Fretting at 4 am.-- The Angkor Wat Adventure

If Thailand is the land of gentleness that greets everything with a smile...Cambodia is its nasty cousin that flips you off.
I'm trying to figure out the way to Angkor Wat because if I'm "that close and don't go" I'd never hear the end of it. I've never been much for regrets. And of course I want to go, but the more I read about "AK-47 toting terrorists stop the truck to collect impromptu “tolls”" while the trucks are of course driving on impassable roads littered with landmines-- the more comfortable I feel in Thailand and Thailand alone. Thailand is not perfect, but its the star child around its neighbors. The democratic diamond in the communist rough. Yes, that's right, this is the liberal idealist in me conceding and saying that communism hardens and wears away at people.
The way to Angkor Wat is unlike reaching any place in Thailand. In Thailand buses and trains run everywhere at least a couple times a day. So from Bangkok to the border city of Aranya Prathet I'd catch a 5 am bus at about $3.50. Once I'm in Cambodia however? The mode of transportation is series of Pickup trucks, the first of which will be idling at the border checkpoint. Might as well be an unmarked van.
I set up a post on Couchsurfing inviting other international travelers to come and make the journey with me. Preferably "a large male who'd willingly pose as a violently possessive boyfriend while giving the appearance of former military employment?" Hahaha. But seriously, weepy folks with fragile nerves need not apply.
Oh, and this just occurred to me, right before I do this I will have spent 2 weeks practicing peaceful vipassana meditation at a buddhist monastery.
Talk about fragile.