A first-person travel vlog by Nate and Kara Buchanan documenting an overland trip from Siem Reap to Bangkok via low-cost "casino buses," including multiple unexpected delays, an on-foot border crossing (Cambodia→Thailand), interactions with other travelers, and arrival in Bangkok. Key concrete details in the video: initial pickup was scheduled at 7:15am; low-cost bus fare (~$7) with roadside stops and a prolonged wait; use of casino shuttle buses near the border; journey duration about 12 hours 45 minutes with arrival near 7:05pm; inexpensive evening meal (two plates of pad thai + three spring rolls for under $4). The vlog emphasizes the travel hassle, local conveniences (7‑11 shops), and small-budget travel decisions.
Questions this video answers
7:15am
12 hours 45 minutes
7:05pm (same day)
$7
Less than $4
Chapters
Foreign.
Today is technically a travel day.
Quite the kind of travel day you're used to. Or we're used to.
No planes, no lounges.
Buses.
Two buses.
It's currently.
7:15 in the morning. We were supposed to be picked up by a minibus to go to the border at 7. Our hotel arranged the transportation for us. And when I went to ask where the minibus was, the lady at the desk seemed pretty clueless. Then I heard her on the phone raising her voice at someone.
It's not looking promising. We should be saving like $150 doing this instead of flying. Also, we slept for like less than four hours last night because Kara stayed up editing an awesome vlog of Angkor Wat. Hey, so if you haven't seen yesterday's.
Pause this one, go watch that one and come back.
It'll be better than this one if you don't come back. Maybe not.
Today is gonna be very interesting.
I don't know. Hopefully not. Hopefully tomorrow. Hopefully yesterday's is way more interesting than today's a little bit.
Wish us luck. There's a bus. There's a bus. There's a bus.
Thank you.
So I'm just pick up to the bus.
Thank you.
We are on the bus.
So the never doubt. Technically it should be a two hour ride. I'm trying to set expectations by saying three to four. I feel we're gonna be driving around picking people up for the next hour or so.
We appear to be making our first pick.
We are about 15 minutes into the journey and we have already made an unexpected bus transfer.
Trying to make bus now.
So far we have driven around in a couple circles and switched buses once. However, we have not left the city. Off to a great start and we're still sitting here. We're moving. I think we might be off to the border.
Quick bathroom snack break about an hour into the ride. How you holding up?
All right.
25 to 30 minutes for check your bus tickets for toilet and for lunch time. Also for driver and for you. And after we have to go back with the same bus. Take you from here to the border for stem the passport with me. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah.
Please ticket up here.
For some reason we need a half hour break before going to the border.
Our bus picked us up at like 7:15. It's currently 11:30. This was supposed to take two hours. We're apparently really close to the border but we had to stop at this place for 30 minutes. I think it was so that they could trap us in here. So we'd have to buy some Stuff.
We succumbed to the temptation. No AC in here. Lots of birds.
Guess this is what you get when you pay $7 for a bus.
We're not taking this bus.
We'll see how this goes. We're not going to Bangkok.
There you go.
Just to the border. Just give me the ticket, please. This is. We booked at our hotel, and they gave us this.
Did some research on the Internet, and the plan is to get past the border and look for these buses. These are buses that bring people to gamble at the casino on the border every morning, and then they return every afternoon. And it's supposed to be one of the cheapest and best ways to get to Bangkok. And we're going to use this detailed map to be able to find them. It appears as though we may have arrived.
Good job, Nate.
I don't really know. Let's follow our new friends that are doing this, don't we? I think there's safety.
Where we're going. No.
This should be fun. We should just go in the departure and then walk. I think that the frontiers, like, the offices are really close together.
Okay.
We just got stamped out of Cambodia at the departures place. And now, I believe, is when we walk through no man's land that's technically not owned by Cambodia or Thailand. Next step, get into Thailand. This is our first time ever crossing a border on foot. I've ridden to Mexico in a van, and I've driven to Canada, but never on foot. How do we say hello.
And thank you? No.
I think I may have misspoken. I think we technically just left Cambodia, and this bridge right here is no man's land.
It's all chaos.
I think we're officially in, say, that took, like, an hour. Ish.
We just have to find the casino buses.
Next challenge, we're gonna follow our friends. What we've done so far is just come straight out of immigration.
We're gonna take the first right right before the police station. I read online that the casino buses were somewhere close to 7 11, which we've managed to locate. So things are looking promising.
Well, I lost about a gallon's worth of sweat. We found the casino bus or something.
That looks like it.
It's getting a lot of shady bags loaded onto it right now. It might be a drug bus.
Like, big trash bags, tons of them.
Also, we just left our suitcases on the bus with our new friends that we made about 15 minutes ago.
They're from Chile, and they're really nice.
They seem very trustworthy, so they're saving.
Our spots with our suitcases and we're gonna get some waters for them at the 7:11 in exchange.
This is why I love Thailand. Two Snickers, a pack of gum, a big bag of peanuts, a big bag of chips and water for like 250.
Didn'T leave us with all of our bags. It could have been a very poor decision. These are the shady bags that we don't know what's in them.
We're supposed to be leaving at 2:30. Let's hope these buses are a little more punctual than the Cambodian buses. And we are moving. This is looking promising. And this is our view for the next four hours.
Speak of the blue bags. Let's add one more before we leave. Adding another one.
Exclamation mark.
How's the vlog coming?
We've been traveling for over 12 hours today. Caris probably slept half of the time. I haven't slept at all slept for.
Four hours last night.
We just got off the bus. It is currently 7:05pm which is almost exactly 12 hours from when we got picked up this morning. Now we have to catch a metro and then get a tuk tuk to our hotel.
They drive slightly faster here than they did in Cambodia.
The first time we came to Bangkok we were terrified of tuk tuks. And this time around the first thing.
We get on rented our own scooter. Ridden on tuk tuks in Cambodia.
We've come so far.
This is still feeling a little more dangerous than both of those.
Besides, when Nate was driving me along.
It'S got cool disco lights.
Well, we just got dropped off at Khao San Cal Cosan. We just got dropped off on some road and now we're walking to find our hotel down that shady alleyway. Really? Yeah.
We lived ish. Lead us there. Google.
Hey.
Yes. Yes. Agoda.
So just to set some expectations for you and for me, our room was 1450 US dollars a night so.
Oh.
Looks like we got two towels for our sheets. It looks to be stain free.
They're not towels, they're blankets.
Our overland journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok took a total of 12 hours and 45 minutes. Must have pad thai.
I've been looking forward to this since we left Thailand last December.
We got two plates of Pad Thai with three spring rolls. These plates cost less than $4. Amazing.
It's good to be back.
Just kidding. We're taking these to the trash can.
That is the biggest load of stuff I've ever seen pulled by a motorcycle.
We love the 7 11. It's followed us everywhere. You know, the 711 has probably been, like, the most consistent thing in our life besides the vlogs in, like, the last 45 days.
It really is.
They're everywhere. You can always count on 7 11.
Hello. How do we know that now?
I think they're competing for who can play music louder. This one or that one.
