Border Crossing

A few years ago, the Thai-Cambodian border between Bangkok and Siem Reap was notorious for its difficulty in getting through without being well and truely ripped off by every official, money changer and taxi driver on the Cambodian side of Poipet. The taxis were all controlled by the local mafia and it could cost $60 dollars for the taxi ride. Foreigners’ were not allowed to take the bus – it had to be the controlled taxis. The customs guys would want a bribe to allow you to stay in the queue, if you didn’t pay they let others in front of you. They would try to charge double what the real price of the visa should be, the roads were a nightmare – when you found an overpriced taxi it would take hours on bumpy potholed roads to get anywhere. All guide books have pages devoted to minimising your scam ability at this border. The worse border in S E Asia – this was going to be fun..... But since February a direct bus has been running out of Bangkok. It was a comfortable brand new coach with air conditioning – vital in these parts. The bus left at 9am (usually you would need to depart by 6.30am at the latest, to ensure you didn’t get stuck at the border). We enjoyed a comfortable ride. The bus did stop for half an hour at the scam visa office. Here you could buy your Cambodian visa for $40. Its a real visa and would get you into the country but the price should only be $20. Thanks to the joy of the internet, the majority of the passengers knew this was a scam and stayed on the bus. I was one of them. Some people did get the visa here for ease, but those of us that didn’t were not hassled. Next stop was the border. We could leave our entire belongings safely on the coach. I travelled through the border carrying my passport and my visa money only. It was bliss. I was stamped out of Thailand in under 5 mins, and went to get my Cambodian Visa on arrival. Historically this was the place of the major scams. There was nobody else there, no queue at all. I gave over my $20, the guard asked for another $3, I pointed to the sign that said $20, he grunted and I got my visa. It was so easy. Along with everyone else I had to wait an hour to be stamped into Cambodia, but as I had no bags, this was not a problem. And the guys who paid $40 for “the ease of it”, got back onto the coach an entire 10 minutes before me. BY 6pm I was unpacking in my hostel. Even better, there was no one else in the dorm room that night, so in essence I got a private air – con room for the grand total of $5. Luckily for me, it seems as if the days of border nightmares are over.