Siem Reap
Travel Location: Siem-Reap,Cambodia
Soooo, as I was saying, we booked a mini-bus from Koh Chang to Siem Reap for about $25 each. We thought that a reasonable amount considering the distance and border crossing. I had heard that the road in Cambodia was not paved and quite painful on the rear, but that’s what you gotta do when you travel sometimes.
Well, as it turned out we got put on the internationally-known scam bus, which leads to this current rant. In fact, I read about the scam bus in lonely planet and we went to southeastern Thailand, instead of through Bangkok, partly in order to avoid the chance of this happening. The scam bus works like this: Ignorant backpackers on the Khao San Road in Bangkok book transporation through shady travel agencies from Bangkok to Siem Reap, Cambodia for only 200baht, or roughly $6. Locals doing point-to-point trips and changing over could not make this trip for less than 250 baht. The catch is that the bus on the Cambodian side is not air-conditioned, rides with its windows down letting in the dust (as it must considering the heat), and makes many stops along the unpaved, dusty road to Siem Reap at various restaurants telling the riders that the bus has a problem or we have to stop here for b/s reasons, thereby forcing the backpackers to spend money at these establishments on the road; the bus takes a commission from the restaurant owner for bringing these westerners. Then, even though they tell you that you will arrive in Siem Reap at 6pm, you do not arrive before midnight and they take you to their guesthouse outside the city center. Most people will end up staying at this guesthouse b/c they don’t know where they are and it’s late. Apparently, the Cambodia bus does not get paid to take the passengers and the only way it makes money is off these commissions. Oh yeah, and the non air conditioning is important here b/c the road is all dirt so while the windows remain down, the passengers get a nose and ear-full of dirt as remnants of their horrific journey. Word is that experienced travelers have said it was the worst trip they’ve ever taken.
So back to us: 7:15 am we get on a really nice mini-bus in Thailand headed to the border. Everything seems to be going smoothly – nice older Swedish couple in the minivan, good A/C and even Karaoke available. Then, the van drops us off at a restaurant, around noon and says that you must transfer to another bus to get to the border – the scam begins. Then, we wait … one and one-half hours later we hear that the hold-up is due to the bus being broken. Things starting to smelly fishy. Finally, we get herded onto the back of a pick, squeezing 30-something into a space for 20 for the short ride to the border. “We,” at this point, was a large group of naive young Japanese tourists (so polite and so clueless), an Australian hippy couple to our left and a German couple across the way. We strike up a conversation with the German couple (that also came from Koh Chang) and they said that they just bought a ticket to the border and then are going to taxi it to Siem Reap b/c of the scam bus. They said that they found out in Koh Chang that the bus from Koh Chang is the same scam as the one from Bangkok even though we pay much more for our ticket from Koh Chang. Then, I turn to Australian couple to my left (man holding hula hoops??) and ask them where they bought their tickets and how much they paid. Where else? On the Khao San Road and they paid exactly 200 baht. Then, it all clicked. Rinat and I looked at each other and knew we had been had. What a feeling! Then, I promptly explained to the stoned Australian couple that they were on the scam bus and they are going to have a miserable ride into Siem Reap, over 7 hours in dirt. I explained to them in detail the torture that they/we were about to undergo, and as I was explaining the scheme, our ‘friendly’ Cambodian guide holding on the back of the pick-up overheard everything and you know what he did – he winked at me and gave me a sly smile! I wanted to let him know how little I thought of him but I thought better of it b/c I didn’t know what his connections were or who he knew in Cambodia. Also, I had to figure out our next step. Once you’ve been had, you have to remove yourself from the situation. So, even though we paid for transport all the way to Siem Reap, I asked the German couple if they were interested in sharing a taxi with us. They were happy to in order to save some money. So we miserably crossed the border into Cambodia and told our guide on the other side that we are not continuing the journey with them. Rinat almost lost it raising her voice at one of the guides about what scum of the earth they are, but I dragged her away. I guess I forgot to tell her about self-control b/c we don’t know who they know in Cambodia and what they might try to do to us.
Now, we’re in the city of Poipet, Cambodia, a dirty wild-west type town that is palpably unnerving. It turns out that the city of Poipet is one big mafia. Taxis to Siem Reap only leave from one place, other taxis/cars on the street are not allowed to drive you there, and the price is $60, not $25-35 as it was two years ago when the LP was written. Trust me, we asked anybody who had a car in Poipet. And of course everybody gets a cut of the taxi money, including the police, yeah, right out in the open. That’s not business, that’s corruption. Bottom-line: never go to Poipet, Cambodia. If crossig this border, use another crossing or fly. Of course, tying a ribbon on this infuriating story, we looking into flights: apparently only Thai Airways runs flights from Bangkok to Siem Reap. And we found out from the great German couple that apparently Thai Airways has a contract with the Cambodian government to give them money as long as they don’t repair the “worst road ever” from Poipet to Siem Reap.
As is classic in most traveling scenarios, something great comes out of something horrible. We met Marco & Claudia, from Berlin, and shared the next three hours on the “worst road ever” bumping our way through conversations spanning the scam bus to Israeli policy and politics. Great people made the whole experience worthwhile. We arrived in Siem Reap, settled into our hotel after this ordeal and had dinner with Marco & Claudia. We found refuge in each other and a wonderful new friendship. Note: They’re also on a similar trip as us, just shorter.
Oh yeah, as for Angkor Wat: beautiful, spectacular, breathtaking, and definitely worth the price of admission. We had a private tuk-tuk driver take us from temple to temple, his name is Mr. Date (seriously) and if you’re ever in Siem Reap look him up, he’s great. The other temples were also nice but how many piles of rubble can you look at in 100 degree heat before you’re done, unless you’re a Khmer historian or archaeologist. So, we spent two nearly full days checking them out, then checked out the local crocodile farm for a change of pace.
Oh yeah, and the best meal we’ve had thus far was at No. 12 outside of Ta Prohm in Angkor, Khmer curry to die for. Yes, each person has their stand and their own prep area, and we randomly chose No. 12 over its neighbors Nos. 11 and 13. We did sunset at Angkor and sunrise at Angkor Wat itself, both were somewhat disappointing, but I praise our motivation.
I’m exhausted after that entry, but since we entered and left Cambodia within one week, I will write another one. See Phnom-Penh entry next.
