The Aranya Prathet\/Poipet Border Crossing is, by many accounts, kind of the Mos Eisley Spaceport of Southeast Asia. \u201cYou will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019d read up in the guidebooks. I\u2019d studied at the Internet. I\u2019d dotted my \u201cI\u201ds and I had crossed my \u201cT\u201ds. I, Informed Traveler Guy, would not get scammed! And then? Like a featherweight schmuck fresh outta nursery school, I done got scammed. But only for about $5; so I\u2019m actually rather counting my blessings.<\/p>\n
The day began at 4:45 in the AM. Yikes! Have not arisen so early since\u2026I guess since my still-not-regretted decision, a few years back, to stop accepting Breakfast shifts at work. Good practice, I guess; \u2018cause to really get the most out of Angkor, one is supposed to greet the new day at 4:00 in the AM.<\/p>\n
Trying not to awake my dormmates, I slipped out, went downstairs, turned in my key, and crossed the street to the train station. The ride was kinda smoky, as we were going through some burning areas. Also, not as scenic as I\u2019d been led to believe it would be. And I need, before my bony ass stages a goddam rebellion, to figure out some sort of cushioning system for these third-class train trips (whose insanely low prices I\u2019m genetically incapable of passing up). But, basically it was fine \u2013 and we arrived in Aranya Prathet more less on time.<\/p>\n
Got I ride with a lady Tuk-Tuk driver. Only the second I\u2019d ever seen; the other had been just recently \u2013 I think it was in Nong Khai. She was happy to accept the price I\u2019d read is the going rate. Maybe could\u2019ve offered lower; but, what the Hell?, gotta support the lady Tuk-Tuk drivers, innit?<\/p>\n
She drove me to \u201cPassport Control\u201d, and attempted to drop me at the \u201cVisa Border\u201d shop. Not sure exactly what goes on here; but I gather it\u2019s something to do with frightening wide-eyed border-crossers into believing that their documents are not in order, and that the shop\u2019s services would set it to right.<\/p>\n
The real<\/em> crossing is a few hundred yards down the street. I requested the lady Tuk-Tuk driver to drop me there instead, and she proceeded to do so, no questions asked. I think the Tuk-Tuk drivers receive a cut of the take from every person dropped there; but I guess they don\u2019t really feel like pressing the issue. After all, the rider could always get out and walk the rest of the way.<\/p>\n Okay, deep breath. One scam successfully avoided.<\/p>\n Kind of a lot of walking between stations at this crossing, compared to others I\u2019ve visited. But, get stamped out of Thailand, apply for the Visa-On-Arrival, wait a few minutes for approval, no real problem. The fee was <\/em>$20 for the official charge, plus an extra 100 Baht for\u2026the officials\u2019 pockets, apparently.<\/p>\n So this is something of a scam; but carried out by uniformed officials, so not easily avoidable. The fee appears to be negotiable, but as the guidebooks and sites talk of haggling it down to $5, 100 Baht seemed not to be worth risking the pissing off of the men with my passport in their hands.<\/p>\n Plus, they were all super-friendly and helpful. So, so far: maybe a little scratch, but nothing like a mortal flesh-wound. But then this is where it began to get confusing.<\/p>\n I stowed my passport away, thinking I\u2019d not again be called upon to produce it. Walking to the next station, which I\u2019d thought was the free shuttle-bus to the Depot, was joined by a gentleman explaining that I still needed to get stamped in to Cambodia, after which I could get the shuttle-bus, and then choose the means of transport to Siem Reap.<\/p>\n And, I couldn\u2019t figure out if he was a scammer or not. It seemed<\/em> like he probably must be; but his uniform looked pretty official, and he was as super-friendly as had been all the other government officials. And, he was certainly correct about needing to get stamped in at a separate station from that which issues the Visas. Besides, he left me there to queue up, and I figured that was the last of him.<\/p>\n But after the stamping-in, and the exiting of the building to now<\/em> head for the shuttle-bus, he magically appeared again, and escorted me to the waiting area, where he\u2019d a partner rounding up those who\u2019d been in line before and after myself.<\/p>\n Pointed out the large sign explaining that the free state-run shuttle-bus departs every five minutes, and had us sit down and wait. There was a green bus there at the kerb, and I didn\u2019t really understand why one couldn\u2019t just board straight away; but, okay, whatever.<\/p>\n So then after a few minutes, the green bus up and drives away. I made a kind of half-assed attempt to run and catch it, to no avail. Turning to the helpful agent with a What Gives? look in my eye, I was told that this departing green bus was for the 2:00 run (or some shit I didn\u2019t understand), and to just sit down and wait five more minutes.<\/p>\n Okay. Then a van showed up, the agents herded a bunch of us onto it, and off we went. During the five-minute ride, the agents made friendly chit-chat and taught us some basic Khmer language skillz; and soon enough, we were at the depot.<\/p>\n We were then shewn to the money exchange booth. During the ride, the agents had said that it\u2019s more efficient to exchange Baht for Riel, because there isn\u2019t a commission on this exchange, as there is with exchanging dollars. Wanted to get rid of some of my smaller-denomination Baht anyway, so I did it there.<\/p>\n Oops, I\u2019m finding that this long day has rendered\u00a0 me fairly damned groggy; so, To Be Continued\u2026<\/p>\n So at the Depot, you can purchase either bus or share-taxi tickets to Siem Reap, Battambang, Phnom Penh, Sisophon, and other destinations. There\u2019re supposed to be four or five companies selling these same two services, but only one seemed to have its windows staffed.<\/p>\n The bus is $9 for a three-hour tour, and its departure was an hour away (though they’re known to often depart later than promised, hence my preference to use the taxi option); the taxi is $12 for a two-hour tour, leaving as soon as four riders have purchased tickets.<\/p>\n For some reason, the \u201cguide\u201d was quite insistent that I purchase a bus ticket, though I preferred the taxi option. The guide successfully scare-tactic-ed me into purchasing a bus ticket by saying that the taxi was unlikely to fill up, and that if the 2:30 bus did fill up, I\u2019d have to wait \u2018til the 5:00 bus.<\/p>\n So I bought the bus ticket; during which, the other \u201cguide\u201d came up to me and happily showed me that another guest had given him a $5 tip. So, after finishing up the purchasing of the ticket, the \u201cguide\u201d handling my \u201ccase\u201d said, \u201cOkay, I\u2019m heading back to Thailand now\u2026do you have anything for me?\u201d Meaning a tip. I gave him a dollar, and sat down to try to figure out just what was going on.<\/p>\n The other \u201cguide\u201d unsuccessfully attempted to shame me into giving a bigger tip, by telling how pitiful their wages were, and cetera.<\/p>\n So, sitting waiting for the bus, and seeing a number of official government shuttle-buses show up confirmed that we\u2019d indeed been transported by touts \u2013 but, the \u201cofficial\u201d buses had touts as well, leading people through the same routines. Huhn.<\/p>\n Got to discussing the matter with a German couple with whom I\u2019d shared the train ride, and we couldn\u2019t really piece together why the touts were so insistent that we purchase bus rather that taxi tickets, given that each company offered both<\/em> services.<\/p>\n Upon reflection, my guess is that perhaps the state requires each company to offer both services, at the price determined by the state (all the companies have the same prices for all services); but that the bus service offers a higher rate of profit. Dunno, but this explanation seems plausible.<\/p>\n Another American showed up, and I watched him go through the same routine of wanting to purchase a share-taxi ticket, but being conned into getting a bus ticket. I lamented that the same\u2019d happened to me, but, oh well. He said that he\u2019d been told he could exchange for a taxi ticket even after the purchase of the bus ticket.<\/p>\n Intrigued, I confirmed with the clerk that this was possible, asked the Germans if they wanted to share with us, and we were brought to the taxi. Easy as that. A government official asked our nationalities, and at which guest houses we\u2019d booked, and we were off.<\/p>\n The taxi driver was a broadly smiling fellow; and the music he was playing on the way here was really great — I rather prefer it to both Thai and Lao music, both of which I quite liked.<\/p>\n We stopped to get gas, then stopped down the road a piece, at \u201cMy home\u2026my home.\u201d I joked that he must have a peanut-butter sandwich waiting for him, which joke elicited a huge laugh from the other three riders. Much to my surprise, I must say, ’cause I had considered it a pretty lame attempt at humour.<\/p>\n The driver got out, opened the trunk, and gave his wife a bunch of burlap sacks and $20, and we were back on the road.<\/p>\n The American is an engineer from DC, who began his trip in September with short stays in Seattle and Vancouver. The Germans are traveling their way toward Australia, where they plan to spend a year working and\/or WWOOFing.<\/p>\n During the ride, I began to wonder about the money exchange window. It hadn\u2019t looked terribly official, now that I thought about it. Pulled out my phone and looked up the exchange rates; sure enough, the rate offered at that depot is quite a bit poorer than it should\u2019ve been. Luckily<\/em>, I\u2019d only exchanged the 460 Baht, so only got gypped out of about $2.50.<\/p>\n Seems to me, however, that this is the most dangerous entr\u00e9e in the scam buffet \u2013 though I didn\u2019t see it mentioned anywhere in the guidebooks or on the websites.<\/p>\n We arrived to Siem Reap in the advertised two hours. At the edge of town, we pulled over, and met up with the driver\u2019s brother, who speaks English, and who lives in Siem Reap. We were to get Tuk-Tuks to our guest houses, free of charge.<\/p>\n When my driver got me to his Tuk-Tuk, he asked me how much I was planning to pay him for the ride. I said that I\u2019d been given to understand that it would be free of charge. Oh yes, of course<\/em> it\u2019s free of charge. But if you want to tip, you\u2019re more than welcome to. Ah-ha. Then he took a fairly circuitous route to my guest house, had me for a minute or two thinking he was going to drop me off in the middle of no-man\u2019s land, saying I could get back into town only if I paid a generous tip.<\/p>\n But at last, we did wind around back into town, he dropped me off at my place, and I tipped him two bucks.<\/p>\n So, I reckon the scammers took me for $1 to the guide, $2 to the Tuk-Tuk driver, and $2.50 at the money exchange window. And the taxi ride had actually been pretty enjoyable, with the good company and the awesome music. Could\u2019ve been a lot worse.<\/p>\n There was also the 100 Baht at the Visa window, and the bus\/taxi rates were about double or even triple what they probably ought to\u2019ve been for the distance covered \u2013 but as these are \u201cofficial\u201d scams, and thus unavoidable (unless one is willing to fly in), I don\u2019t really count these in the scam damages.<\/p>\n Huhn. This may be the most boring blog post ever written by any human! But, I\u2019ve now done and written it, so may as well go ahead and press\u00a0 \u201cpublish\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [Written Friday, March The 16th, Night] The Aranya Prathet\/Poipet Border Crossing is, by many accounts, kind of the Mos Eisley Spaceport of Southeast Asia. \u201cYou will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.\u201d … Continue reading [Written Saturday, March The 17th, Morning]<\/h4>\n