Surviving the Thai/Cambodia Border

We began our day around 8 AM, somewhat prepared for the obstacles we would face. We were traveling from Nakhon Ratchisima in Thailand to Siem Reap, Cambodia. We decided that it would be better to knock out the 387 kilometer trip in one long day rather than to waste two days traveling. So we checked out of our hotel and caught a tuk tuk (motor bike drawn carriage) to the bus station. We had thirty minutes to kill until our bus left and at 165 baht ($5 USD) per ticket we were already doing pretty well. We hopped aboard and unluckily for us the only seats remaining on this 1980's bus were the ones in the back, behind the toilet. At that point, all we were hoping for was some cool AC. The bus got started and the AC started to cool but not for long. There was cool air for the first 30 minutes of the five hour bus ride. We passed the steamy 5 hour ride to the border town of Aranya Prathet by reading our books and doing anything to ignore the incompetent AC.

Five hours later, we finally made it to the border. We grabbed our stuff, wiped off the sweat and braced ourselves for what was to come. Jonathan was warned of border scams while doing his research so we knew to be weary. As we stepped off the bus we were greeted by three guys on bikes who wanted to "help" us get our Cambodian visas. We walked about a quarter mile in the blistering Thai sun to the border. The guys thought they were directing us but we knew better. On the Thai side of the border there are a dozen places offering visas and an uninformed tourist can be easily manipulated into overpaying for a visa. The schemes are so bad that you may even purchase a counterfeit visa. It would have been hard to distinguish the real government visa offices from the fake ones without knowing what to watch out for. People were beckoning us from every direction with the intention of having us fall into their scams. The pressure was on and it was very important to keep our cool. When the guys realized that we were smarter than their schemes they retreated and looked for other naive travelers to prey on. In the process, we also helped a Philipino lady who was also trying to make her way to the border avoid the scammers. We followed the official signs and trusted our instincts to make it to Thai immigration. We finally made it through Thai immigration and exited the country. We then had to ignore another set of people offering faster "cheaper" visas and transportation and made it to the proper visa office.

Upon reaching the visa counter there is a sign which clearly reads $20 USD per Visa but the immigration officials have a special price with an additional 100 Thai baht ($3 USD) per person. It was obvious that this was not government sanctioned but a special price implemented by the men issuing the Visas. Unfortunately, this was a bribe that we just had to stomach if we wanted to make it into Cambodia. At the visa office we met 6 other backpackers from Argentina and Europe who had paid for a bus ride from Thailand to Siem Reap. They were disgruntled with their service and feared not having transportation after passing the border because they did not get the more expensive visa from the bus company. After acquiring our visas we made itthrough Cambodian immigration and were now officially in Cambodia. Initially, we thought it was a good idea to stick with the other backpackers because we still needed to find a ride to Siem Reap. But when the discontent turned into a shouting match between the travelers and local Cambodians, I knew it was time to distance ourselves.

Again, there were at least 15 Cambodian men hassling us to purchase transportation from them and we did not know which to go with. Finally, we met one gentleman who worked for the local bus station who helped us catch the free transport to the bus station where we would purchase our ticket to Siem Reap from his company. The other rowdy backpackers got on shortly after us. The Cambodian man who they were arguing with had to get his last word in. He came up the steps of the bus and told them, "In Cambodia we have civil war every other year, we are not afraid of war!" All while putting his hands up as if holding guns. His friend calmed him down and peacefully got him off the bus. There was nothing I wanted more than to get away from that border!

After the 20 minute bus ride to the bus station and another $9 each for the trip to Siem Reap, it was another waiting game. We went on one van and then switched to a larger bus. We finally made it to what we thought was Siem Reap at 8 PM. We were really right outside the city in a dark bus garage. All the passengers were shocked that we were not taken to the bus stop in the city center. The driver told us that we could catch a tuk tuk to our accommodation. Again, we were in another situation with little options. We hired a tuk tuk who tried to collect more money from us during the trip for gas. We didn't fall for it and then we finally made it to our accomadation. We hadn't booked in advance and luckily there was a room available. The only cure for this exhausting day was prayer, pizza, and an ice cold beer or a glass of wine for me.

A slice of home after an exhausting travel day

My first impression of Cambodia was more like the land of schemes than the land of smiles. We had never felt more like walking ATMs until this experience. It seemed as if everyone wanted to take advantage of us and we found it difficult to trust anyone. I knew that this was a bad experience and it would not be fair to the entire country if I formed my opinion based on a bad day. So with that said, I am eager to find the Cambodian smiles that we have heard about because they definetly were not at the border.