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Published: September 27th 2009
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I wanted to do Siem Reap the alternative way...so, instead of flying straight into the country proper, I decided to be an ass and crossed the Aranyapathet-Poipet border into Cambodia.
From Bangkok, Aranyaprathet took about 4-5 hours of bus-ride to reach. I took the public bus at the Northern Bus Terminal in Bangkok to Aranyapathet for about 160 Baht (?). Reached Aranyaprathet at around evening. I was told to be extra careful when there...good advice...the place just looked extremely "hazy". It also did not help that I was travelling solo and searching for a hostel I had in mind but no tuk-tuk drivers had even heard of....anyway, when I finally found the hostel, it reminded me of some horror movies...I'm pretty sure that this hostel was converted from a very rundown school....and I was given one of the many available "classrooms" to stay for the night...
Early the next morning, at around 7am, took a tuk-tuk to the Poipet border...that was when all the "fun" started. The Poipet border is opened from 7:30a.m. to 5:00p.m daily and guidebooks and seasoned travellers have all warned about the scenario of the Poipet border. I was on guard the moment I reached
Aran Garden Hotel 2
Overnight at Aranyaprathet the border and I knew then that I was an easy target. Regardless of how you tried to dress-down and blend into the dusty and grey-yish skyline, your entire being would still scream "TOURIST"....I was approached by a young chap the moment my left foot touched the soil off the tuk-tuk. He said, "cambodia?"...I said "no", he said "this way, this way, visa, visa...."
Cambodia visa processing here should be rather easy. Fill in the visa application form with 1 passport-size photo, passport and USD20 or 1,000 Baht for visa fee to the Cambodian immigration officials. That's all.....right....that's not all...I had read that all foreign tourists wanting this visa were basically walking Christmas trees...When processing my visa, they wanted not USD20 but 50....I told them I had no money, they then told me to wait...and I waited....1.5 hours to be exact....I was then worried that the big tour groups might arrive anytime now and that might complicate things more...however, what's the worst that could have happened...being refused a visa to enter Cambodia? If so, I'll just detour back to Bangkok Khao-san road for a nice massage and beer. Well, not long after, I was called over by the immigration
Poipet
abominable hellhole...How to Scam Travellers 5.5...ingenious.... officers and I shoved them my passport with USD26, which I understood from previous travellers was the going rate for a visa, nevermind the big overhead signboard that says "VISA USD20". Paid up and proceeded to the next counter. There, I was asked to pay for some sorts of international vaccination certificate... I stared hard at the woman and said no, no and no...I think she got my point and shoo-ed me away....
After passing through the immigration station, the casinos that Thai gamblers go for legal gambling stood there.....I then understood why people all over told me to avoid this place like a plague in the late afternoon onwards....personally, I think it is also an extremely bad idea to stay around during broad daylight....drunks, beggars, mentals....they were everywhere. Just then, my little tout appeared again, asking "car? car?" We agreed on 1000 baht to bring me across to Siem Reap...the moment I agreed (I just wanted to get out of this miserable place), the whole platoon of beggars, touts and drivers(?) descended on me....I only remembered saying "don't touch me!"...when the driver finally got seated behind the driver's seat, I signalled for him to just go. The entire
Reaching Siem Reap...
happiness upon reaching Siem Reap's Mandalay Inn... day thus far was already harrowing and even when the car started moving, I was still nervous about this driver....I always have a habit of falling into deep sleep during long, monotonous car rides, but this time round, I didn't dare take any chance...Travel to Siem Reap from Poipet is a rough trail. The road condition was (is) very poor, dusty, unpaved and with a lot of potholes. I've also heard in some instances, military guards may block the road to ask for illegitimate passing fees from travellers. I was lucky.
Angkor Wat is nice. No doubt. All the various postcards and imageries that you might have seen before pale in comparison when standing before one of these magnificent temples and ruins. I can only imagine how great these architectures must have been in their initial glorious days...and now, you have buildings after buildings, hotel after yet another hotel being constructed all around the main circuit. Citizens there must have benefitted from the tourist dollars. I even had one lovely kid trying to sell me a coconut for USD3...it must be a very special coconut...I didn't buy that coconut but some Japanese tourists did...I should consider selling coconuts and
Mandalay Inn
My room...water supply broke when some blokes stole their taps and pipes in the middle of the night....people are way too smart these days... whatsnot there...
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