The idea for this trip was born on a golfcourse in Pathum Thani, Thailand, where Stefan and Frank were battling it out in immense heat, the game was tied after day 6. Seeking shelter from a monsoon storm on day 7, we got rained out and the course closed for the day. We both were a little tired of golfing (happens rarely!) and were drinking a bit in a watering hole, waiting for the course service with a cart to pick us up. I told Stefan about my recent trips to Cambodia and he grinned back. It was always a dream for him to go there and experience that country!
We arrived at the border post just after 22:00 hours, and they just closed. The immigration dudes were already gone and "Black Sherrifs of the Special Border Police" made it no secret with their wielded machineguns, that trespassing might be hazardous to our heath and well being.
A nicer officer didn't mind to pose for us crazy guys at all, right at the border we weren't to cross before early morning tomorrow.
We slept that night in Aranyaprathet for 300 Baht airconditioned at a local low budget hotel, which doubled as a "Shorttime-Hotel" for the many girls across the street from a noisy karaoke-parlor and their male sponsors.
We grabbed a good nights sleep, the last night in Thailand for a while, but by the first daylight, we were again hauling ourselves to the border. This time, we choose the local version of a stretched limo and we invited a Khmer girl to join us for the ride, she was working in Thailand somewhere and returning home for a family visit.
The ride was not too far, but definitively too far to walk. A good estimate would be around 5 KM distance.
The stretched limo owner was a bit hard to haggle with, but our Khmerlady was a natural born haggler. Real Khmers do beat even Jewish bankers or Armenian carpetdealers in this trade!
We arrived at the famed border market, which is called "Thalaad Rom Klau" here, Stefan decided to "upgrade" his garments with a set of Khmer headscarves and an old camouflaged BDU pants from an army-surplus dealer. My own fatigues proved so practical, he wanted to try it also.
In Cambodia, it is almost imperative to look like a "have-not-backpacker", it saves you 50 % of the beggars and gets you the local's prices in eateries and such. Stefans designer-label pants made it from here without any further usage back home again! What good white colored shirts are for in a dusty country, well he found that out too pretty quick.
Heavy pushcart traffic with immense loads between these countries are seen frequently.
We made it! Due to limited space in my passport, a 10 $ bakschisch convinced the officer to stick the new Visa over an older stamped Laos one to preserve my last free page in it.
Loads in your duffles need to be secured well from here, they were known to slice backpacks with razorblades here to steal some things of you and worse.
Myself with that infamous roundabout behind me. Here you need to repel touts of the worst variety for any further transport needs. Needless to say, nobody really wants to stay in sleaze-city Cambodia; and the mafia-style gouge every transport provider with hefty surcharges to use "their" roads and territory. Doubling the fares seemed a normality here for years, because of that. Other tricks and scams are well known here, lots of tourists come through here per day.
Getting out of Poipet is everyones top priority here, the smell, the dust, the beggars and those touts make a mix that makes one feeling uncomfortable. Stefan and I got finally rid of the notorious touts and that alone gave us the breath and courage to go on. If the Cambodian Government is serious about their tourism, they need to control these gangsters here in a much more efficient way!
The loads hauled into Cambodia are plenty of food items, pushcarts must hold above half a metric ton or the equivalent of a pickup-truck.
Stay tuned for Stage 2 of this report (Poipet to Battambang),
to follow soon here in SIAMPEDIA.
