Notes From Cambodia
I had never planned to go to Cambodia. Obviously there are still landmines, political instability, no foreign exchange, so on so forth.
But somehow i got hooked onto the idea of taking a pilgrimage to the monumental Ankor Wat. So i thought i will go from Bangkok straight to Ankor Wat. The Ankor Wat is in a town called "Siem Reap". Siem Reap means literally Siamese(Thai People) Defeated. So you ask anybody how to go to Siem Reap in Bangkok and you get cold shoulders and refusing stares. It is probably like asking a Frenchman in Paris on Eurostar Do you know anything about Waterloo
I made my way solo towards a town called Aranya Prathat near the Cambodian Border. 4.5 hour bus journey was nearly pleasant enough. Started at 9am. When i reached Aranya, i realised it was further 6km down to the border. Thailand and Cambodia never get along and at that time Thai were concentrating troops near the border as part of occupying some Cambodian land, or so i was told. I made this 6km ride to the border on back of motorbike driven by this 60-year-old lady. After we started, it started pouring down like hell. i thought she was going to stop. But she was obviously enjoying the rain; the motorbike went on at a speed i clearly thought I was on a roller coaster in the rain. By the time I reached the border I was soaking wet and ready to quit.
Exiting the Thai border was no problem. I got to tell you something about this border. It is in a place called Poi pet, on the Cambodian side. Between the Thai border and Cambodian border, there is no fence, no gates and no uniformed officers. Touts and Hawks are through out this place in hundreds. The place was swarming with people. Once i start to walk from the bike towards the thai place, I got surrounded by 10 touts, just asking pleasantries. what is my name, where am i from, how was my journey, where am i going. What do you do? You try to walk away. And they all follow you. 3 of the guys were persistent. At this time a teenage girl came by the side of me and was offering an umbrella. How kind of her? It was still raining.
She said it was only five bahts. An umbrella for less than 10pence?. She was walking very close to me, and one of these touts shouted, "watch out". I quickly turned around and grabbed my wallet from her hand. She shrugged her shoulders and just walked away. This was still on Thai border. Walked through the Thai border and This particular tout who saved my wallet had all the immigration forms for the border. When i went to the Cambodian immigration, the guy(no uniform, nothing) demanded 1000 Thai bahts and extra 100 bahts because i did not bring a photo. I could not argue and i just wanted my passport back by this time. You hand over the passport through a stained glass window hole and you dont know whether you will get back your passport.
Got my kingdom of Cambodia visa and this helpful tout offered me a tuktuk ride to catch the bus to siem reap. As i got from the immigration hut, i passed through very grand looking casinos. Why casinos in Cambodia? God knows. Cambodia has one of the highest rates of Infant mortality rate. Just recovered from years of famine after Pol Pot rule. After the casinos, i was out in the open with hundreds of people just milling around. While i was walking past all these bodies, i felt somebody behind me, but there is everybody everywhere. My helpful tout again shouted ' watch out''. My small backpack was opened by this 7-10 year old and my camera and passport was being pulled out. Split of a second, i got them both back and there was this look of I am doing my job. He kind of shrugged at his misfortune and walked away.
I was so glad to get into the tuktuk. By this time backpack has become a chest pack. You turn it around so that you can see it. But there were 3 guys in this tuktuk. Nice easygoing conversation, one you usually have in NHS hospital corridors. What i did not realise was we were getting away from the bus station. There was no road, just muddy path. And
it turned toward really remote looking place. When i asked them, they said they
are going to get me foreign exchange. I didnt ask for foreign exchange. They
insisted that I needed them. Apparently it was cheaper to spend in Cambodian
Riel rather than Thai Baht. The foreign exchange place was another dilapidated
hut. This guy with a gun on top of his table, pulled out bundles of Riel. When i
gave 250 bahts, he