Transport to the border with Mr. Aum was smooth - Comms including photos of who we were looking to find etc. via WhatsApp was seamless. Border crossing meant being passed to someone to guide us where to go by foot but of course they couldn't come with us - we took the offer to not queue for the visa as it was clearly going to take a while and it was hot plus we had all our baggage etc., $7 well spent. We just waited in a side room with others whilst the guide took a different route (skipped the queue) and was back with us in minutes. Driver on Cambodia side was smooth and we met the guide for the tour (name sounds like "Long") at the (VERY nice) hotel. Guide was excellent, knowledgeable and flexible. Given a lot of detail about transport because you shouldn't be put off by other things you may have read. It's different to the way things might be at home, but nothing to complain about... Things ARE different. They should be. Otherwise why leave home?! Floating village tour was excellent. Again I'd read a lot about how exploitative it is but there was no evidence of that at all. There are no crocodiles in the lake, no mistreated bats or snakes in cages at the village, no girls sent out to the boat in a paddle washtub begging. No begging at all. There WERE crocodiles at the village in a pit - but in a kind of farm... They looked well, were well kept etc. they are used as WE might use farmed animals - but they obviously couldn't keep cows and sheep on a floating village! They are eaten, with skin used and products available to admire or buy. We asked to stay and watch the sunset and were allowed to do so. Excellent. Watching traditional net fishermen on the trip back was a bonus. The guide gave us a geography and history lesson explaining everything we saw. We were taken into Siem Reap, took the guide's advice on where and what to eat for traditional Cambodian fayre and walked a while before heading back to the hotel by tuk tuk (different to the Thai variant, this was an actual motorbike towing the carriage!).
We asked if we could get to the temples early morning to watch the sunrise and again everything was flexible enough to allow that. We then took time to fully explore Angkor Wat with excellent guidance, a free photographer in the guide who knew all the best spots and the kindest group of resident temple guides to help us along the way before being taken back to the hotel for a great breakfast then returned again to the temples for Ta Prohm (tomb raider temple) and Bayon (faces everywhere!). All with the benefits already mentioned of our excellent guide and driver.
Travel back was as before. Just go with it. Trust the people and jet then do their jobs - you'll have an unforgettable experience and hundreds of photographs!