To Cambodia! The Scam Bus

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The Bangkok to Cambodia border crossing at Poipet it notoriously bad for scams, a quick read of the internet and you will realise that even the officials are in on the game of petty extortion. There is then the issue of the ‘scam bus’ from Bangkok to Siem Reap taking you to places you don’t even want to go. I think by this time that even the most hardened travelers would be searching on skyscanner for an easier alternative.




Well the best way to avoid the scam bus we thought, was to go it alone. We took the 3rd class train from Hua Lumphong Station to Aranayaprathet which took approxiamately 6 hours. If we had taken the bus it would have dramatically cut the travel time to 2 hours to the border, but it was nice to leave Thailand alongside the locals who were munching on coconut rice stuffed into bamboo sticks. As usual, travelling 3rd class was a dusty affair, but the train (going at snails pace) made its way through some spectacular scenery. The door was even open at the back of the carriage, which provided a great experience for those daring enough to stand out the back.




As always, finding a forwarding method of transport from the train station was easy. The difficult part was getting that transport to take you directly to the border, but we were prepared. Without the knowledge it would be very easy to fall into the scam traps. So when our tuk tuk driver veered off down some side street and told us this was were we got our visa, we were quick to stand our ground “No, we want to go to the border” we politely insisted. He apologized, but that didn’t stop him attempting it a second time, with the border in sight this time. “We want 20 dollar visa” We insisted once again to a man who was beckoning us over to his official looking table “No 20 dollar visa” he said “Yes there is” and we walked onwards.




There isn’t really much signage so we followed the endless flow of wooden carts pulled by people, HUGE trucks and cars. We plodded on, being beckoned at every stage to come and get our visa. We continued to ignore until we reached the departures, here we were stamped out of Thailand. Now in no mans land we prayed for everything to go smoothly . We were ushered over to fill in a medical form, at first we were trying to refuse thinking it may be another scam but we weren’t handing over any dollars so all was well. The helpful Cambodian man then pointed us to a large official looking building. I scanned around to make sure that this was the definite end of the road. He could see we were having our doubts so he led us over and there it was ‘tourist visa 20$’ above the counter.




The final hurdle was the “You pay express fee 400 Baht,” and yes this was in the official building. Being well read on the subject, we knew there was no such thing as an ‘express fee’ and just denied having any baht. Admittedly we were given a funny look, but I just smiled and handed over our passport pretending to be oblivious. Our bums had barely touched the seat when we were called back over and given our visas. Of course, he ‘forgot’ the 10 dollar change, but gave it back when I gave him a look. We marched towards the border and were granted entry.




On the other side there was a free bus waiting and we were practically pushed inside by some happy smiley fellow. We were aware of the ‘free’ bus and yes it is free, but it will only take tourists to the ‘Tourist bus stop’ which the more expensive bus stop. But this is part of the journey we had to accept as there was no way we were getting to the local bus stop. Everyone is in on it in Poipet and there was no way we were getting a ride to the other bus station however hard we tried. We accepted the 9$ bus to Siem Riep just to get out of that place.




On the bus we began to hear all the border stories. The couple behind us had come on the scam bus and were being overcharged for their visas to the point where they called the police! Everyone had a different border experience, but I could now see why it had such a bad rep. I gazed out of the window at the dusty landscape that was flat as a pancake. It was so even and vast; I could almost see the curvature of the earth! Tiny farms and mountains of hay whipped by, as we made our way along the newly sealed roads. We stopped once for people to have a wee at the side of the road and a second time at a little café. Really cute little girls were asking for a penny for a bracelet and it was hard to resist giving them some money. It was another couple of hours to Phnom Penh and I nodded off.




I wasn’t expecting the bus to drop us off in the centre, so it was no surprise when it pulled down a side street about 5Km from town. It was now the moto drivers turn to earn some money driving us into the centre to a guesthouse of his choice, typical. We already had a guesthouse in mind but he insisted we see his first. Jess and Chris accompanied us. It wasn’t terrible but it was far from the centre, so we asked to be taken to ‘Dead Fish Hostel’ after it was recommended to ste by a friend. Unfortunately when we turned up we discovered it was no longer a hostel but a restaurant and so we had to settle for the 6 dollar guesthouse next door. To be honest I really wouldn’t have been too bothered if we had slept in a pig sty, I just wanted to throw down my stuff and tuk into a spicy mango salad.

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Photos

Aranyaprathet
the end of the line..

Tuk Tuks
all ready and waiting to scam

Cambodian Border in Sight
remain focused! $20 visa please!

Snacks
at the 'service station'

Moto
a change from tuk tuks