Poipet

Out of all the days on our journey, the first day in Cambodia was probably the most interesting yet frustrating time we've had.

We crossed the Thailand Cambodia border from Aranya Prathet to Poipet. When we arrived at the border we were approached by a young fellow who seemed to be around my age. I can't recall his name but I will refer to him as Goon 1 for the rest of this post.

Now Goon 1 seemed to be a very friendly fellow. As he spoke some english, I asked him how to say Hello and Thank you in Khmer (the Cambodian language of choice) and he kindly replied with the correct answers. He then proceed to tell us that he worked for a bus company in Poipet and will "help" us to get there as he would like to generate business for his bus company.

So Goon 1 took us through the Customs and told us to pay for the Cambodian visa which will allow us to stay in Cambodia for 15 days. When we got through the Customs and proceeded to the visa purchase counter we were approached by another Cambodian who told us we had to pay 1000 baht (roughly $33) when the sign above said the visa costs $20 US.

sidebar - the visa counter price was $20 not 1000 baht: Scam #1

When we got through to the Cambodian side of the border, sure enough Goon 1 was waiting for us. He then told us that we were to ride in 2 buses that would take us to the main bus terminal.

sidebar - the main bus terminal in Poipet is not an actual bus station: Scam #2

We would later learn that we needed to be persistent with the $20 US visa.

Once we arrived at the bus station Goon 1 started to refer to me as his friend. He then proceeded sell me the ticket to Siem Reap which was very expensive. At this point, the story gets a bit complex.

At the bus station we met Sarah and Josey (sisters from England), Chad and Cori (Texans with incredible "Southern Charm"), Benjamin (the flamboyantly Cool French fellow), 2 Chinese couples from Gwang Ju, and 2 German homosexuals named Hans and Frans - I refer to them as homosexuals because they wimped out on me later, but I'm ahead of myself.

After our introductions to each other we inquired about the bus ticket price and the taxi rental price. We sent out scout parties to various parts of town as the bus ticket was priced at $10 US and the taxi rental price was at $60 US. The taxi was only big enough to fit 4 people. After walking around for a while we started to realize that the local taxi drivers and the locals in general were avoiding eye contact with us and even refrained from talking to us even though we initiated the conversation. At this point, some of us realized that we were being followed by some people from the bus company who were on motor bikes. The bus company's name was Atta.

After walking a short distance away from the bus station, we turned into the main road. After walking for about 10 minutes we came across a taxi driver who was willing to take all of us; we would have to rent 3 taxis but he would charge us $30 US per taxi instead of the $60 US quoted by the bus company. Please remember that we were still being followed by the people from the bus company.

With the good news of the deal at hand we headed back to the bus company to inform the rest of our group. Once we loaded all our gears and backpacks and started to head out we were met with criticism from the people at the bus company including Goon 1. We neglected them comments and walked towards the taxi driver. When we got to the taxi driver he changed his original position and declined our offers profusely. At this point some of us were pissed off as the temperature was hot and the road was dusty.

After we were declined by the taxi driver we decided to head back to the border. Once we arrived at the border we were approached by a local on a moped who asked us if we needed some taxis to Siem Reap. He told us to head to a certain restaurant near the border. At the restaurant we made a deal with the taxis drivers who were conveniently hiding at the back alley of the restaurant from the bus company goons. Because there were 12 people in total, we rented 3 taxis with 4 people in each taxi at $40 US per taxi which is $10 US per person.

I was assigned a taxi with the 2 Germans and as soon as I got into the taxi, it took off. At first I didn't give much thought to the abrupt departure of my taxi but slowly I realized that this taxis was driving around to the back alley ways and around the same bus station that attempted to rip us off. At this point I thought to myself "Oh $h!t, we're being fcuked". The next set of events that happened will be embedded within my memory forever:

1. A guy in a police uniform knocks on the front window of the taxi
2. The taxi driver opens the windows and speaks to the guy in the police uniform

sidebar - I refer to the police as the "guy in the police uniform" because one cannot tell who is the real police and who is not.

3. The taxi is rerouted back to the bus station.
4. I realize that our taxi was used as a bate so that other taxis can get through to Siem Reap.
5. FUCK!!!!!