border

since we took the cheaper cebu pacific flight, we arrived at bangkok's suvarnabhumi airport at about 5 minutes to 12 mn. we then had a midnight dinner, bought some baht and stayed in the airport till about 3:30 am. we took a cab from the airport to lumphini park in bangkok's patumwan area, costing about 355 baht, including toll fees and what the driver billed as midnight surcharge.

the taxi dropped us off in a waiting shed outside lumphini park, fronting bangkok's u chu liang building, which is known in idc's terms as HP thailand's building. we didn't have any idea which of the 2 decker buses (gambler express) actually go to aranyaprathet (or simply aran), thailand's border town to go to poipet, cambodia's gateway to siem reap... so at first, we walked around that area, finding some small group of elderly people, who i think were there for some early tai chi sessions as soon as the park opens. arms, in her usually bouncy style, asked the people one by one which buses go to aran. but no one spoke english, until she found a police-badged man who said that he'll tell us which bus to take when the bus arrives. the buses do not have english signboards, so we just waited for the kind man's instruction. heavy downpour came and after 3 buses, at around 4:40 am, the man finally told us to board that bus. we took to the second level and sat with a group of chinese elderly people, who probably will cross the border to go casino-hopping. there was just one stopover in a gas station somewhere east of bangkok, but the bus ride was comfy all along, costing 200 baht per head. there were no tales of military officers asking for passports!

we arrived at aran's rongklua market before 8 am. we were lucky that we didn't have to take tuk-tuk to go to aran's rongklua market, so no more additional tuk-tuk ride. with heavy bags and arms' trolley, next challenge was to look for the thai immigration office. one blogger said that you should just follow where the throngs of people are heading to find the thai immigration office. but this wasn't the case for us. chaotic and dusty, it seemed that rongklua only have myself and arms, as the only foreigners about to cross the border that time. from where the bus dropped us off, we walked to the right side of the market, where arms finally saw what looked like an immigration outpost, where you'll find some tourists and locals. here, we met a young man, probably in his early 20s, wearing checkered long sleeves, who asked for our passports. he then proceeded to fill out the immigration card, carefully writing each letters. when he was done, he asked for 200 baht per head. what a scam! i vividly remember what this blogger said, "be polite, but be firm… you have absolutely no obligation whatsoever." so, i said to him, "we don't have to pay you. we won't pay you. we can fill this form out ourselves." while saying this, i immediately thought if we already have our passports because he might not give these back to us. but luckily he didn't try to trick us anymore and said that we "go right!". with passports on hand and filled out immigration card, we walked towards the thai immigration office. it was easier for us pinoys since we didn't need visas to go to cambodia. imagine having to go through another session with another "mr. immigration card" to secure visa!

in no time, we got our passports checked and walked towards the cambodian side of the border. even before we got to the cambodian immigration, we got to speak with a taxi driver who offered USD 35 to drive us to siem reap. while still at haggling mode, the driver suddenly disappeared and was succeeded by a cambodian govt-IDed guy who spoke english, accompanied us to the cambodian immigration at the other side of the street, which looked like just another bus terminal. upon getting our passports stamped (there were not much foreigners that time), this guy led us to an ordinary bus, where we waited for another 10 minutes or so. a lone caucasian traveler boarded the bus and we were driven to another terminal where we can get a camry taxi to go to siem reap. this lone guy (who later we'll find out is an american) was led to the other side of the terminal, while arms and myself were on the left side. we were told that we'll ride the camry taxi for 500 baht per head, to which we agreed already (no point in looking for better bargain when it was very clear that the touts, taxi drivers and the govt-IDed guy were operating as one scam-my group), and we'll share the taxi with this lone traveler. we thought that the american will sit in front, while arms and i will occupy the back seat. but no! the 3 of us sat at the back, while the driver got another passenger, a cambodian lady to sit beside him.

for 3 hours or so, we shared the taxi with rob, the lone american traveler. while arms and i managed to dodge any major scams, rob wasn't so lucky. first, he paid 200 baht to the "mr. immigration card" for his cambodian immigration card and actually paid 1,400 baht for his seat in the camry taxi. that was the reason why he was led away from us when we got to the bus terminal. he was generally cool about it, saying that it was all part of the adventure and that he already expected this since he's white. but of course, you can sense the frustration from being tricked and the small amount of worry since he'll run out of baht for his travel from aran back to bangkok.

the camry drive from poipet to siem reap was a fun one. rob, with his californian accent, regaled us with his adventures with his cebuana girlfriend in bangkok... and how he decided to send her home after the girlfriend got culture-shocked (i think due to the ping pong show) big time. our chat with him ranged from travels in asia, particularly beijing/shanghai, as well as what he knows about cambodian culture or how it differs from the way the thai people think. of course, there were the requisite talks about food and pinoys' peculiarities on family ties, religion, and how good pinoy food is.

he didn't have a facebook account and didn't bring a mobile phone, so we said goodbye to him when we reached siem reap. the taxi dropped us off to one of the hostels along the main highway. 2 to 3 tuktuks were there to pick us up. we headed to bun kao guesthouse.