Travelling South East Asia can be a little daunting. The languages are not only unfamiliar to us as English speakers, but they also often use a different alphabet, making translations even trickier. The streets are chaotic, there’s so many people, and it’s almost always hot and sticky. But all of this is worth it to travel this stunning area of the world! Travelling between cities can be a bit confusing though. It’s important to try and find a way that’s safe and affordable, but also comfortable! Luckily, we stumbled upon Giant Ibis, a great bus company with comfortable and well maintained buses and tickets that are very affordable.
Giant Ibis services several cities around South East Asia, in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. They offer wifi and complimentary snacks on their air-conditioned buses. They have reclining chairs on their night buses as well, so if you’re travelling overnight you can hopefully be a little more comfortable. However, it is important to note that they do not have toilets on board except for on night buses, so prepare accordingly. They do make stops along each journey though, so you will have access to bathrooms along the way.
Booking Experience
We travelled Giant Ibis between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (6 hours driving) and Siem Reap and Bangkok (8.5 hours driving) and we honestly loved them. We booked our buses online, including seats, and we were really happy with the prices, especially compared to flights! Our first one was $47.32AUD for 2 people, and our second was $147.67AUD for 2 people. We also had a questions while booking and communicated Giant Ibis via email. They emailed back quickly so overall the booking experience was pretty easy.
Our Trip from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap
On the day of the bus from Phnom Penh we arrived at the Giant Ibis bus stop location and were directed to a small mini van with no suitcase space or seat belts. The driver for our mini van did not speak much English, and our Cambodian leaves a lot to be desired. We had to hope that we were on the correct bus. We were a little worried, but there was another woman there booked for the same journey as us, which was reassuring.
Everything made sense after 10 or so minutes when we arrived at a larger bus station. Here, we got on a regular Giant Ibis coach with under the bus storage space and proper seat belts. We realised that the coach would have been too large to reach the stop where we got on. The bus was comfortable and the ride went smoothly. The best part was there was a bus attendant who handed around pastries and water bottles at the start of the journey. The attendant was also there to answer any questions during the journey so that was great!
Siem Reap to Bangkok
Our journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok was a little different. When we arrived to the Giant Ibis bus station and stowed our suitcases under the bus, we had to show our passports to get on. When we took our seats, we found that they reclined! But not like regular reclining seats, they had little foot rests like an arm chair, super comfortable!
We again had a bus attendant on this bus who was able to assist us with the border crossing. When we got to the border, we had to get off the bus. The staff took our suitcases off too and took them on a little cart to the Thailand border so we didn’t have to do anything with them. Our attendant walked us through the Cambodian and Thai borders and made sure everyone was through, before we picked up our suitcases and got on another bus. The actual border crossing was similar to an airport experience, where we left through Cambodian immigration and then had to cross over and enter through the Thai immigration office.
The best part was when we got back on the bus in Thailand, everyone had fresh takeaway containers of fried rice to enjoy for the rest of the journey. We didn’t choose a food option or know we were getting food so this was a welcome surprise.
Overall both journeys felt safe and comfortable. We would highly recommend Giant Ibis for your south East Asian bus travels!
If you want to see what we got up to during our time in South East Asia, check out our vlog playlist: