“$20 and 100baht”. “No, $20″. “$20 and 100baht”. “No, $20, look, it says up there $20″. “No, embassy is $20, here it’s $20 and 100baht”. “I don’t have baht, here, $20″. “And 100baht”. “Ok, have 20baht”. “No, 100baht”. Sigh. I hand the corrupt Cambodian policeman on the border 100baht, on top of the US$20 visa fee. How long can I keep arguing for? And he’s a corrupt police officer, he might find a reason to put me in jail. And maybe the price has gone up…(no!). And it’s 4.30pm and I’d really like to get to Siem Riep before 8pm, and share a lift with those German backpackers that just walked past!
I’m now going to describe the whole journey to Siem Reap, as it always amuses me , these crazy journeys. This one took 3 buses, a taxi and a tuk-tuk. Scroll down further for some stuff about Siem Riep.
I left my hotel in Bangkok at around 9.30am. I caught a local bus to an unspecified location, which took over an hour with traffic jams. The girl told me I was on the wrong bus (though I got very far in the right direction), and where to get off to catch a different one. Couldn’t see the other one or where to get it, and it was getting so late so hailed a cab. Got to the north bus station just before a bus left for the border at 11.30am. Arrived at the border at 4pm. Crossed the border by foot (yay!), being hassled by touts trying to get me to buy a visa before the border.
Then the above exchange happened, which I was expecting but wasn’t sure how to deal with.
After getting the visa it needed to be stamped, and I got chatting with the four german backpackers.
We then took a government shuttle bus to the bus station in Poi Pet. The guys on that were doing there best to explain to us that the government provides this for foreign tourists to avoid the transport hassles, and they just want it to be easy for us and get more tourists to come.
At the station we paid for a mini-bus to Siem Riep, about 3hrs away. We crammed on with about 8 locals, including the two guys who’d seemed to worth for that government shuttle bus. That confused us. Towards the end we stopped for dinner. In Siem Reap the 2 guys were being very ‘friendly’ and ‘helpful’, saying we’d get dropped off by tuk-tuk to our hotel, though also trying to push their own guesthouse, and then trying to get us to commit to using their tuk-tuks for a tour around the temples of Angkor in the morning. Bah! I checked into my room and left the guys to deal with it, muahaha. Apparently they said they didn’t have a card or telephone (yeah right!) and were trying to get the guys to say we’d meet them at 8am. In the end their boss came and gave the guys a card. Gah!
The next morning we didn’t call, had a late breakfast and then just found some tuk-tuk drivers on the street to take us to Angkor.
So, Siem Reap. I actually like it, but it’s still got some difficulties. I like the (french colonial) architecture, the river with tress lining it, the large choice of food available. But I get asked ‘tuk-tuk lady?’ (or mr!) every second step I take (literally, it’s worse than any other place I’ve been), and there are quite a few people begging, which is sad of course. Also lots of people missing limbs, but they’re often selling stuff. Unfortunately I don’t need any stuff.
If a local girl is wearing a miniskirt, you can be pretty sure she’s a prostitute.
And there are posters and billboards all around warning against child sex tourism. You will get caught.
So many contrasts. There’s the lovely pubs and restaurants of Pub Street and the Alley, but all around there’s broken pavement, and streets nearby are gravel.
Other random things: I’ve seen more police/cars here than all of south east asia so far (I guess partly they’re more noticeable), and the water smells (and probably tastes) rusty, which I haven’t experienced before.
Oh, and Tomb Raider was filmed partly at Angkor, so there are cocktails named after Lara Croft/Angelina Jolie, and photos of her at a local pub.
