves, remained on the strained motorbikes. One way or another, we made it to the station. Success! 
2. Ayutthaya to Bangkok [Train] - The train pulled up to the station in quite a theatrical manner with smoke rising up into the glowing night light as a monk in his orange robes stared up at the colossal machine. Although unexpected, it was a stunning sight. What met us inside was equally worthy of the cinema but not warming to the soul. Even though we expected the train to be relatively empty, we passed through car after car full of people stretched out across seats asleep under faint incandescent lighting. We zig-zagged through the rows dodging heads, feet, and hands, and although they were just asleep, in my state of sleepless delirium, it looked like a Postapocalyptic scene and I scurried along in a maze-like race to find a seat. (Yes, I am a scaredy cat) Luckily, after 4 or 5 cars, we found a place to sit and rode to the capital. 
3. Bangkok Train Station - We sat for 2 hours in the station; it was quite nice. And this time in the station, with much less people in it, I began to appreciate the architectural beauty of the place.
4. Bangkok to Aranyaprathet [Train] - Best anecdote from this portion hands down: Jennifer gives me a weird look; we are sitting across from each other in the train car, and I turn around diagonally behind me to see a Cambodian man blatantly staring at Jennifer with a ceaseless grin on his face. It was equally creepy and hilarious (exhaustion definitely played a role in this reaction). It was like he was trying to reach Enlightenment by staring at her face. Luckily, she successfully got him to turn around soon after.  
5. To the Border (Poipet) [Tuk Tuk] - Spot on.
6. Crossing the Border [On foot] - Partially due to our thorough research, obtaining online e-Visas prior to arriving, and definitely some luck, we had no real issues crossing the border on foot. In the "no man's land" that was technically in Cambodia, we found countless casinos and poor notation for where to go next to fill out our customs cards and get our passports stamped. Thankfully, our intuition got us there with no scams and all our belongings in tow.
7. Poipet to Siem Reap [Taxi] - I thoroughly enjoyed our two hour ride through the countryside, which certainly revealed the pure beauty of the country.
8. Siem Reap to Hostel [Tuk Tuk] - Like many tourism centric services in Cambodia, our free tuk tuk ride turned into a selling pitch on using their services while we were in town. They have a hard time taking no for an answer; our pitchman walked into our hostel with us to ask one more time about using him as our driver. Little did we know at the time that he was helping us take our training wheels off for being able to say no to countless tuk tuk requests in our future.
While the whole journey took over 15 hours, it was, surprisingly, refreshing..maybe it was just the countryside air; whatever it was, it was quickly clear that there was something very special to be recognized in the Kingdom of Cambodia.
l