Border Crossing

Location: Siem Reap, Cambodia

NP: Pariisin Kevät - Tämän kylän poikii

Mood: Indifferent

Border crossings are unfortunate necessities I'll probably never learn to be comfortable with. Then again, giving fingerprints, being questioned and filling arrival forms... Does anyone really enjoy those?

Just a few days ago we arrived from Cambodia to Thailand via the Poipet-Aranyapathet checkpoint. It was the most chaotic border checkpoint I'd ever seen.

Purchasing tickets for a minivan to the Cambodian border from Peter in Tropical Breeze Guesthouse (the bus company was Ratanak Angkor Express) for $17, our ride was actually a normal car being driven by a very long-nailed man, probably a Thai. Expecting a comfortable ride, we ended up picking two more passengers and thus space was again an issue. Thankfully Mika took the middle seat and suffered in silence. The driver didn't seem to speak any English at all.

Suddenly we stopped at a point where the road made a circle around a small pedestal. Where the hell were we? Before that we had stopped once or twice so that the driver and the male passenger in the front seat could run some errand. No one told us anything, but as the other passengers left the car, we figured we were in Poipet.


We were. The border was near, but the system at the checkpoint was anything but clear.

When in Poipet, head this way to the border (between buildings).

Immediately upon stepping out of the car, a guy came to talk to us, insisting he could get in touch with our bus company on the other side of the border and would like to change our tickets to stickers that would be good as tickets, he claimed. Having heard all kinds of tall stories on our travels, I didn't trust him. I showed him my ticket, but when he wanted to take it and give me a sticker instead, I refused and walked away.

"If you don't trust me, I can't help you. You're on your own", he said.

So we were. I had noticed a sign saying "Departures" on a building nearby, so I figured it was the way to go. It was a passport control point, but after I had qued and got to the official at the booth, he pointed at our blank departure cards that we would have to fill before he'd stamp our passports.

We occupied a small counter nearby and started filling the cards. A card for leaving a country? Bah! Pointless byrocracy.

As we were filling the cards another young guy came to talk to us. He said he could find our bus company for us on the other side of the border and guide us through the checkpoints. I was again suspicious. "What will it cost us?" I asked him. "Nothing. If you want to tip me afterwards, it's up to you."

I was still suspicious so he explained it to me again.

The border looked so chaotic with people coming and going everywhere and with no clear guidance on what to do or where to go. I decided to agree to his terms of help with no payment. He assisted a little with the departure card, though it wasn't necessary. Handing the card and my passport over to the official again, I received a stamp but no instructions on where to go next and got the feeling the man spoke no English at all. Also it was hard to hear anything through the small slot in the glass in all the ruckus.

With the help of our guide, we headed straight onwards from the left side of the passport checkpoint. There was a gap between the buildings with a path that was in no way guarded and vehicles and people were going to and fro.

Behind the gap between the buildings we found a wide area with small shops selling souvenirs and food. Our guide asked us if we wanted to buy anything or needed to go to a toilet. We didn't. He took us beside a casino and told a little about the local habit of gambling. I found out that he was from Cambodia, not from Thailand.

About 200 or 300 meters later down the road he instructed us to take the left side of the road to the next checkpoint. There were actually signs instructing to do just this there, which was relieving. I guessed we were now on the Thai border. We crossed the Friendship bridge on the left side to the checkpoint. Going through the metal gates really meant nothing, as there were no officials there to check anything, and they all lead to the same spot where our guide had walked to already.

Next up ahead was a building with the proper checkpoint. A crowd of people prevented all access inside, but our guide told us just to get through them because they were Thai and as non-Thais we needed to use ques 4 or 5, unlike them. He also told us to fill in arrival cards when we got inside and then go to the que. He'd wait for us on the other side of the building.

I pushed through the angry mob with a sword in hand like Moses through the Red Sea... Err, minus the anger and the sword, and Moses and the sea. Inside we filled in our arrival cards (Name: Mike, Sex: Male, Occupation: Assessor, Annual income: Low, Embarking from: Siem Reap, Disembarking at: Pattaya, Address at destination: Apex hotel, First time in Thailand: No, Visa number: -, etc.) which took us at least 15 minutes, and then qued at line 5. A tourist came to us and asked if he was supposed to have a departure stamp from Cambodia before queuing here and if he needed a visa for Cambodia when all he wanted to do was do a visa run. We didn't know, but I told him we'd gotten our stamp about 200 meters "that way". He went. From his looks and his accent I'd guess he was from New Zealand.

After another 10-15 minutes of queuing the immigration official asked a most difficult question and expected an explicit answer from me.

- Finland?
- Yes.

And after a fingerprint scan I was through. Nothing but my passport was inspected. A waste of time for the individual really.

Our guide waited for us outside the building and guided us about a hundred meters further. He asked for our bus tickets but I only wanted to show them to him, not give them away. We came up to a guy sitting by a desk just on the side of the road and our guide asked us to give him our tickets. So we did, though I got suspicious handing them over. It lead to no problems though, as together the two of them escorted us to a travel agency to arrange our ride onward to Pattaya. The woman there didn't speak a word to us, only to the two guys with our tickets. Quickly we heard that there'd been a minivan to Pattaya at 5 PM and it had just left 5 minutes ago. Oh great. But not to worry, "They are calling for it to come back", our guide told us as he sat down to rest with us.

And surprisingly just a few minutes later a minivan arrived to pick us up with just two passengers on board before us.

I paid our guide three US dollars and a couple hundred Cambodian Riel (only worth a few cents). He didn't look happy or sad, just wished us a good trip.

On the way the minivan picked up more passengers, but not so many that we'd have only one seat per person available. No, the whole back of the van was ours for the entire trip.

All the other passengers got off before we came to Pattaya. On the last stop the driver pulled up on the side of a large road, pointed to some guys nearby and said "Taxi".

I noticed a plastic locking system from my backpack had fallen off. We looked for it for a little while with the driver, but couldn't find it. Thanking the driver we headed for a direction along the road that we thought would be correct, estimating from where I thought the sea was. But I couldn't see the sea because it was already dark. There were hardly any roadsigns either, but at least there was a sidewalk for pedestrians usually.

We went to a 7-Eleven to ask for directions. "Where are we?" Mika blurted out to a female cashier. "We in Pattaya", she replied happily. They couldn't pinpoint our location on the map, but another customer gave us instructions to Walking Street...

Circling around Pattaya for an hour and asking for directions to Apex Hotel (it has a swimming pool!) at least four times ("Ahh, Apec", they replied. Some of the directions were wrong, as usual), we suddenly found the place. But it was too expensive for us these days. 650 Baht for a double room, since they had no twin rooms... We decided to head outside where I'd seen the sign for Ice Inn (which was always our second choice) right next to Apex Hotel's sign. It was a far better choice. Even though they had no single or twin rooms available, a double room cost 490 Baht and included air-con, free wifi, en suite bathroom with a hot shower, complimentary water, a fridge and a spacious room where I now sit, writing this.

Another change of scenery was behind us. Though it was nothing as bad as the night bus from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap, I was getting too old for them.