Bangkok, Thailand > Siem Reap, Cambodia Day 85
Our 7am pickup turned up late and to top it off we were last on the minibus. We ended up sitting in the shitty 1 1/2 person seat right down the back beside the bags which encroached on our space even more, the smallest people in the van ended up with a 3 person seat…..not fair!! The traffic heading out of Bangkok was horrendous, gridlock city. Our driver was definitely Thai, he was insane. When we went around corners the van would sway and because of where we were sitting every time we went over a bump we hit our heads on the top of the back window!
At about 11.30am we stopped about 5 minutes from the border for lunch/scam!! At the lunch place there where guys rushing around getting details from you for the visa into Cambodia. They were charging 1300 Baht for an express visa. We informed our little helper that we did not have any Baht left on us, we only had US dollars so he offered a visa at $35US. What a joke we knew we could get it at the border for $20US so we asked him what the extra $15 was for…he said it was for the express processing fee. When we still said no he said we would not be able to get a Visa at the border…… we stood our ground!
We hopped back in the van, I think one way or another nearly everyone else in the van had overpaid for their Visas (there were 2 American guys that had been in the country already who knew better). When we hopped out of the van another guy wanted to sell us a visa and said that the visa office was closed and the only way we would get one was through his tin roofed lean two ….. we still pushed on!!
We had to go through quarantine first and have our temperature taken for swine flu, once that was over the scamming started again, these guys actually had uniforms on!! They said we could only pay in Thai baht, they did however have a lower price of 1000 Baht but we still let them know we did no have enough Baht to pay. Eventually they said $20US with a 200 Baht processing fee!! We handed them $40US and 200 Baht and they handed this through the window, then they asked for another 200 Baht. I was grabbed it out of Lee’s wallet and then I tried to hand it through the window but one of the guys just snatched it out of my hands and put it in his pocket with a little smirk on his face……corruption at its best…. what are you to do!!
The rest of the process went pretty smoothly, it was quite a joke really as the people on our van that paid the extra money were behind us in the final line up……so much for the quick processing fee. The border was an amazing place, in between leaving Thailand and crossing the Cambodian border is what we called ‘No-man’s-land’ it was full of Casinos for the Thais. It is illegal in Thailand so all they have to do is pay a fee to get in and they don’t have to cross the border into Cambodia but can stay at the casino hotel for a couple of days and gamble.
We found ourselves a car taxi ($45US) and hit the road to Siem Reap at about 1.30pm. As soon as we started driving we definitely knew we were in a different country. The roads were not finished properly, everything was dusty and dirty and the land is sooooo flat (all farming land, mostly rice paddies). The other odd thing is they drive on the right hand side of the road but have left and right hand drive vehicles…..confusing!!!
When we arrived in Siem Reap our taxi dropped us at a servo and from there a tuk-tuk driver took us to the guest house we wanted. He kept wanting to know when he could pick us up tomorrow but he had no info about the temples etc and we said we wanted to settle in before doing the temples (this is the gateway to Angkor Wat!!!).
Rosy Guest House was fantastic, we paid $20US for a Deluxe Room normally $25. I wasn’t feeling the best as we hadn’t eaten since about 6.30am so my head was playing up a little. We had a bit to eat and then chilled out in the room. We went back down for dinner and met up with Jude and Betsy two girls that have been working together in Japan, a guy called Rob from San Francisco also joined us. We played a few games of shithead and had a few drinks. I went to bed around 12 and Lee sat up with them until about 2ish.