We woke up early, 4:45 AM, so we would have plenty of time to get to the border. I found out online what time the best buses left, so we went on one of those. That meant air-conditioning and a relatively clean bus to sleep in. The trip was a little over four, problem-free, hours and I slept most of the way.
We arrived, as expected, not at the border, but at a bus station near by. From there we took a tuk-tuk (cart on the back of a motorcycle) intending to go as close to the border as it was allowed. Here is where we ran into our first scams. Luckily, I had read that this would happen, so we were prepared. While driving to the border our tuk-tuk driver made a sudden right hand turn, taking us right into the parking lot of a travel agency. We were bombarded by men trying to sell us packaged deals to Cambodia. We repeated "no," "u-turn," and "take us to the border" but our driver just sat there. Finally they realized that we weren't going to give in and our driver drove us next door, to a large gated building labeled "Cambodian Consulate." I knew this would happen and I knew we did not need to go in. Our driver kept insisting that we needed to get visas there (so he could no doubt pocket the extra cash we would be charged for our fake visas), but we kept insisting that he drive us to the border. Finally, he gave in.
Upon arrival he fed us to the sharks. We were swarmed by men trying to carry our bags, help us find the offices, hold a sun umbrella, etc. They, if accepted, would expect money in return or possibly run off with our things. We told them, repeatedly, that we could do it on our own.
We made it to the building at the border without being hassled too much. We got into the much shorter 'Foreign Passport' line and went inside. A man wearing a pink shirt and baseball cap agreed with our decision on the foreign line and then disappeared. I was told, online ahead of time, that he would be there...and show up again later. After a short wait we were stamped out of Thailand and were officially in Cambodia!
We followed the researched directions, and those of the man in the pink shirt who had reappeared, and walked to the Cambodian visa building. This scam, as we knew ahead of time, would be our most difficult to deal with. We looked for our visa forms and made sure that we didn't receive them from anyone who would expect money for helping us out. The men in uniforms made us show them our passports and then gave us the forms. We filled them out and gave a crisp $20 bill, the price for a visa. Let me give a little side information here. The Cambodian currency is Riel (about 1,000 Riel=$0.25). Despite having their own currency US dollars are more often accepted there. So, after having used Thai Baht for the past 3 months, it was back to US Dollars. So, we handed over the 20 dollars and the men in uniform told us that we had to give 1,000 Thai Baht extra ($30!). I had read before hand that with the corruption in Cambodia, particularly that of the border town Poipet, it is very common for the Cambodian officers to lie about prices and pocket the money. Bribes are also a very popular form of currency. We stood our ground (or should I say, Brittany stood our ground) and said that we would only pay the $20 fee. They did not like this. They said that if we weren't going to pay the 1,000 Baht express fee then we had to pay the regular 200 Baht ($6) fee to get our visa in a single day. This is also not true. They would pocket that money. We said no. They were a little bit more mad. They said that we HAD to pay the 200 Baht fee otherwise we would have to wait for 2-3 days. We called their bluff and said we would wait.
Our scammers
We sat down and talked about possibly just giving them the 200 Baht. Leah ran to the bathroom. Leah hadn't even come back yet and they already had processed our visas and given them back to us. Really? 2-3 days? At least for their own dignity/integrity we thought they would make us wait for 30 minutes. Nope. That is how corrupt things are.
With our fresh 20 dollar--not 50 dollar, not 26 dollar--visas we walked, with the pink shirted man next to us of course, to the immigration office. Here we filled out another form and waited in another line. I didn't really know what to expect here. The websites told me that sometimes they ask for money for unnecessary stamps and sometimes they let you by. I didn't know if we would get scammed or not. We didn't! We got stamped into Cambodia and were one step closer to finishing our trip.
This is where our pink shirted friend comes into play and another lesson on Cambodia is necessary. I don't really understand it completely myself, but I'll try to explain. Apparently Poipet, Cambodia's border town, is a sort of fiefdom. This comes into play with the transportation service. The people of Poipet know that many foreigners come through their town daily. Instead of allowing each foreigner to barter for low taxi prices to the city of Poipet they made a "rule/law" saying that all foreigners have to go through the Taxi Association at a fixed, expensive, price. It is in fact not illegal to use a non-association taxi, but it is not always a good idea. Apparently the Association will hassle the driver, possibly follow it, possibly do worse and often times you won't even make it all the way to your destination. Like I said, things are a bit corrupt here, and there is some sort of taxi mafia. But, back to our story.
Our pink shirted friend was a member of the association. He told us that we had to take the free shuttle from the border to the Transportation Terminal. It was decided, although corrupt and expensive, that it was smartest to comply. We took the shuttle and arrived at this huge building that was just about empty. We had done the border crossing pretty early, but it was still eerie how empty the place was. They told us that for the three of us the cost was $45 dollars. We were ready to pay but then heard the bad part of the deal. We would have to sit all three in the back seat of a Toyota Camry and they would pick up a hitchhiker along the way to sit in the front seat. Yeah right! We tried to argue for a long time about our extra passenger. We threatened to return to the border and find a different way of transportation. After a lot of discussion we begrudgingly complied.
