Adventures on the overland trip to Cambodia

April 25th - 2005

Ko Chang - Thailand to Siem Reap, Cambodia

Dave

We had expected our overland trip from Thailand to Cambodia to be one of the most challenging parts of our trip throughout South East Asia, and we weren't disappointed. It was a long gruelling 13 hour overland trip, filled with everything and anything we could have expected.

We had heard a lot of horror stories about the private tourist buses that run from Bangkok to Cambodia and the many scams they run to overcharge tourists so we had decided not to travel overland from Bangkok, but rather from Ko Chang, a beach town we had been staying in for several days where we thought the bus service might be somewhat better.

We had two options to travel from Ko Chang, we could either get onto on overcrowded boat off the island, negotiate with one taxi to take us to the Cambodia border, and then a separate taxi to take us to Siem Reap, or for one set price we could travel with a minibus from a private tour company with one change of buses at the border. As I had mentioned we had heard about a lot of scams with private bus companies in Thailand (versus the excellent government run bus service) so we were reluctant, but it did sound a fair bit cheaper and more importantly a whole lot more convenient. We questioned the travel agent we booked with about everything, including what type of bus we would be on and confirming that it would take us directly from our hotel, to the hotel we were staying at in Cambodia, and when we were sure we were comfortable with all of the answers we got we went ahead and booked.

The trip started off great and we thought everything should be fine. We were picked up at 7am by a brand new truck with air conditioning, and Natalya and I were the only passengers who had booked for the day, so unexpectedly there were no problems with overcrowding. The driver seemed great, and rather than having to go back to the mainland on the overcrowded passenger ferry, we were taken across in the air conditioned truck in a car ferry. The next 4 hours were a comfortable and easy ride through the stunning Thai country side.

As we started to get close to the border all of the problems we had anticipated began. Our truck was supposed to bring us straight to the border, where we would get our own visas on arrival, and then switch to a new truck. Instead our driver stopped about 6 kms from the border at a restaurant/travel agency where our driver said his friends would arrange for us to get "express visas" much faster than at the border. We already knew how this scam worked so now the negotiating started...

Essentially the Cambodia land border crossings are a place where your visa can cost several different prices. The official price for a visa is either $20 US dollars or $1000 Thai Bhat. This is what you would pay at a Cambodian Embassy if you purchased your visa in advance or if you came in by air. $1000 Thai Bhat is about $30 US so at the land crossings where there is much more corruption the border guards try to insist that tourists pay in Thai Bhat, but stamp into their passports that they paid in US dollars. This way the guards can pocket the difference they make on the exchange rates between $US and Thai Bhat. This is a pretty minor difference and something we knew about and were prepared to deal with coming across by land, and something that frankly is pretty understandable given the levels of poverty here in Cambodia.

The worse scam comes from the "Visa Agents" who tell tourists they will arrange their visa for them and charge a premium of anywhere from $60-20 US dollars extra per person, and never disclose to people the actual cost of their visas. This wouldn't be so bad if they actually did anything for the money, but they don't, they just make you wait out several hours in one of their restaurants where they overcharge for food, then scam you on the visa (which only takes a few minutes at the border), and the whole time you have paid a premium to these guys to ride on their buses that are supposed to be comfortable, new and air conditioned.

When our driver tried to make us take this route and visit the visa agents we refused, wouldn't leave his truck, and demanded he take us directly to the border as promised. He didn't quite know how to respond, so after a few minutes gave up and went into his "friends" restaurant to have a tea and try to wait us out. After about 20 minutes of waiting he tried sending out his boss, who now informed us of a new problem. Because there were only two of us, they couldn't take us directly to the border, and instead we would have to wait for another bus from Bangkok to arrive and join on with them. We knew we had been had, but it was also clear we wouldn't have much choice but to get out of the truck and wait.

The wait ended up being about 1.5 hours of sitting around in these guys restaurant while they tried to insist we bought our visas from them and we told them to get screwed and take us to the border as promised. They finally gave up and agreed to bring us to the border once the Bangkok bus arrived.

When the bus from Bangkok finally did arrive we had to sit and wait for another hour while most of the people arriving on the Bangkok bus who did not know any better paid these "Visa agents" for their express service.

Finally we loaded back on and made our way to the Cambodian border. Poipet, Cambodia were we arrived was a grimy border town, filled with casinos, brothels, beggars and corrupt border guards, but surprisingly the visa process itself once we arrived here was quick and painless. Our adventures with our private bus company continued however. The first place we were taken when arriving in Cambodia was to a money changing office where most tourists converted US money at a rate of $3200 Cambodian riel to $1 US. The actual exchange rate you get everywhere else other than from these bandits is $4050 to the dollar, so luckily very few people changed money. Also we were now packed onto our new jam packed minibus, where a few people had to stand for our 8 hour ride with no air conditioning and no suspension down one of the worst roads imaginable at a top speed of no more than 40km/hr. The scams kept coming when the only places the bus would stop on route was a restaurant owned by this same company that also overcharged, and gave very poor rates on exchange. The bus trip was finished off by the bus refusing to stop anywhere other than the hotel that this company also worked together with, to again try and overcharge and get extra commissions from tourists.

This all would have been very frustrating, confusing and potentially costly for someone who did not know what was going on, but luckily we had researched quite a bit and knew about all of these potential problems ahead of time, so although a long and tiring trip it ended up not being that bad in the end. We were very happy to finally get off of the bus though, and get over to our new hotel in Siem Reap.

Our hotel we had booked ahead on the internet was fantastic. We were greeted with cold towels, complimentary drinks and Cambodian scarves. It was a welcome relief after the journey we had endured.

Dave

Apr 25, 2005

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