Today was yet another "adventurous" overland border crossing kind of day from Thailand to Cambodia. This was right up there with the complicated, anxiety-provoking overland border crossing from Ecuador to Peru that we did back in May.
We've read and heard a lot of chatter about the potential pitfalls and traveler nightmares of crossing the Cambodian border. Perhaps a visit to these sites for some inspiration: Seat61, Poipet - WikiTravel, Cambodia: Poipet - A Warning.
It's not that we were worried about whether or not immigration will let us in. We already had our $25/pp Cambodian e-visas issued in advance. It's all about getting across the border and to our destination without getting scammed...too much. Basically, bribes and scams are rampant in this stereotypically rundown border town of Poipet, Cambodia, and oblivious tourists are the main target. Though this may not be a true representation of Cambodia, it is a good representation of most corrupt border towns around the world, and Cambodia is no exception.
By now, you should know that we made it across the border to live and tell about our experience! So, how did we do?
Here's what our 13-hour travel day looked like...
TRAIN FROM BANGKOK TO ARANYAPRATHET
We knew we were getting on a 5:55 am train for the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet. It was a really good idea to get to the train station early, buy our third class (the only class available) tickets for 48 baht each, and find seats. Passengers were already onboard and many seats were taken by 5:30 am.
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| Woman peeling green papayas |
Apparently, we chose to sit in the "dining car". A couple of ladies had their portable kitchen spread out amongst the seats, preparing snacks for the train ride. We decided not to partake in any of the food as soon as we saw her grabbing a bucket of tap water from the bathroom (usually non-potable water) and started putting her peeled vegetables in the water. But, we were fascinated by her preparation of green papaya salad!
A third class train with open seating and open windows is a more upfront and personal ride for experiencing the Thai scenery, smells, and sounds. We passed by shantytowns, lots of food stalls, piles of trash, lush greenery, mopeds, car horns, beautiful lotus flowers, rice fields, grazing water buffaloes, etc. Oh, but how could we forget the stifling humid heat and mosquitos buzzing in and out of the windows in a standing room only, packed train? It was an uncomfortable exercise in perseverance, to say the least. We are truly wimps. Needless to say, we don't recommend anyone taking this ride say, in July or August when the weather is even more sweltering.
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| Selling meat and fish balls on train |
However, if you can overlook the heat, humidity, and mosquitos, it can be a very interesting ride and fun to watch Thai life in action. Except for their nasty habit of throwing all their trash out the window! Plastic bags, plastic bottles, cans, leftover food, tissue, you name it, littering the countryside. I tried not to be judgmental with "cultural differences" throughout our trip, but I couldn't help throw a few disapproving looks their way.
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| Yes. This was an actual stop along the way. One of about 40 stops along the Bangkok to Aranyaprathet route. |
After 7 hours and dripping with sweat, we arrived at Aranyaprathet train station. The station was basic but did have decent western style restrooms for free, which was very welcoming because we didn't go to the bathroom for 7 hours!
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| Aranyaprathet train station |
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| Western style toilets at Aranyaprathet train station, no charge! |
TUK-TUK TO THE THAI IMMIGRATION
The actual Thai-Cambodia border is still another 6 km east. There were plenty of tuk-tuks waiting to take us there from the train station. Our research showed that if we could get a tuk-tuk for less than 100 baht/each, we would have averted the first opportunity to get scammed. We were able to find a ride for 50 baht/pp (yes!) and told the driver to take us directly to the Thai immigration office.
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| 6 km to the Cambodian border |
Unfortunately, just like everyone warned, the driver took us to a fake Cambodian visa office on the Thai side of the border, even though we already had our Cambodian visas and we specifically asked to be taken directly to the Thai immigration office. Sigh. After some insistence, he took us to where we needed to be. We think this fake office tries to sell tourists a visa for an inflated price that could be fake, or tries to tell tourists they need an International Vaccination Ceritificate which is not true (and of course they happen to have that available at this facility). The tuk-tuk drivers get some sort of referral kickback or something. Regardless, scam potential number two averted.
THAI IMMIGRATION
There were clear signage directing travelers towards the Thai immigration office. It was in a nice air-conditioned building and the exit process took hardly any time. However, for those intending to return to Thailand for longer, this is not the place where someone can renew their Thai visa for another 30 days. It's just a small immigration post and not a consulate.
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| Good signage to Thai passport control |
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| Thai immigration office |
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| So long Thailand! We shall see you again. |
CAMBODIAN IMMIGRATION
Once stamped out of Thailand, we walked across the border, under the arch, and towards the roundabout where the Cambodian entry immigration office is located.
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| Roundabout in Poipet, Cambodia |
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| The cream-colored shirt guys, helpful, multi-lingual, but they are touts for the government sponsored Transport Monopoly. |
We were suddenly swarmed by official looking young men with cream-colored collared shirts on, directing us to the office. They spoke good English, Japanese, Chinese, whatever language they thought you spoke, and personally escorted each group of travelers to the immigration office. At first, we were skeptical because we loathe touts and we thought they were just trying to scam us into taking us to a fake Cambodian immigration office or using their transport services or whatever. However, they seemed harmless as they directed everyone to the immigration office.
The Cambodian immigration was a hot, humid place. We were in line, dripping sweat, waiting to get our visas stamped. We finally officially entered Cambodia about 1.5 hours after we got off the train in Aranyaprathet.
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| Hello, Cambodia! |
BUS TO SIEM REAP
At this point, there were 2 options - both of which are potential scams, so the question was, which is less risky?
