Border Scams
By the time our bus dropped us off in Phnom Penh at their guesthouse I had already jumped through more rings than a circus lion. But I give myself high marks and think I played the game quite well. From HCMC our bus pulled up for a normal break on the Vietnam side of the border. Oddly the bus drove away and after 30 minutes I thought this was an unusually long stop given that I knew the border was only 30-40 minutes away. A ‘guide’ stayed with us passengers so I confronted him with what was going on. The story went that the bus driver had gone for ‘electrical repairs to the air conditioning’. Right… So why didn’t he do this after dropping us at the border? I had a few straight up words of advice for him – Tell us before the bus drives off so ALL valuables can be taken off, and to call the driver on his mobile. Apparently the driver had hung up on our frazzled guide – There was advice given that he should call the bus company, and failing that, get on a motorbike and find the bus! I had begun checking what I had with me and thinking about my claims process. After two hours the bus arrived back. The air conditioning wasn’t fixed, but we did get to the Vietnamese / Cambodian border.
There were a number of little scams here that I fended off. The first one was some guys asking for money to get your visa stamped. A group of Vietnamese fell for that one, I just queued and waited. The second, more confrontational, was when I walked across the border to where our bags were taken by the bus. Three men demanded US$1 for us to take our bags back. Ivan had tipped me off on this stunt when I was in Vietnam and I was determined not to bow to this extortion. Basically, backed up by a few other guys, I just took my bag, looked straight at them and told them NO. They let go and we went through. Everyone else on our bus (going through at different times) coughed up. Next scam, some guys on the Cambodian side asking for money for Arrivals cards. I found the window and got my own one. I bought some chips at a shop to chow on and, paying in US dollars I was given Riel change. The lady tried to diddle me with the exchange rate but I’d already read up on $ were worth.
We arrived after nightfall on the doorstep of a guesthouse. Let me paint the whole picture as I unraveled it. The bus disappeared for ‘repairs’ in order to delay the trip till after daylight when it was unlikely we would take to the town ourselves. That would explain why the ‘guide’ on the bus was having a laugh with the driver when we got back on, even thought he was supposedly hung up on. It would also explain why the connecting bus was still waiting for us at the border even though we were more than 2 hours behind schedule. It’s all about the commission they get at the other end for sending guests to their guesthouse. Punks. At least I negotiated only US$3 for the tickets. Asia is proving a perfect training ground for India.
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