In Lawrence world doing anything before 0600 is considered to be night time and so should incur extra charges or double time payment. It also feels slightly wrong too. Catching a train at 0555, as we did this morning felt rather daft. It was the second part of our journey from Bangkok to Siem Reap in Cambodia, the first being getting a taxi to Hualampong Station. Fortunately there are loads more taxis around the Thai capital than at Desa Park City so we didn't have to wait long, but just long enough to buy pieces of barbecued meat and bags of sticky rice for breakfast from Barbecue Lady and her stall at the end of the Soi.
Buying a ticket at the station was easier than when I booked our sleeper tickets and also very cheap. Our combined ticket price for five Lawrences was 168 baht (£3.50 ish) for the five and a half hour journey. We knew that the third class only train was not going to be luxurious, and it wasn't, but we did get seats together and the train did leave bang on time. Ok it did arrive thirty minutes late in Aranyaprathet but at such a cheap price it would be rude to complain. The train went through the suburbs of Bangkok and then into rice field after rice field and finally to the border town. It was full of passengers for most of the journey as well as being well-populated by food sellers too. There appeared to be three main sellers selling drinks and snacks the most notable one being a chap who was specialising in cooked meats. At first the freshly cooked sausages looked quite appetising but as the journey went on they started to tire and whither somewhat becoming less appealing as the miles went by. The lesson learned? Avoid sausages on the return leg.
We arrived in Aranyaprathet at high noon and were soon captured by an enthusiastic tuk-tuk driver. He took us to get the regulation passport photos taken, as required by the Cambodian Visa Police. The official Cambodian Government website said that we needed two each, the shop only sold them in eights and the border police only wanted one of each. There is a scam in there somewhere.
In total it took almost three hours from arriving at the Thai side to setting foot on official Cambodian soil. By the time we did get through I was left with thinking "What was the point of all that?" So what happened?
The tuk-tuk driver dropped us off at an office called Official Visa Service. I had read up about these places and knew them to be a scam of some sorts. So did my best to keep all Lawrences out of there. However our driver unloaded our bags in to the office quickly and a smooth looking gentlemen started trying to soften us up by asking us to fill in official Cambodian arrival and departures cards, which we duly did. This Smooth Looking Gentleman number one, wearing a pinkish shirt, then proceeded to tell is about our transport options from the Cambodian border to Siem Reap. "It is all official," he told us, "Free shuttle bus," and so we officially left the office, with completed cards and walked towards the Thai exit. We went via a cafe for plates of rice, noodles and fried eggs as, by that time, it had been ages since breakfast.
After feeding we dragged our cases towards the Thai border, me leading, Lexi bringing up the rear and Trixie being a sort of mobile tourist attraction, dressed as she was in her pink rain jacket and pulling her bee-shaped and -coloured suitcase on wheels. Getting out of Thailand was relatively straightforward. We had completed the necessary papers and so the Thai police, resplendent in their extremely tight fitting brown, lycra uniforms beckoned us through with grumpy grimaces. I blame the trousers.
Next we had to buy our Cambodian tourist visas. A small sign directed us to an out-of-the-way office where we filled in more forms, parted with US$20 each and got a sticker and more stamps in our passports. I presume that the US$20 is put to some good use although a large part of it must surely go to pay the salaries of the twelve officers on duty: four to hand out the forms; say "Pay money!" and chuck the completed forms and passports to one of the seven officers sat behind a perspex screen and then one officer sat in a separate office being in charge. While we waited for our passports to be returned Smooth Looking Gentleman number two, wearing a pinkish shirt, approached us and explained about our transport options in Cambodia. In impeccable English he repeated what Smooth Looking Gentleman number one, wearing a pinkish shirt, had said earlier, namely that there was a free shuttle bus from the border to the bus station where we could catch our bus onwards to Siem Reap. I was starting to smell a scam.
With passports plus newly added stickers returned we left the visa office and walked towards the Cambodian arrivals area. However because we were not in either country yet that meant that we were in a sort of no-man's land. Nature abhors a vacuum and South East Asians abhor the strict anti-gambling laws. Consequently there were loads of very posh looking hotels in no-man's land that were full of slot machines and the like. No rules or laws broken as we were in a lawless state.
There was a massive queue at Cambodian arrivals. Inside the arrivals office a mob of people trying to get into Cambodia soon became four queues lining up behind four police officers at four windows, working as slowly as possible. In addition to this there was a thirty metre queue of people waiting to go in the arrivals office. Reluctantly we went to the back of the queue, lengthening it by a few metres. We were joined very soon after by Smooth Looking Gentleman number two, wearing a pinkish shirt, and smooth smile to go with it. And it was now that Smooth Looking Gentleman number two, wearing a pinkish shirt, revealed the scam. "You can join the VIP lane and do not have to wait," he said. Really? "Yes. You only have to pay 200 baht per person and then go to the VIP lane." That's about £20 for all Lawrences! I was shocked. But it all started to make sense. The slower the whole system worked the more likely people were to pay the bribe, I mean extra fee, and so this corrupt circle progresses. Naturally I declined the offer from Smooth Looking Gentleman number two, wearing a pinkish shirt. A few moments later a slightly less smooth, but still pink shirt wearing gentleman approached us and made us the 200 baht offer again. We declined and then when we finally got to the front of the thirty metre queue Smooth Looking Gentleman number four approached and made the same offer. I was too irritated by this point to look at the colour of his shirt, but it was probably a pinkish one.
Two hours after leaving Thailand we entered Cambodia, principles still in tact although I did manage a brush with authority again. I took a couple of photos of the queues and people seemingly drifting past the queues. Officer P048 took exception to this and demanded, in good English, that I delete them. No amount of persuasion from me would shut him up, so eventually I did. Lexi seized on this opportunity to ask officer P048 why we had waited so long, why there were so many police around doing nothing and why people were being asked to pay bribes to get past the queues. As expected his excellent English deserted him. He walked off, sat on his official stool and took out his iPhone 5.
We did eventually get into Cambodia. But we had only avoided one scam so far. After the big reveal of the VIP lane scam it was now time for the 'free shuttle bus' scam. Various insistent characters, wearing the full range of coloured shirts this time, did their best to get us on to the free shuttle bus, only then to try to get us to pay lots for the very un-free bus from the 'official bus station' to Siem Reap. Walking ten metres away from from the hustlers I got speaking to another bloke who offered me the option of a taxi. Once I had got his initial 2500 baht price down to a more sensible 1300 ('plus 100 baht beer money for me, my friend, but don't tell anyone about the price') he summoned his 'brother' (why do people like this always have a conveniently located 'brother'?) and we were off to Siem Reap. About seven kilometres away from the border we saw the 'official bus station' deep in the middle of nowhere. Naturally the 'brother' just happened to drop us off in Siem Reap right next to another tuk-tuk driver who he 'just happened to know.' Maybe the two of them were 'brothers?'
Eventful day and overall a good journey.