When I checked in to the Trat Center Hotel, I was proudly informed that hot tea and bread (aka raw toast) were served for breakfast, all included in my ten quid. But even as an economical backpacker I decided to give this a miss and head to the Nineone coffee place I had seen the night before. Good coffee and wifi, but that was it. My dreams of croissants were dashed, it was Asian or nothing - I chose nothing... And then the overland trip to Koh Kong in Cambodia. As I checked out, the hotel automatically ordered me a tuk tuk to get to the bus station. Once there I paid my 120 Baht (£2.50) fare for the one and a half hour minibus ride to the border.
The buses don't go to a timetable, they just leave when they are full. Luckily, I didn't have long to wait as I clambered into a seat at the back, feeling huge as the rest of the passengers were much smaller locals. The bus didn't inspire too much confidence though, with a big bash at the back and a broken window taped up.... But off we went and I think the driver was on an economy drive as the aircon didn't appear to go on. Now I love to be really warm, but even for me it was rather hot, but the locals seemed to think it was normal... I just thought of it as a free sauna. We stopped at a few places along the way to drop people off, one was the town just near the border crossing which is a place no one would ever want to live, the all pervading smell of drying (and that's just a polite way of saying rotting) fish was most unpleasant. And we went through the narrowest part of Thailand as it meets the Cambodian border.
I have done this border crossing before, but the other way around, going from Cambodia back into Thailand, but I had forgotten just how mad it can be, especially on the Cambodian side. I also remembered that it was a long hot walk with a big bag across no man's land from the Thai to the Cambodian bit, so I paid a guy who confirmed my memories as he also insisted it was a very long hot walk, to trundle my case in a rusty old iron trolley. It was only just after I agreed to pay said man that I looked up and realised that I had got my crossings mixed up in my memory, the long one was Vietnam into Cambodia, this one was so short I could easily have managed my case myself. So, scam No 1!
Then moved towards the "health check" for which you hand over 20 baht (50p) where a digital themometer is waved towards your face and you are pronounced fit or not. The good news is that I am pronounced fit enought to get into the country... The bad news is that the health check is not mandatory, I later realise you can refuse, but everyone was going through it - so was scam No 2!
Passport and photo in hand we get to the immigration bit. My passie was whisked out of my hand by a guy who passed for "official" in this part of the world and I was told to sit down and wait as the guy took it away and began filling in the form. Then he called me over to the window and asked for my 1200 Baht (39 US$). I had read about this one and knew it was only 20 US, but this official looking guy said "no, no US$, Thai Baht only here". Well you don't cross a Cambodian border official so I paid up. All those fears of being banged up abroad.... Fingerprints taken, it was only then I realised that the guy filling in the form etc was not an official at all, just a self appointed "agent". And he had the cheek to ask for a tip for his services... But it's not just me, reading the forums on this since, it looks like everyone has to pay this inflated baht price here. So Scam No 3!
There was the usual selection of taxi, tuk tuk and hotel touts around offering bus tickets to Sihanoukville and tuk tuks to town. Was quoted 300 Baht for a tuk tuk to the hotel, which seemed on the high side and when I tried to negotiate he wouldn't move and said it was a long way and he had a bridge to cross and tolls to pay. Again, a hostage to fortune and not willing to get on the alternative, a motorbike taxi, called a motodop here, with my case, I gave in. It was a reasonable distance, but definitley overpriced for the fun but bumpy ride on a trailer attached to a motorbike..... And we picked up another fare on the way. He even had the cheek to turn round expectantly when we stopped at the toll for the Friendship Bridge expecting me to fork out more, I was learning fast, he didn't get it. So Scam No 4.
The last one, and I have vowed no more, was the change from the taxi fare. I didn't have the right bahts for the taxi and needed 200 baht change. Most transactions here are in US$, with small amounts given back in Cambodian Riels and I remember the shops and markets are always honest and you always get the right official exchange rate. So when he said he owed me $5, I took him at his word. It was only later I realised he had done me for $1.50. So Scam No 5! He even had the nerve to ask for a tip, and he hung around reception hoping for commission for bringing me, I hope he didn't get it as I had already booked myself. The business card he gave me to call for taxi and bus tickets has now gone straight in the bin. Will they ever learn that tricking people, albeit for small amounts never works in the long run, or perhaps it does. I think I am a seasoned traveller but it is really easy to get caught. I know it wasn't for much and actually it was all a bit of a laugh, and God knows they don't have much, so all in all it was worth it for the entertainment value! I have less sympathy though for the real officials if they are in on any of it, which according to a lot of forums they are. Not so at the airports where it is all streamlined and easy, but in the madness of a land crossing... It's also my own fault, if I had thought in time, I could have done an e-visa online, paid my 20US$, but this way was a lot more fun!
Coming out of the immigration area, once you get past the huge Koh Kong Hotel and Casino, a flash place for the Thai's who come here for gambling as it's illegal there, I realised I had forgotten just how different Cambodia is from Thailand. Suddenly a lot less traffic, no mini buses but bikes, motorbike tuk tuks, big smoky noisy trucks and very few cars, and all on the other side of the road, a leftover from the French I assume. Little "Cambodian People's Party" shacks dotted everywhere, there seem to be more of these than houses in some places. A few typical Cambodian wonky wooden stilt houses and wonderful views of the Cardamon mountains. You can feel the pace of life, laid back in Thailand compared to the UK, slow down even more. And the people, suddenly half the size both in height and width from the Thai's. Just shows again what a Western diet does to a population...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
