Borders Without Visas

aka getting there, because half the fun of any 'off-the-beaten-path' journey is the travelling itself. Two of my favourite English phrases are "means to an end" and "an end in itself"; both have their rightful time and place, but the crossing from Thailand to Cambodia was definitely true for the latter. There being no direct flights to Siem Reap from Tokyo (actually, there are two a month, pft), there were two ways to travel; a short but rather expensive flight from Bangkok (who can charge what they want as they dominate the flight path) or an overland border crossing. This is lightly documented in Lonely Planet and Websites as a 'fun' (read - good to blog about later) but possibly disastrous trip. But first, backtrack a few steps.

I left Narita hassle-free, with the exception of losing my deodorant and water to the security guard. Well, it'll be everyone else's problem in Cambodia when I stink. Is this still necessary - especially when you can buy the same in duty free?!

JAL (Japan Airlines) were nice enough - with decent movies, and free drinks throughout. I landed at the new Bangkok Airport (as the last time I went was just before the changeover) and took a taxi to Khao San Road. Rather excited to sit in my old guesthouse and have a drink, I couldn't find it. Replaced by a Starbucks. There's something so inherently sad about that.

Des had booked a 20 day travel ticket instead of my 10 day, which meant she was on a different flight. We decided to meet at the bus station and take the first bus to the border rather than stay overnight and pay for a hostel in Bangkok. Besides the crossing was said to take about 10 hours, so leaving earlier would be preferable to arriving in the evening.

I took another taxi to Morchit, the Northern Bus Terminal. The driver pulled off the road, drove up a ramp and dropped me off at the door. It was about 1am and the place wasn't empty but hardly bustling. A few people waiting around sat in the rat-infested dirty hot station while all the counters were closed. There were decent sized TV screens playing films and, as the first film - a Steven Seagal nameless one - finished, I realised that a lot of these people had come just to watch the movie as they left soon after. No sign of Des.


A DVD kicked in. Great, what next after such a Seagull (sic, I decided to keep it) classic.... a man floating lifelessly in the water. The Bourne Identity!!! Great sign. Still no sign of Des.

About 2:30, I went for a wander. That's when I saw a map, with a downstairs. For some reason, the counters were on both floors and, whereas my taxi driver dropped me off up the ramp, Des's took her to the ground floor. We met up just in time for the window 30/31 to open. We bought two 3:30 bus tickets to Aranyaprathet and boarded.

About 7:30 we jumped onto a tuk tuk. Literally, the driver pulled up by the bus door and we climbed on. A kilometre or so to the border from there.

Poipet, the border town, rhymes with toilet. And that's the kindest description you'll get from me. Just a few shacks and past them, casinos where the Thais go to gamble on the weekend, the area was infested with people you'd generally want to avoid. Some kids walked beside us holding broken umbrellas over our heads to protect us from the sun. They wanted money. They got some sweets, which I was advised to bring.

I handed the departure card to the Thai guard and entered no man's land. Straight to the visa hut; hardly any other travellers were around at this time, being so early, although it doesn't seem like it would be busy at any time. The Cambodian visas were the top scam I was warned about. Legally, they should cost $20 (I'm going to use Dollars and Riehl throughout, but it's complicated so will save that for later; take it as one pound to two dollars). I stress, they should. Even the sign above the window said it. So I filled out the form and handed it to one of the guards. The most corrupt men I've ever met, they shook their heads and said 1000 Baht, they don't take Dollars. Well, 1000 Baht is about $33, a hefty increase on the real price. I was prepared for this. "Why is the sign up? Take it down if it's not $20". I knew I'd have to pay more than 20 whatever, everyone does, it just depends how much. Remember, they decide whether or not to give you a visa so if they want to be assholes, who's to stop them?

I did pretty well, make that extremely well, at $22. Des paid $25. The processing and stamp in the passport took all of five minutes, time spent watching my pockets, as well as a group of Indian boys who went for the "fast-track processing" - the consisting of the guards filling out the forms for them, for $50 each!

Through Passport Control into Cambodia!


Scam number two - getting to Siem Reap. A four hour taxi ride, which should cost around $40 but depending on how much you can haggle it down. The hardest problem was deciding who to trust as each driver who accosted us told us the other drivers would drop us off in the middle of nowhere and demand more to take us to our destination. In the end, we went for a group who called themselves the "Association of Travel Agencies" who were the only organised company - in truth, they were the Cambodian Mafia. I decided that this was the 'safest' method as they were more organised than the individual drivers, and that if we broke down, at least they had other taxis. Des and I found a lone Russian backpacker to share the ride with and we climbed in.


