Glenn_christie's travel blogs:
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Donations Welcome - Crossing Into Cambodia
Entry 46 of 121 | show all | print this entry |
Preparing for our crossing into Cambodia was accompanied by worry and stress as we had read that although you can pick up visas at the border, the officials have many scams that rip people off. We had found this out late in our stay in Bangkok (without yet organising our visa for Cambodia), but had decided to try it anyway as we had already spent a week in Bangkok and wanted to get to the beach. Needless to say it would add to the adventure.
Our Internet research had paid off though as after getting off the mini-bus we had taken to the border, passing though the efficient Thailand immigration, we came up to the Cambodian side. We had all the taxi drivers pestering us as we walked, but we ignored them and continued along, them following like a pack of hungry wolves.
We were directed into the first little office by the taxi guys hanging around and although we tried to ignore them, one followed us in and passed the yellow health forms to us to fill out. "100 Baht" for the forms came from the taxi guy, although the official was definitely in on it. After Christie told him all we were paying for was the $20US for our visa, he said "everyone has to pay". "I don't think so" we said as we filled out the forms which we knew were free. After a few tries to get us to hand over the cash we politely continued to say no and he so generously said "Ok for you its free". Scam No. 1 passed.
Then into the visa office. This was the big one... The official cost was 20USD or 1000 Baht, of which the latter was much higher than the exchange rate (approx 800 Baht = 20USD), although there had been reports of much higher prices charged. After filling out our forms, we quickly presented the US dollars before they gave a price. "Only Baht" came from the official. "We prefer to pay in US dollars thank you" we said with a smile. This went back and forth a few times and they then reluctantly gave in and we had our visas! Scam no. 2 passed.
Only another form to fill, this time with no scam attached and we were in Cambodia! One of the other guys that was in the minibus who I had tried to warn, ended up paying for the yellow form and about 1300 Baht for his visa. A nice donation to the officials!
There were another 2 Hungarian guys at the crossing, so we all decided to share a taxi to get to the nearest town, Krong Koh Kong. So the five of us, plus the driver squeezed our packs into the boot and we all squashed in to the taxi, Cambodian style (almost). Since then, we have learnt that share taxis carry 7 people, with 4 in the back, 2 in the front seat and one on the drivers lap. So we got off lightly!
We bid our other travellers farewell as we entered our budget accommodation - 100 baht ($3.30 Aus for the room), one of the cheapest we have had. It wasn't all that bad either, and we welcomed the cold showers to cool off from the heat.
The town itself was nothing too flash - a typical border town really that has a lot of trade with its neighbour. We were still using Thai Baht here as well, although the Cambodian Riel, Thai Baht and US Dollar was all accepted currency with the locals. Good for doing the times tables in the head each time you buy something!
After all the worry we had crossed the border quite easily, although very grateful that our research had prepared us well. Tomorrow - speedboat to Snookyville (Sihanoukville).
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