We walked out to a display of beat-up cars. Brittany pointed to the cleanest one and said, "we want that one." They all laughed and said there was an order to the cars and we needed to take the next one. The next one ended up being the clean one and a bubbly Khmer (Khmer is same same as 'Cambodian') man hopped out of the driver seat. Leah jokingly demanded we see his license and everyone laughed. He seemed to be a fun guy and we were put at ease.
With our fresh 20 dollar--not 50 dollar, not 26 dollar--visas we walked, with the pink shirted man next to us of course, to the immigration office. Here we filled out another form and waited in another line. I didn't really know what to expect here. The websites told me that sometimes they ask for money for unnecessary stamps and sometimes they let you by. I didn't know if we would get scammed or not. We didn't! We got stamped into Cambodia and were one step closer to finishing our trip.
This is where our pink shirted friend comes into play and another lesson on Cambodia is necessary. I don't really understand it completely myself, but I'll try to explain. Apparently Poipet, Cambodia's border town, is a sort of fiefdom. This comes into play with the transportation service. The people of Poipet know that many foreigners come through their town daily. Instead of allowing each foreigner to barter for low taxi prices to the city of Poipet they made a "rule/law" saying that all foreigners have to go through the Taxi Association at a fixed, expensive, price. It is in fact not illegal to use a non-association taxi, but it is not always a good idea. Apparently the Association will hassle the driver, possibly follow it, possibly do worse and often times you won't even make it all the way to your destination. Like I said, things are a bit corrupt here, and there is some sort of taxi mafia. But, back to our story.
Our pink shirted friend was a member of the association. He told us that we had to take the free shuttle from the border to the Transportation Terminal. It was decided, although corrupt and expensive, that it was smartest to comply. We took the shuttle and arrived at this huge building that was just about empty. We had done the border crossing pretty early, but it was still eerie how empty the place was. They told us that for the three of us the cost was $45 dollars. We were ready to pay but then heard the bad part of the deal. We would have to sit all three in the back seat of a Toyota Camry and they would pick up a hitchhiker along the way to sit in the front seat. Yeah right! We tried to argue for a long time about our extra passenger. We threatened to return to the border and find a different way of transportation. After a lot of discussion we begrudgingly complied.
We walked out to a display of beat-up cars. Brittany pointed to the cleanest one and said, "we want that one." They all laughed and said there was an order to the cars and we needed to take the next one. The next one ended up being the clean one and a bubbly Khmer (Khmer is same same as 'Cambodian') man hopped out of the driver seat. Leah jokingly demanded we see his license and everyone laughed. He seemed to be a fun guy and we were put at ease.
Brittany and Vanna, at the start of our drive
We soon learned that our driver's name was Vanna (pronounced Wanna) and that he spoke English very well. We had heard horror stories of the road from Poipet to Siem Reap. It has only recently began to be paved. The first 30 minutes ran, literally, smoothly. Vanna made us laugh and we made him laugh. It turned out that he was married and spent half his time in Poipet and half in Siem Reap. He made the 3+ hour drive multiple times a day. At one point we asked him what he liked to do for fun at night. He told us sometimes he does karaoke with his friends. We asked him to sing and he refused, but then showed us that his rear-view mirror doubles as a karaoke machine. It was hilarious!
When we got a bit more into the drive the pavement started to vanish and dusty dirt roads appeared. We shared these roads with motorbikes, bicycles, tractors, pedestrians, you name it. Every time we came upon another person/vehicle in the road Vanna would honk 15 times and then pass them. He explained to me that honking in Cambodia is different than honking in the U.S. In Cambodia it is not a bad thing and is just meant to tell someone else you are behind them and ready to pass. It might be done for a different reason, but it is just as annoying to me!
the semi-paved part of the road; a man with a live pig on the back of his motorbike
We never ended up picking up a hitchhiker on the side of the road and Vanna eventually let me sit in the front seat. What a sweetie. We entered Siem Reap in under 4 hours and were just about finished with the journey. Leah and Brittany were sitting in the backseat, looking through the Lonely Planet guidebook, trying to find a guesthouse to tell Vanna to drop us off at, when he stopped the taxi.
We were in a small lot, outside of the city, full of tuk-tuks. I was afraid this would happen. Now we were going to be fed to the tuk-tuk drivers. We asked Vanna to bring us to a guesthouse but he said that the company had to drop us off there and that the tuk-tuk would be a free ride. Nothing is ever free. We reluctantly hopped in and a small Khmer man (teenager?) hopped in with us. Ugh.
We told him we didn't want him in there and wanted to go to a specific place (otherwise they pick the place and get a nice commission.) He said he had to come because the driver didn't speak English. I don't know if that was true or not, but it looked like we had no choice. We told our newest traveling companion to take us straight to the guesthouse, but I could tell he took a roundabout way as he told us his business. Yes, the tuk-tuk ride was free but he wanted us to employ him for the next few days. He wanted to take us around the Angkor temples or anywhere else we wanted to go. During his sales pitch our driver ran into a woman driving a motorbike. Her bike fell over and scraped the leg of our new friend. They tried to brush it off as no big deal and then he continued his pitch with a bleeding leg.
