Cambodia Chronicles: The Border

Nice structure behind the border is a casino.

With only two long weekends for traveling this semester I knew one of them was going to be spent in Cambodia. I didn't have long, so I left school early on Thursday, taking a five hour bus to the Thai/Cambodia border and sleeping there. I left The Market Motel at nine am and was taken to the border by a solemn driver. I told him to take me to the border directly but, of course, he took me to an agency first. A handsome Thai man in a nice suit met the tuk-tuk as it stopped outside his agency and spoke to me in jovial English. He said I had reached the border. I disagreed. Again and again he insisted that I had reached the border. “The border is very big,” he assured me. I thank him and smiled while declining, saying I wanted to go to the border directly to get my visa. His tone got more aggressive and his smile quickly faded. He continually told me it was much cheaper to go through him than the border. The more I asked the driver to drive on the more silent and forelorn he looked, sitting their picking his nose.

The man was now yelling at me as he said, “You don’t believe me? Fine, just go. Go away!”  The driver started up the tuk-tuk and drove off, reaching the true border and immigration check point a few minutes later. It was mildly hectic, mucky and loud with workers and immigrants pushing carts every which way. No signs telling me where to go (or perhaps I didn’t see them.) I wandered around till one of the workers kindly tapped me on the shoulder and pointed me in the right direction. The stamping process went normally and I walked out the door, left Thailand and walked my ass into Cambodia.

The border town is called Poi Pet and it was overwhelming. Mud everywhere from the daily rains. Dirty children staring at you, cars everywhere. There was a long table with a sign that read “please stop for medical check” but no one was there. I spotted three casinos that looked out of place. Again, no signs. So I walked around a bit till I stumbled into a building that happen to be where I could buy my visa. It was deserted, most chairs empty expect for a few military men watching “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Whatever the Fuck.” One of the military men was sitting at the table by the visa window and eyed me as I filled out my paperwork. When I handed him my passport and paperwork (which cost me 200 baht less than Agency Guy was charging) he delivered them to the appropriate window then sat down for a chat.

“You here alone?”

“Nope,” I replied. “I’m meeting my parents in Siem Reap.”

“Siem Reap?”

“Yes.”

“No boyfriend?”

“Yes, I have one.”

“Oooh.” His upper lip seemed to curl back in the most perfect lecherous sneer.

“Where you come from?”

“America.”

“No condom.”

“What?”

“No condom.”

I stared at him, sure his accent was preventing me from understanding him.

“In Cambodia, okay condom. In America, no condom. I will fuck you with no condom.”

On the shuttle to the bus station

Unbelievably, my passport arrived immediately following the comment. I shot “Ok Condom” a stern look and left. I walked passed the casinos to the arrival gate. A man handed me my arrival/departure card and went back to clipping his toenails. I got my stamp and proceeded down the street, which is where things got even more confusing. I was told you could rent cars right from the border to take you to Siem Reap. I couldn’t see anything that resembled the car stand I was told about and there were all manner of cars and shuttles and tractors on the roundabout in front of me. Suddenly, I was surrounded by men and women flashing their official badges at me insisting I take the free shuttle to the bus station “as it is not safe for you to be here.” Perfect.

Next to me was an Italian man and his American boyfriend who were having a similar issue. As they were walking towards the shuttle he said, “we have a taxi waiting at the bus station, I think. Come with us and we can all share to Siem Reap.” We all boarded the shuttle and road 15 minutes outside Poi Pet to the bus station.

A taxi was indeed waiting at the bus station and I rode shotgun as we really speeded towards Siem Reap. The two men couldn’t have been nicer. They both lived and worked in Bangkok and had booked a package deal to Siem Reap, something I had been warned against and something they were lamenting doing.

This "car wash" pumps water out of a large urn hiding behind the machine.

An hour later we pulled over for a “car wash.” We got out of the car where I was told I couldn’t use the toilet unless I bought something. Not a huge deal, as everything in Cambodia costs a dollar. Dollar for a pack of cookies; dollar for a beer; dollar-fifty for a pack of Marlboros. We paid, peed and only then did someone take a hose and quickly spray our cab. Still not sure why it was necessary.

We arrived in Siem Reap an hour later, where I fought the two men when they insisted on not letting me pay for my share of the cab. They won. I hugged them both, took a tuk-tuk to the beautiful Mandalay Inn where I rented a room on the top floor with a view of the city for 7 dollars a night. A bit pricey by Cambodian standards but well worth it. The treated me like a lost friend come home for the holidays. The young girl who walked me to my room stayed and chatted with me for ten minutes as I got settled in. The owner's wife sat with me as I had a beer and a cigarette, discussing Cambodia, America and her third child, which was due any day. It took me an hour in Siem Reap to realize Cambodians were by-far the most enjoyable, friendly, welcoming people I’ve encounter so far. I was in love. Again. 

Downtown Siem Reap. Unseen river is to the right.