It all started well enough. We got the train from Bangkok to Aranathr...aranthraphet...aranyaprathet?.... to the boarder with Cambodia. It was a slow train, it took 7 hours but only cost 1pound!! It could have been a lot worse as we managed to bag quite comfy reclining lazy boy style seats with extra leg room at the front; some less fortunate souls who got on at later stops had to stand for nearly this whole journey. I got my first mosquito bite on this train, the first of many but i wouldn't get one for quite a while after this...turns out someone else is rather more tastey :)
And so it began..we arrived off the train and had no option but to take a tuk-tuk. The very scam ridden devil we literally ran away from in Bangkok. Even lonely planet had only suggested this as transport to the boarder. With no other transport in sight we reluctantly got into a tuk-tuk. Before i continue i will point out that prior to coming here i had read a little on this boarder crossing and had a fague idea of what to do and what scams were about, but nothing prepared me for what happened.
First of all our tuk-tuk driver inexplicably took a random right turn away from a big sign saying 'BORDER' and pulled up into a large deserted shack. We were greeted by a friendly local saying we had to get out here to fill in visa forms. We got out reluctantly and with some trepidation followed this man to a table where the forms sat. He told us it was 1000THB for the visa, not the $20 every bit of information told me it was. It didnt feel right and didnt look right. I went over to investigate the so called 'consulate' where i saw a few people leaving. It was no more than a house and a room with a man behind a window and a handwritten sign reading 'Visa'. I stormed out annoyed at the situation and annoyed i hadent realised sooner. Grabbed Nikki (who wasnt quite sure what to do or say), ripped off her photo from the form she was filling out and marched us both back to the tuk-tuk. I think my exact words to the man were 'You can either take us to the border and get some money, or take us back into town and loose everything' Without a word he casually nodded and we headed back to the actual border. I paid the tuk-tuk guy a fraction of what he wanted and what we agreed and politely told him to do one. Right so we are at the border, all good from here? infact where are we...the border crossing outside and partly inside is more like a market or farm. No signs and more stress.
After finding our way into the border through Thailand immigration we followed the route round to find Cambodia immigration / the visa place. We were stopped to fill out health check forms and were lead by an immigration worker to get our visas. Once again we were told 1000THB but this time that we would also get a free tourist bus. Once again not what i'd been told over and over. We got more stressed, deliberated and ignored the pushy officer who wanted us to change USD into THB at a cardboard stand shop and headed to the immigration exit. After queuing in this small farm yard pen for over 20mins we noticed a lot of people with tourist bus stickers, but everyone with visas. An aussie girl finally pointed us in the right direction and we had to backtrack and head to a well hidden set of offices were the actual visa distribution point was...for low and behold..$20. Issued by the same people trying to scam others earlier.
After making it through we joined the others ahead in the que previously for this free tourist bus. We pilled on anxiously. We were driven to the Cambodia boarder bus station, about 20mins away in the middle of nowhere. We were greeted by the very same man who tried to get us to buy the visa for 1000THB and change our money at the side of the road, he was laughing when he saw us and tried to shake my hand, needless to say i declined and did well not to punch him in the face. Next everyone was being made to change money in to Cambodian Riel, the local currency so rubbish its not even used in its native country! I had also read about this previously but alot of other travellers clearly had not. We teamed up with some aussies, including a very head strong girl with an 'im taking no shit' attitude. We refused to change money and split a taxi to the hotel they had a booking with. The taxi journey was an introduction into cambodian and southern veitnam driving etiquette, no rules, just honk your horn as loud and as often as possible, no matter what situation. We pulled up into someone in Siem Reap, not the hotel and were instructed into tuk-tuks, no extra cost, this was just part of the system we were told. With no directions to our destination, only the name we split from the aussies and didnt hold much hope of even seeing them again! Suprise suprise, we were taken to a random hotel with no connection to the one we asked for. More stress. After stern words with our driver we did finally pull up to the right hotel. What a relief is a phrase that doesn't even come close.
It's a sad but perhaps accurate reflection of how some, granted not all, but worringly quite a lot of Cambodians see tourism and tourists as just dollar signs and nothing else whilst having no care or even the slightest thought or consideration of how this first impression of their country makes and leaves on them.
I won't leave it at that, how doomy and gloomy is all that lot! Anyway it turned out the aussie hotel was full so we went on a lonely planet recommendation and only bagged ourselves a cheaper room ($9 a night double en-suite) in a guesthouse with a rooftop gym!! happy days!
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