Crossing the border: Thailand to Cambodia

I wrote this a few days ago but hadn't got around to getting all the pics together.

A summary of our trip overland from Thailand:

Cambodia 2012 Day 1

Bangkok to Koh Kong

We started the day my least favourite way - waking up to Josiah’s ear-drum-splitting, heart-attack-inducing phone alarm at 4am.

Thankfully, things improved greatly when we went to check out. Luck was on our side and the Filipino man was on night duty. He is the most clueless receptionist ever which, usually, is horrendously frustrating, but this time it meant we got our full bond back, no charge for the electricity or water!

We squeezed our bags into a taxi and off we went to the Ekkamai Bus Terminal for our bus to the border. There were 2 companies offering buses to Trat (the town before the border) and we chose to go with the teller who assured us their bus would go straight there and would only take 4 hours. The price was 241THB ($8). Apparently that's the set price for everyone (foreigners and locals alike) so we paid it and made our way to bus stop number 17 only to discover the air-conditioned super-duper bus we were expecting was instead a rusty old minivan.

My smile turned into a frown.

And buyer's remorse hit when we saw the alternate company's bus looking every bit the super-duper, extra clean, air-conditioned variety I’d been expecting. I looked down at my ticket and saw in big bold Thai-style English: “No Refundable”.

So, while everyone else climbed onto their big bus, we stared at the corroded piece of poo we'd bought tickets for.

As it turns out, we did choose right. Apart from the faint vomit smell in the van, the aircon worked great and we left earlier than the other bus did! 6:05am – only 5 minutes behind schedule, it has to be some kind of Asian record.

Surprise surprise, it didn't take 4 hours and we didn't go straight there. It was 5.5 hours long and we had 4 stops along the way, all of which I actually appreciated.

Villages along the coastline

We had no idea which stop we were supposed to get out at, but the driver seemed fairly organised. He kicked 2 Australians out at a petrol station and they were bundled into another minivan destined for parts unknown. I remember the look of fear and horror on their faces at being separated from our group. When it was our turn, the minivan door flew open and he motioned for us to get out and left us standing with our bags in a cloud of dust. Thankfully we were in the right place and were quickly shown to another minivan which was to take us to the border crossing. It was 120THB ($4) each and we only had to wait for about 30 minutes while the van filled up with other passengers before heading off. Just a side note for anyone else who may have to do this journey – there's a little food court over to the right (when you are looking at the terminal) with cheap Thai food. I ordered off their menu as it was the same price as getting a plate of their pre-cooked food (that look like they’ve been left out for a few hours, most with drowned flies and salmonella, no doubt).

The trip to the border took about 1.5 hours and we arrived just after 1pm. The walk between the Thai immigration booths and the Cambodian was quite pretty if you can bear to turn your face into the scorching sun and look across to the ocean.

Then the fun began. In preparing for this trip, I'd asked the all-knowing oracle “Google” for tips on obtaining a Cambodian visa. Armed with the knowledge of travellers before me, I knew that the Cambodian border authorities were notorious for being very aggressive and charging double the price for visas.

Here are some of the tricks they used to extort money from us:

1) Demanding that you give them your passport so they can fill out the visa forms and “process” it for you – then charge extra for this service.

A man tried this on me. I said no thank you as I took the forms from his hands and filled them out myself.

2) Authorities lying through their teeth as to the cost of the visa. They were charging 1200 THB per person (about $40) when in fact, it's only $20 per person. I asked the young (and very arrogant) backpackers ahead of us how much they'd paid.

Their reply: “Only 1200THB! That's the standard price. Actually the officials said it was discounted from 2000THB!”

1200THB as the standard price?! Officials giving discounts?! Oh dear. I think they had one brain cell each.

Frustrated, I turned back to the now closed booth and tapped on the glass. There was no answer. I went to open the door. Amazingly there were 3 men inside and the closest one jumped up to prevent me from coming in. Pushing me out, he said, “1200 baht or no visa!”

We argued back and forth. They said 1200 baht, I said $20. I told them that we'd called the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok and they'd assured us it was only $20, and that we didn't have any Thai baht on us so either they would give us the visa or we would have to wait outside their booth all day.

I was in the process of explaining how annoyed I was to Josiah (like he didn't already know) when a man appeared behind us and said that with an extra 200THB each, he might just be able to convince the authorities to reduce the visa price to $20.

Bingo! Right then I knew that $20 WAS the right price. But now it had gone past just being about the money and we were well into morality territory. I wouldn't care if it was only a 20 cent bribe they wanted, the fact was they were greedy fat pricks who preyed on stupid one-brain-cell backpackers made me furious. I turned the man's offer down and loudly declared that we would be calling the Cambodian Embassy to confirm the price of the visa.

Within seconds, the door swung opened and the man inside stuck his balding head out. “Come in! Hurry up!” he said, pointing to Josiah.

5 minutes later and miraculously the authorities had decided that they could do the visa for $20 but warned us that next time, we should get our visas before we left Bangkok.

Sadly that wasn't the end of the journey. Cambodians in my opinion are FAR more aggressive and loud than their Thai counterparts. Josiah left me with the bags to investigate the cost of a taxi to Koh Kong and by the time he got back I had 5 men surrounding me, 3 were talking about the label on my plastic bag (no doubt there’ll be a flood of clothes sporting the “Fashion Paris” label available soon) and another 2 were harassing me about where I wanted to go next and giving me quotes before I’d even had a chance to answer.

We finally got a taxi to Koh Kong for 300 baht, bridge fee included. Since it was only 1:45, our said we might make the 2:30pm bus to Sihanoukville and completely bypass Koh Kong if we wanted to. Of course we said yes, and he told us the price of the bus ticket was $15 each. The second time I asked the price had dropped to $12 (funny that).

When we got to the bus station, we found out the bus was full anyway so he took us to where we could buy tickets for tomorrow's bus so we didn't miss out. He came into the travel agent with us which of course meant he was getting a commission. $12 came the reply when I asked how much tickets were. And that included a tuk tuk ride from our hotel the next morning so we didn't have to worry about arranging our own ride there. We seriously considered her offer, but were turned off when she got snarky when I asked her if I could buy tickets at the bus stop. “You buy here!”.

I hate it when people tell me what to do.

We said we’d think about it and started to leave. “No! You buy now!”

There was no way I’d be buying anything off her now. The only thing I have trouble saying no to is free food. Sadly for her there was nothing free or food-like about being over charged for bus tickets.

Our room in Koh Kong @ Otto's Guesthouse

Next, we instructed our driver to take us to Otto's. It was the only guesthouse name that I could remember. Plus they were supposed to have rooms for 100-120baht.

So where did our driver take us?

“Somewhere better!”

Sigh.

“Somewhere better” looked alright from the outside so we went in. A/C rooms for $15/night. Free wifi and a pool. $10 for a fan room. Again, I was interested. I wondered how much it would have cost for walk in rates without having to pay for our driver's commission.

Activities/meals area

“How much are your bus tickets to Sihanoukville?” I asked. I wanted to see how honest he'd be.

“$12”.

“Can I buy tickets at the bus?”

“You buy here!” (Is that all they teach them in English classes?)

As you probably guessed, we didn't buy there.

Instead, we went to Otto's.

Their rooms weren't 100 baht anymore. It was 150B and VERY basic. Shared toilets are the worst. Correction, no toilet paper is the worst.

But on the plus side, they had bus tickets for $8 with the free tuk tuk ride still included.

We went out for a quick exploration of Koh Kong. Some people say this place is lovely and you should stay a few nights here before continuing onto other parts of Cambodia, but honestly, I'd say one night is plenty long enough.