Conveniently, we arrived at the guesthouse just as he was finishing his sales pitch. Brittany and Leah went in to check it out while I guarded the bags. He told me that he hates when people go to guesthouses he doesn't choose because then they tend to use the tuk-tuk drivers that are stationed at the hotel. He started to get desperate.
Leah with our threatening tuk-tuk driver
Brittany and Leah concluded it was a good place to stay and when Leah approached the tuk-tuk our guy said to her, "Leah are you going to do me right or do me wrong?" He asked what time we wanted him to pick us up tomorrow. We kindly told him we didn't know our plans yet and couldn't make that decision. Now he got angry. He was saying that we were just going to use the guy and the hotel and that's not fair and he brought us there and blah blah blah. We asked for a phone number and said we would talk to him when we knew what our plans were. He didn't like that. We all started to leave then but Leah stayed and insisted we get his number. Apparently when it was just him and Leah he told her that if he, or any of his guys, saw us with another tuk-tuk driver we would have a problem on our hands. Nothing like a scary threat from someone when you're just getting settled into a new place!
After our threat we were nestled into our new place with three beds, free internet, and a Khmer manager that speaks French and acts a lot like Willy Wonka (the Johnny Depp version!) We haven't been using the tuk-tuk driver that threatened us, and have seen no problems yet!
Siem Reap/Angkor is a beautiful place. We have loved every minute of it thus far. The scams/corruption we encountered on the way here are in no way representative of the rest of the trip or country. Cambodia has a deep and dark history that we are learning more about everyday. However, despite the major problems it has had we have found nothing but great people and hospitality.
When we got a bit more into the drive the pavement started to vanish and dusty dirt roads appeared. We shared these roads with motorbikes, bicycles, tractors, pedestrians, you name it. Every time we came upon another person/vehicle in the road Vanna would honk 15 times and then pass them. He explained to me that honking in Cambodia is different than honking in the U.S. In Cambodia it is not a bad thing and is just meant to tell someone else you are behind them and ready to pass. It might be done for a different reason, but it is just as annoying to me!
the semi-paved part of the road; a man with a live pig on the back of his motorbike
We never ended up picking up a hitchhiker on the side of the road and Vanna eventually let me sit in the front seat. What a sweetie. We entered Siem Reap in under 4 hours and were just about finished with the journey. Leah and Brittany were sitting in the backseat, looking through the Lonely Planet guidebook, trying to find a guesthouse to tell Vanna to drop us off at, when he stopped the taxi.
We were in a small lot, outside of the city, full of tuk-tuks. I was afraid this would happen. Now we were going to be fed to the tuk-tuk drivers. We asked Vanna to bring us to a guesthouse but he said that the company had to drop us off there and that the tuk-tuk would be a free ride. Nothing is ever free. We reluctantly hopped in and a small Khmer man (teenager?) hopped in with us. Ugh.
We told him we didn't want him in there and wanted to go to a specific place (otherwise they pick the place and get a nice commission.) He said he had to come because the driver didn't speak English. I don't know if that was true or not, but it looked like we had no choice. We told our newest traveling companion to take us straight to the guesthouse, but I could tell he took a roundabout way as he told us his business. Yes, the tuk-tuk ride was free but he wanted us to employ him for the next few days. He wanted to take us around the Angkor temples or anywhere else we wanted to go. During his sales pitch our driver ran into a woman driving a motorbike. Her bike fell over and scraped the leg of our new friend. They tried to brush it off as no big deal and then he continued his pitch with a bleeding leg.
Conveniently, we arrived at the guesthouse just as he was finishing his sales pitch. Brittany and Leah went in to check it out while I guarded the bags. He told me that he hates when people go to guesthouses he doesn't choose because then they tend to use the tuk-tuk drivers that are stationed at the hotel. He started to get desperate.
Leah with our threatening tuk-tuk driverBrittany and Leah concluded it was a good place to stay and when Leah approached the tuk-tuk our guy said to her, "Leah are you going to do me right or do me wrong?" He asked what time we wanted him to pick us up tomorrow. We kindly told him we didn't know our plans yet and couldn't make that decision. Now he got angry. He was saying that we were just going to use the guy and the hotel and that's not fair and he brought us there and blah blah blah. We asked for a phone number and said we would talk to him when we knew what our plans were. He didn't like that. We all started to leave then but Leah stayed and insisted we get his number. Apparently when it was just him and Leah he told her that if he, or any of his guys, saw us with another tuk-tuk driver we would have a problem on our hands. Nothing like a scary threat from someone when you're just getting settled into a new place!
After our threat we were nestled into our new place with three beds, free internet, and a Khmer manager that speaks French and acts a lot like Willy Wonka (the Johnny Depp version!) We haven't been using the tuk-tuk driver that threatened us, and have seen no problems yet!
Siem Reap/Angkor is a beautiful place. We have loved every minute of it thus far. The scams/corruption we encountered on the way here are in no way representative of the rest of the trip or country. Cambodia has a deep and dark history that we are learning more about everyday. However, despite the major problems it has had we have found nothing but great people and hospitality.
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