Things that Happen

In the last blog post we were in Chaing Mai, Thailand, and since then we took an overnight bus 12 hours south to Bangkok, stayed a day there, and then jumped on a train to head to Cambodia. As usual, the transportation and border crossings were an adventure (take that how you will). The bus to Bangkok was straightforward... it was a crummy and very uncomfortable (due partially to the people in front of us who leaned their seats back into our laps) but nothing too unusual. We arrived in Bangkok at about 7am, and took a taxi to the local train station. We had heard that trains to Cambodia were dramatically cheaper than buses, so we went to go check it out- and we’re very glad we did. The train to the Cambodian border was about $1.75, and took about 5.5 hours. On the other hand, the bus took 4 hours (supposedly) and cost about $17- the choice was obvious. The train left the next morning at 5:55 so we had a day to kill in Bangkok, which we spent recovering from the overnight bus and miling about the area. While we were hunting for a place to stay, Michelle ran into an interesting situation. She walked into an old guesthouse and asked about rooms and asked to see one, and the man working it said ‘OK’ and told her to leave her bag there and he’d take her up to see it. She said it was OK, she didn’t mind carrying the bag upstairs (leaving all your worldly possessions in an unknown lobby is not a good idea) and he blew up on her... started yelling that if she didn’t leave her bag she couldn’t see the room. Not sure what he was trying to accomplish out of that, I assume he would know that if he yelled we would leave (we did). Odd, and an unusual introduction to Bangkok.

Anyway, the train the next day was great. The views were great, it more comfortable than the bus, and we met a couple of people from San Francisco and Brazil that we talked with. Upon arrival we got a taxi to the border, and the driver dropped us off at a little stand where lots of people were filling out visa forms and all the normal stuff. The shuttled us in and gave us the forms which we filled out. He quoted us the visa price in baht, which we paid, but as soon as we did we did the calculation in our head and it came out to over double the price of what a Visa normally is. I asked why, and the guy gave me a reason that didn’t make much sense. I tried to clarify and his answers and responses got even more incoherent, so I asked for the money back and said we’d just try walking up to the border on our own, because I didn’t he was running a legit operation. He refused because he said they were already processing the visa (an outright lie). The people we were traveling with had not paid yet, so we told them not to, which pissed off the border guy who had previously been very nice. We got our Visa, as promised, but it was $45 instead of $20. From what I could tell, this official looking stand was filling out the forms, calling the official border (1/4 down the road) and having them do the visa, and charging us $25 extra for the convenience. I’m sure the official border guards were getting a kickback as well. So we got screwed, but all the people we traveled with got through for the normal $20, and they bought us dinner that night to make up for the lost cash. Nice folks! It is frustrating though, because we are aware of the scams and are very careful, but you walk into them anyway. They really do a good job of screwing people.

After making it past the first border checkpoint, we were approached by people offering us taxi rides to Siem Reap after we crossed the border. This is pretty common. The going rate in the guidebook was $50 US for a taxi (split between all 5 of us), which fluctuates, so we were happy when we got a guy to come down to $35 US for the same thing. He agreed to meet us on the other side of the border and take us the rest of the way. We all crossed over, and then while walking to the Cambodian border (it’s about 1/4 mile between the Thai border and the Cambodian border) we see the same guy who was supposed to drive us to Siem Reap on the side of the road, handcuffed, and getting manhandled by some cops/border patrol. Not sure what happened as we didn’t stick around, but I’m assuming he tried to cross illegally and got caught or something. Anyway, we found it quite hilarious.

After this incident we elected to go take a bus instead of a taxi. It was fun and went smoothly since we all just sat in the back and talked the whole time (felt like high school). We stopped about halfway through the drive, and when backing out of the restaurant our driver ran into a power cable that was hanging down pretty low, knocking it down and causing quite a mess. Just another hilarious daily incident that happens on the road.

Cambodia is an interesting place so far. Siem Reap is a pretty small (200k people-ish) city that is very poor, but also happens to have Angkor Wat, one of the biggest and best temples in the world. Because of this you have massive 4-star hotels lining a road in one area, and then ½ mile into the city you have extreme poverty. There are nightclubs and fancy restaurants in the middle of the downtown area that charge a lot of money for a western meal, and then right across the street (literally) there are local food stalls that serve great local dishes for $1. Consequently, and sadly, this has created a typical situation of haves and have-nots accompanied by the inevitable- begging. The begging has undoubtedly been the worst here of anywhere we’ve seen so far. It’s constant and unavoidable, some people trying to sell books, others little handicrafts, many just asking for money. Lots of people have signs written in excellent English (I’m curious who writes them) that says their name, their situation (poor, orphan, amputee, etc) and that they don’t want to beg for money but they have to. Even within the Ankgor Wat temple grounds we were under constant assault of little kids as young as 5 trying to sell us stuff and telling us how bad they need the money. However, as hard as it often was (especially for the sweet hearted Michelle) we never bought anything. These were kids that as young as 8 or 9 were already dropping out of school to try and make a living hawking stuff to foreigners, and we simple don’t want to support that. We’re sure most of what they were told to say (and most kids said the exact same lines, word for word) was taught to them by the parents, which is where most the money will go, so the last thing we want is to pay someone for taking their kids out of school. Michelle and I talked a lot about it, and we both strongly feel that the government should make it illegal to have kids working (or even adults in some cases) within the park, which is a highly regulated area. They should have designated food vendors and products to sell, and they should be sold only by employees of the park. Jobs should be given out to kids who have finished high school, encoring them to stay in school... these are pretty simple ideas that would probably make a huge difference in the long run.

To exasperate the entire situation, many of the people we’ve seen begging and selling stuff have been disabled. Landmines seem to be the leading cause, and consequently young kids are the biggest victims. Single, double, and even triple amputees are commonplace. I did a bit of research after noticing this, and in Cambodia there is apparently 1 amputee for every 259 people- a ridiculously high number. Not that long ago the Khmer Rouge tore this country apart, and landmines had been placed all over the country by many groups- fortunately, the U.S.A. not being one of them (unlike Laos, where they are mainly ours). Many of the people that approach us and ask for money are in a wheelchair, on crutches, and in at least once case so far have had people pushing them in carts because they have no hands or feet at all. It’s absolutely tragic.

On a lighter note, the currency system in Cambodia is very odd. The official currency is the Riel, which is valued at about 4000-1 against the US Dollar right now. However, about 75% of stuff is quoted in USD, and ATM’s give out USD as well. Even more oddly, there are no US Coins, only bills. If something is 75 cents and you pay with a $1 bill, you will get change in Riel- 1000 of them. It’s a tough system, because breaking a $10 bill can be nearly impossible at some places but you can’t carry around stacks of 1’s all the time just because of the size. It’s a weird, hybrid system that makes price negotiation a hilarious endeavor. No one generally drops their prices below $1, they just start trying to add more stuff.

Yesterday we visited Angkor Wat, as I mentioned earlier, and it was awesome. It was a far superior visit than any other I’ve had to old ruins, dominating over even well known sites like the Mayan town of Copan in Central America. However, it was so cool that there isn’t really a ton for me to say about it, and I’ll let my pictures do the talking. I’ve got well over a hundred pics, and the internet here is slow, but I’ll work on it when I can. In the mean time, the rest of the pictures from Thailand should be online now.

That’s all for now, but I leave you with this-

Quote of the day:

Me (brushing teeth in bathroom): What movie is coming on now?
Michelle (watching TV): Umm... “15 and Above”. I have never heard of that, have you?
Me: Uhhh.... that’s probably the rating.
Michelle: hahaha. Yeah.

(It was Silence of the Lambs)