A bus ride to Siem Reap, gateway to Angkor Wat, should take about 3 hours. Unfortunately, for scam potential number three, a 3 hour bus ride can become a 20 hour bus ride if you accidentally get on a "scam bus or shared taxi" off the street. It's been known that the driver may take the passengers to a remote location that is not your desired destination without much choice but to eat and sleep at the only restaurant and hotel available that happens to be 'recommended' by the driver. Of course, your ride is nowhere to be found the next day, so everyone is on their own, trying to find alternate transportation. Pretty clever, eh?
Now, there are efforts to try and discourage these scenarios by not providing any opportunity for travelers to interact with random touts by the ubiquitous cream-colored shirt guys. Some hardcore travelers despise the idea of a government sponsored Transport Monopoly, preferring to find their own cheaper (and riskier) mode of transport; but for us newbies to Cambodia, we thought using the Monopoly made getting to Siem Reap a little more predictable (but not free of opportunities to up sell their services).
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| Waiting area for free shuttle bus, right outside of Cambodian immigration |
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| Shuttle bus. |
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| There they are! Tagging along on the shuttle bus so they can start their hard-sell, once we get to the Poipet Tourist Passenger Internarional Terminal. |
We boarded a free shuttle bus that takes the passengers to the Poipet Tourist Passenger International Terminal, about 10 minutes east of the border run by the Monopoly. Of course there's nothing else out there except for their own transportation, otherwise it wouldn't be a monopoly, now would it? The multilingual, cream-colored shirt wearing guys made sure we got on the appropriate shuttle and tagged along all the way to the bus terminal. We threw 'em a $1, just to get them off our back.
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| Passenger terminal for the Transport Monopoly, about 10 minutes out of town. |
From here, we had the option of a $9/pp bus, $10/pp minivan, $12/pp shared taxi (need 4 in taxi), or $40 for your own taxi to Siem Reap. Taxi was obviously the fastest way since it left immediately for a 2 hour ride. As soon as there were 8 to 9 passengers, minivans were also leaving frequently. We just opted for the bus. The cost may have been more than a regular non-tourist bus going to Siem Reap (Note: not a single Cambodian on our bus), but for a few dollars extra, by going through the Transport Monopoly, we felt like we averted a big scam potential number three.
However, the 45-minute pit stop at a restaurant upset at least one unsuspecting passenger who came unglued and started organizing an "uprising". Seriously, dude. Chill and have a beer before you hurt yourself. Not sure how this guy has survived traveling through Southeast Asia thus far. No one is ever in a hurry 'round here, so his rants just looked ridiculous. We've all had a long day, but getting upset wasn't going to get us to our destination any faster so we just had a couple Cambodian brewskis, secretly wishing that this bus company would pull the scam maneuver and take us to a remote hotel, just to see what this guy would do.
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| Mike looks sooooo tired! Trying out different Cambodian beers to kill time. |
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| Angkor beer in a can with pull tab! |
The bus was nice and air conditioned. Everything happened as expected (including the moments where they tried to sell us a hotel room and tour to Angkor Wat...no, no, no thank you...*smile*), and we had no major complaints.
EXCHANGING MONEY
The touts at the Poipet Tourist Passenger International Terminal kept insisting that we exchange our Thai baht for a "good rate" at their currency exchange counter. We looked up the going rate of Thai baht for Cambodian Riel on our handy iPhone app and decided to wait for a much better rate elsewhere, thereby averting potential scam number four.
We actually heeded the advice of the travel blogs and got US Dollars in advance. Cambodia transacts in USD except for smaller purchases which may be done in their Cambodian Riel. Having USD helped us purchase the bus tickets and such without having to use their currency exchange, since there were no ATM machines at the terminal (Coincidence? We think not).
TUK-TUK TO HOTEL IN SIEM REAP
Our last hurdle of the day was trying to find a reasonably priced tuk-tuk from the bus terminal to our hotel. This is where it got really funny. As expected, this Monopoly bus dropped us off about 6 km west of Siem Reap in a dirt lot behind Angkor Howard Hotel off National Highway 6 (Airport Road) instead of going to the main Chong Kov Sou bus terminal on the east side of town. "Conveniently", tuk tuk drivers were already waiting in this dirt lot to take us to our hotels, hoping to secure an all-day tour to Angkor Wat for the next day. Again, it wouldn't be a Monopoly if they dropped us at the main legitimate bus terminal, now would it? The going tuk-tuk rate was $3/pp to the center of town about 6 km away. Our hotel was on the east side of Siem Reap 8 km away, so we parted with $4/pp. We know it's not a lot of money to us, but it was probably at least double or triple what a normal tuk-tuk ride would've cost, so we only partially averted scam number five. Exhausted and sweaty, we gladly parted with our $8 just to get to our hotel.
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| If you google Angkor Howard Hotel, it shows you the wrong location. Here's the hotel website map showing it is much closer to the airport. |
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| Here is where we think the dirt lot is located behind Angkor Howard Hotel where the bus dropped us off at. Again, it is not the main Chong Kov Sou bus terminal in Siem Reap. |
ALTERNATE ROUTES
Let's just say, to avoid all this hassle, it may be worthwhile to spend $400+/pp and fly the short distance from Thailand to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Entry into Cambodia is a lot less adventurous going through the airport.
MADE IT TO SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA
For the rest of us on a budget, we can't have it both ways...cheap and easy. The 7-hour train ride from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet, Thailand at 48 baht/pp (USD$1.75); 50 baht/pp (USD$1.75) tuk-tuk ride from the train station to the border; USD$9/pp bus ride to Siem Reap; and USD$4/pp tuk-tuk ride is way more economical for a total of USD$16.50/pp...if you don't get scammed.
The seasoned travelers that we are, we put our game faces on and tackled these obstacles one by one without getting rolled, thank you very much. Even though we were vigilant and came out of this intact, the whole experience left us with a slimy feeling. We are now happily enjoying our hotel in Siem Reap!