What a Total Scam!

After taking the ferry back, I asked for Hat Lek which is the border town on the Thailand side for Cambodia.  I was pointed to a truck where there was one Thai guy and soon another farang showed up, Ian, a 50 year old from New Zealand (well really from England, but had been in New Zealand for 10 years) but now lived in Vietnam.  He had been traveling and met a Vietnamese woman and decided to stay.  Although that relationship didn't work out, he loved Hoi An, so he continued to stay there.  Now, he was just on a three week vacation.  Once the next boat arrived, we accumulated a few more passengers and finally left.

Ian had kindly offered me an apple which I accepted.  Unfortunately, after eating about half of it, I noticed that my mouth was getting really itchy, then my nose started to get blocked up and finally my throat started to constrict.  This was not a good sign.  I reached for my big bag of pills, much to Ian's amusement, but unfortunately, didn't have any Benadryl with me but did have a Sudafed so I took that.  I was trying not to panick about the fact that we weren't near Trat yet and even when getting to Trat what the medical services would be like.  Thankfully, the pill worked and within about 10 minutes my throat started to feel better.

We arrived at the bus station outside of Trat where we had to catch a minibus for 110 Baht (approx $3.44) to get to the border.  It seems in Thailand that the standard answer when asking how long it shall be until a minibus takes off is 10 minutes.  But the truth is, when it is full enough for the driver to want to take off.  Finally more people arrived after waiting for at least half an hour.  Ian and I were the only two farangs in the minibus that took off at a very slow speed, which is quite unusual, because usually the drivers are speed demons on the road.  From what I understood, the trip should only have taken about an hour, but ours ended up taking an hour and a half.  Good thing I didn't opt for staying in Trat for the night and then taking the earliest minibus at 6am, I would never had made the only boat I was planning to catch at 8am.

We dropped off all the locals and finally made it to the border.  Before even coming to a complete stop, there were teenagers already crowding us.  Ian had purchased a ticket to get him all the way from Pattaya, Thailand through to Sihanoukville, Cambodia, so there was a kid waiting for him to escort him across the border.  The kid grabs his bag and mine and puts it into his cart.  I probably should have known that I was going to have to pay on the other side.  Exiting Thailand was a breeze with the immigration officer noting that I had waited until my very last day to exit.

We crossed the short border and on the Cambodian side, one of the many kids surrounding us, asked for my passport as he wanted to fill out my visa form.  Well, I wasn't going to give my passport to anyone.  I had learnt later from another traveler, that the kids do this and then make you pay 100 Baht (approx $3.13).  I filled out my form and when handing it through to the officer through a small window, he told me I had to pay 1200 Baht (approx $37.50).  I knew for a fact that it should only be 1000 Baht (approx $31.25) or $20 in US money.  I argued with the guy, but to no avail.  This got me really pissed off as I knew I was being totally scammed, but there was nothing at all that I could do.  I yelled out about extortion and being scammed, but realized it wasn't going to do me any good (yes, I did turn into that ugly tourist for about 5 minutes, but I felt justified, they were totally taking advantage of me).  Next was a visit to the room where they processed the visa that had two tables and three guys behind them and at least one or two behind me watching over me.  It took about 10-15 minutes to get the visa and the next step was to leave the room and get the stamps.  The woman at the window spent at least 5 minutes leafing through my passport looking at all my other stamps.  Not sure what she was looking for, or if it was just for intimidation.  Finally she was satisfied and stamped away.  With my passport back, I noticed that my visa was good until Oct 28th, they gave me an extra day which was good because if I had plans to meet up with my old co-workers and I needed that extra day.

Now it was time to pay the kid for carrying my bag.  He wanted 20 Baht (approx $0.63) which I paid.  Next I had to get to Koh Kong where I had to spend the night before leaving for Sihanoukville the next day as transportation only left in the morning.  I had seen a sign that said that Koh Kong was 10 km away, but when one of the kids who wanted me to pay 60 Baht (approx $1.88) instead of the 30 Baht it should have really been, he gave me a song and dance about how it was 14km away and the price of petrol was high.  I walked away to find someone else and soon he agreed on the 30 Baht price.

One last security check and we were on our way, on the right side of the road, which was weird after spending 6 weeks on the left side.  The driver kept trying to talk to me, but it was hard to hear and honestly, I was still so frustrated with the whole border crossing that I was in no mood to speak at all.  We came across a toll that he told me I had to pay, but they wanted the fee of 1,200 in riels (approx $0.30) which I did not have.  The driver paid it telling me I would have to pay him back after I got some money changed.

Once in Koh Kong, the driver stopped at a money changer.  I only wanted to change 100 Baht (approx $3.12) but of course, they would do that little.  So I had to change at least 1000 Baht (approx $31.25).  I really didn't want to do it, but I was tired and just wanted to get to my guesthouse.  I realized later that I had been scammed again.  The exchange rate is supposed to be 4000 riels to the dollar, but I was only given 2,650 riels to the dollar.  I think if I hadn't been so frustrated, I would have been more with it to realize what was going on.

Back on the bike and the driver takes me to the Riverside Guesthouse, even though I told him I wanted to go to Otto's.  He claimed he thought I was traveling with Ian and that is why he took me there, but of course, he knows the people there and was hoping for a commission.  Once stopped, I told him to take me to Otto's but he kept telling me what a great place this was.  I was losing my patience, rapidly.  Thankfully, Ian was already there and told the driver to take me to Otto's.  The driver told me that most people don't like the guesthouse, but I told him I needed to see for myself.  After seeing Otto's I agreed that I really didn't want to stay there.  At this point, I was tired from traveling and dealing with the border hassle and since there was a friendly face at the Riverside, I told the driver to take me back.

My room was adequate, but better than Otto's. I guess for 100 Baht (approx $3.12) what should I expect?  Of course, when I went to pay my driver, I only had 40 Baht and he didn't have change.  Once again, not thinking straight, like I could get change from the guesthouse, I just gave him the 40 Baht. What was 10 Baht to me anyhow.

I put my pack in my room and at 4:30pm I figured it was a good time to have a beer.