The ride was very comfortable, and air-conditioned, the train would not have been. I do regret that I was missing out on seeing the countryside as I would have by train, but this really started as a pleasant, easy experience and after all the Bangkok hustle. We stopped once for a snack, then again for gas and finally at a roadside cafe where we met up with 4 other busses and a small man who offered to take us through the visa process for 1000 bhat which is about $33US. The legitimate price is $20US at the border and the five of us crossing agreed to hold firm and demand to pay the correct price and not give in to the corrupt border guards. The whole layover killed over an hour. The Thai border was only a few kilometers away.
At the Thai side of the border the guy coming just for the re-entry visa to Thailand went off to change his currency. We were hoping to catch up with him on the other side since he had experience with the process. The rest of us waited while the people who did pay the bribe had their passports processed. They all got yellow stickers to identify themselves so they wouldn’t get hassled. We killed another hour in the hot sun before we moved on to get Thai exit stamps.
On the Cambodian side, a supposed agent of the bus company directed us to a visa office where they demanded 1300 bhat. The little guy who had offered to take us earlier sat down and was talking with the borer guards; they all are in the network. Thinking we had no other options, as you wouldn’t expect multiple visa offices at the same crossing, we gave in and considered it a valiant but failed effort. Just after we paid the Thai re-entry guy shows up and tells us he paid only $20 and 200 bhat next door. On leaving, the bus agent asked me how much I paid and he said that was a good price. I told him that it was not a good price and our friend paid only 20 and 200 and that he knows that it wasn’t a good price because he’s the one who took us to these people. He, of course, claimed he didn’t know anyone and has only been working for the company for 2 days.
We all climbed into a second bus, which was supposed to take us to where the final coach was waiting. As we drove he told everyone how Cambodia’s economy was doing much better and where it used to be 4000 riel to the dollar, it was now only 3200. He also told us how the total remaining distance is 175 km and will take 6 hours because the roads are so bad, but a car could make it in fewer than 3.
Our first stop was at a moneychanger. I tried to warn people not to use it as the same guy who brought us is the guy who took us to the rip-off visa crooks. Interestingly, the exchange rate just happened to be 3200. The Cambodian riel is pretty much pegged to the US dollar at 4000 to 1. The bus station/ taxi office was right next door. We were told that the next bus wouldn’t be there for another hour. At this point I can’t be sure a bus is coming at all. It was in fact 2 hours before the bus showed. I tried to arrange 2 cars to take 8 of us with a price limit of $40 per car but I wasn't interested in getting one from these people.
I went down the road to see if I could find someone willing to drive us. Walking around the town was trip. The absolute poverty of the area was amazing. I have never seen anything like it. Muddy dirt roads, naked children in the street, shacks. This is much more intense poverty than any third world slum. There was an open-air clinic with nurses administering IVs, open right to the street. We had no luck finding English speakers, neither at the clinic or a guesthouse. Finally a Chinese girl at a restaurant explained that there were no other places to find a cab, where we were was the only one. Chinese people everywhere, they have businesses in places where you would think there couldn't possibly be any money to be made. How is it possible that there are any Chinese left in China?
When I got back I saw someone from one of the other busses had negotiated $52 for a car, close enough. I went inside to speak at the window and they said $80. I insisted that the other guy paid only 52 but couldn’t get anywhere so I walked away to try my luck outside again. As soon as I got out there one of the guys I’m traveling with said the bookers agreed to my price but only 1 car. We were ready to do it, and while getting our bags the bus pulled in. I asked the agent guy if that was our bus and he said it wasn’t, it was a transfer bus like the one that brought us from the border to the bus station. Everyone was lining up for it, so it was clearly the right bus. He insisted we take the taxi, bigger cut for him. With a taxi, I’m not sure they wouldn’t try to get more money out of us or threaten to leave us somewhere half way on the side of the road. I figured if I went to the back of the line, they would not let us on, so I went right to the front to get on, ahead of the line so there’s no issue of him trying to get me in the cab.