The road itself has come a long way in the years since my 2005 Lonely Planet guide. In fact, most things in the book were outdated - the place, as I quickly learnt, was developing at light speed. The road wasn't as bad as expected, even some concrete sections, but others were dusty and bumpy. It was the driving that was more of an issue; people overtook, undertook, beeped, shouted without a care in the world. And the cows, a regular occurrence.


I could already see how undeveloped this country was, the least modern I'd ever been to. The driver pulled over at a roadside shop and picked up two Cambodians. Curious, wasn't this the taxi we were paying for? Six in the taxi, and no questions asked, we stopped for petrol here:


We'd just arrived a few weeks before rainy season so that stretch was mostly fine; if it becomes too muddy, I hear it's impossible to drive through.

The rain started falling.

One part was so bad, cars were stuck. Kids were pushing cars back and forth. The mud looked about knee-deep. This lorry tried to drive through but skidded sideways into the restaurant!


We turned back and took the long way round, eventually arriving in Siem Reap (pronounced basically as See 'em Rip) at 1:30 - a ten hour crossing exactly.

Scam number 3. We stopped just outside the city. A man opened my door and said "the taxi can't go into Siem Reap, it's too dirty", the laziest excuse I've ever heard. Of course, he was happy to take us on a tuk-tuk to a guesthouse, where he'd earn commission. The hostel wasn't so bad but it was a bit out of the centre of town, so Des and I told him to drive on. He looked extremely upset with us and replied:

"How can I make money if you don't stay there? I won't be paid now"

I'm all for tipping people and giving charity but this guy pushed it. We hadn't asked him for help, he and his Mafia friends took it upon themselves to scam us. I paid him for the ride and jumped off in town; I wasn't sticking around to hear him guilt-trip us more.

We found a small guesthouse with a decent room and bathroom for $5 each a night near the Old Market. Bargain! Each guesthouse had a massage parlour downstairs - I've never heard this before but in Asia (the World over?) blind people make the best masseuses. I've never even had a massage before but the tourist town was packed with them, and plenty of blind staff sitting on the streets outside waiting for customers.

We sat in Bar Street (I'll describe Siem Reap in the next installment, this entry is long enough) and had Cambodia curry for lunch. What is Cambodian food anyway? Answers?

Cambodian food, in layman's words, is Western/Chinese/Thai food served in Cambodia. They do have fantastic fruit shakes. All for small change.

Late afternoon, we found a tuk tuk driver (actually he found us, I meant, he gave us a decent price) to drive us to the Angkor Wat complex, 6 kms North of town for sunset. Passes for Angkor Wat (remember, over 300 temples) are either 1 Day ($20), 3 Day ($40), or 1 Week ($60). One day, you could probably see all the main sites at a push, and one week is more than enough. The only benefit is you can explore leisurely as, while three days is sufficient, they have to be consecutive, and Temple Fever became a problem. Whichever ticket, the sunset before is included.

We went to Phnom Bakheng, the main site for watching the sun go down, excited to finally be there. Cambodia children rushed up to us before we left the tuk tuk to sell guide books, bracelets, coconuts. Amputees begged for money. Many Cambodians live within the borders of Angkor Wat and make a living off the tourists. It's an interesting heritage site, as there are some main roads leading in and out, where foreigners have to present passes to staff, but residents are free to come and go.

We didn't take an elephant ride up the hill but followed the crowd up a separate slope towards the top, even seeing a monkey on the way. i hear Angkor Wat is busier year after year and the crowds are inescapable in the main attractions, but this wasn't so busy - 200 or so people is much better than I expected. Most seemed to be Japanese, but nationalities from all over were there.


The ruins were built on top of the mountain, with a beautiful view of the sunset over Tonle Sap lake, which runs from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. A key point to note is that on all these temples/ruins, the steps are ridiculously narrow. Not too high, but impossible to place a whole foot forwards on a step, ascending and descending is not for the acrophobic. The Angkorians must've had tiny feet!



However, Des and I both admitted that it wasn't that fantastic - a sunrise/sunset over the temples would be more worthwhile, whereas this was a sunset from a temple.


Still beautiful though. And as a teaser, Angkor Wat itself was just visible in the distance.


The best was yet to come. Welcome to Cambodia!