The Border Crossing
Trip Start
Mar 09, 2009
1
16
44
Trip End
Jun 15, 2009
Poipet, Cambodia
Thursday, April 16, 2009
As we got off the train a man who was sitting opposite us asked us if we were going to the border - great guess Ms Marple; the only two white guys on the train?! He said he had a tuk tuk and we bargained him down to 40 baht. He first took us to a place off the main road, not the border, just a shack, where some well-spoken Thais came out with forms and asked us to fill them out. We'd luckily read up on the border situation, as it's notorious (B.I.G.) for being a place to get ripped off. We knew that the border was a lot larger and we could fill out the forms ourselves at the Cambodian visa desk. We refused to get out until we were taken to the border. The tuk tuk driver seemed suprised then drove us next door to some kind of very dodgy looking "Cambodian Embassy". Pete checked it out (within 5 seconds came back out again) and we refused to move until we got the border. Needless to say the bloke was a bit pissed off but he just shouldn't bullshit a bullshitter!
The border itself is a horrendous place, very busy with all sorts of vehicles going both ways through a huge archway. First of all checked out of Thailand and then walked across this no-mans-land area to the Cambodian Visa desk. We knew we would only have to pay $20 for a visa, and it even said that on the sign about the cashiers office! But before you could get there, a man in an army uniform stopped us and gave us some forms to fill in. We filled them all in and went up to the desk. The man said it would be 1000 baht (I forget the actual prices, but the point was they were trying to scam us). I said no and that we'll only pay the $20. The man sent me back to the seats. Pete then tried, same thing. I went up again and said that we only had dollars on us (to this the army man said "okay then you can pay $25").
We continued to argue and said that we spoke to the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok who advised us two days ago it would only be $20. The man was so rude, but what could we do?! He was in an army uniform but we were determined not to get conned. After about ten minutes of more sitting [we could afford to wait], the man waved us up to the counter and a fatter, even ruder man said it would be more money to be fast tracked. We said we'd wait and the man said "You will wait a long time!" and slammed the counter window.
An almost catastrophic error on my behalf seconds before. I had the forms and passport etc and was putting it on the counter when the two crisp $10 bills flew INTO the cashiers box. I said something and pointed and for a few seconds the men looked blankly at me (the money was out of sight on the floor). I said something again and they picked it up (thank God).
We ended up only waiting about ten minutes.
Crossing no mans land, we were set upon by a well spoken Cambodian lad who explained a bit of where to go next etc. We tried to leave him behind but he just followed us. We then had to fill out more forms to get an entry form. While in there I saw a man give 500 baht to a man in uniform, in some attempt to speed it up. No wonder there's corruption if everyone pays over the odds! And such blatant lying at the cashiers desk earlier - it said $20 above the counter!
The lad had followed us and waited. We tried to walk away on the Cambodian side (a helluva lot of casinos here - as its illegal in Thailand) but he kept following us. We'd learnt a bit about the prices and such, and tried to walk away from him. He was quoting prices but I just turned to Pete and we agreed to walk on. He then pushed me and angrily snarled "I heard you call me a Hindu c**t to your friend", I said I did not and he became even more aggresive and threatening us - "I know people". We jumped on a free shuttle bus to the bus station just to get away from him. That tactic must work with others though, and wasn't the nicest thing that has happened on this trip.
The bus 'station' was in the middle of nowhere. Best thing I can say to describe it was a newm big building with nothing inside, apart from a central bar area - chairs all around, but nothing else, and a lowered area which was like a small swimming pool with steps down to about 4 feet deep. There were dozens of Cambodians just waiting to get our dosh!
We were going to get a bus (although noone turned up apart from us until another bus half an hour later), but then asked a Brazilian couple who were also going to Siem Reap (who isn't eh?! - Siem Reap is the base for seeing Angkor Wat). We ended up paying $12.50 for a share taxi each and the roads were nowhere near as bad as some of the horror stories I'd heard. Although there were a few bumpy make-shift bridges while the (slow) Cambodian government redid the roads. And the cows that randomly went across the roads. And the lack of rules on the roads. Speed. Overcrowding. Which side of the road to drive on...