This is where my smart mouthing came back to make life difficult for me. The agent told the bus driver I didn’t pay. The guy directing the passengers said I could not get on and asked me to step aside so others could get on. I would not, I know I’m right and I’m not giving these guys another cent. They kept trying to get me to move on. I figured with all these tourists standing behind me, they aren’t about to do anything. I met a lot of them while waiting so they knew I was on the same trip as them. With righteous indignation, my balls were about the size of grapefruits. I refused to go. I kept repeating that I paid, and I’m getting on the bus. A Thai woman with the bus company insisted I was not on the list and everyone else was. I knew this was bullshit because they never checked anyone. They said everyone was waiting and that if I went inside they will take care of everything. They said I didn’t pay and only people with yellow stickers paid. They then said that the bus will just leave and no one could go. I apologized to the folks in line but said I wasn’t budging because this was the right thing to do. A lot of them agreed and voiced their support because we were all scammed at some point by now. A bunch of them were also telling the bus people that I was with them all along and to let me on.
This all went on for the better part of an hour in the sun when the police decided to intervene. 3 Cambodian cops had been sitting inside the ticket office, just hanging out, they must all be friends. One put his arm out to keep me away from the bus and started to pull me away. I knew they wouldn’t do anything with all those people around. Probably not the wisest logic. I wasn’t fighting the cops, I’m not a total idiot, but I wasn’t moving either. While 2 of the police held me back the bus driver backed the bus into the street. To my surprise people started climbing on board, a few of them stopped and asked the cops why they are holding me but eventually they had to continue on their journey. I yelled out to the people boarding, “enjoy your vacation and remember what you are leaving behind. Ask yourself if you chose to stand up for what is right today.” In retrospect it was a corny grandiose statement to make considering it was only a bus ride. But at the time, It felt so badass.
The 4 guys I was traveling with stayed back. I told them to get on the bus, that they might as well go on, there’s nothing they can do, I’ll get on the next bus or I’ll go back to Thailand. But by then the bus had already filled up. The woman checked with her head office for another half hour and finally agreed I did pay. Turns out I was on the list she kept waving around all that time. No apology from her, she just said, “Yes, OK” and laughed a nervous Asian girl laugh. Luckily the next bus came under an hour of the last one leaving.
The bus was old with no AC but it did have windows that allowed a refreshing hot dusty breeze in. The road is only paved (barely) in sections and most is very bumpy dirt road. Apparently it's a whole lot better than it used to be. They say the road will be complete by 2009, but that seems extremely unlikely considering how far they have to go. An interesting site along the way are the rows of floresent lights with nets under them strung in front of the rice paddies. I found out later that these were for catching crickets, a local favorite. It’s a long way and these long segments have given me time to write entries.
My bus met up with the other bus at a restaurant around sunset. The food was pretty bad, and overpriced, but I’m sure that the bus driver gets a nice cut. While at the restaurant a guy who called himself our tour guide went around telling people about this great hotel in town and how he knows we all got scammed repeatedly on the way in but he’s got nothing to do with that. This place is a good place in a good location for a good price. The bus continued on. When we got to town, he sold the shit out of that place which made me even more suspicious. I already wasn’t going to take the advice from anyone affiliated with this bus service but when he talked the place up so much before arriving, I was certainly not. The bus, of course, pulls directly into the hotel as the final destination. I don’t know what the scam was but I think I would have woken up with one or two less organs. The 3 other guys were ready to stay so I said my goodbyes and was about to leave after my cigarette. Yes, I started smoking again. They came back because there was only a fan room, no AC. No problem, there are way more rooms in Siem Reap then there are visitors. The Irish guy and I were going to follow the English and Italian guys, until the tour guy hops on board with them and they drive off. If they are going to be stupid enough to take him with them, they are on their own. Irish and I walk down the road and book stay in a nice little hotel with courteous staff.
The whole ordeal took 14 hours to travel 200 miles
2 comments:
ninad....BE CAREFUL! i want you back in one piece.
Tough guy. I can just see it. Hope you have got some good pics.
Post a Comment