I visited Cambodia 10 years ago. It was shortly after the country had finally settled down after the horrors of the Khmer Rouge and the regimes before and after them. Tomb Raider had just come out. And I had a very good friend who I always thought was amazing. I wanted to know more about where she was from and what made her who she was. I had also seen a documentary program on Angkor Wat and I decided that it was a good time to just go and have a look. So I bought myself a ticket and headed out. I saw some amazing things and I met some amazing people. It was a truly amazing experience and I have long felt it is my favourite country on Earth. Since then, I have thought it would be nice to visit again to see how things have changed. Now with my current travels, I am in the neighbourhood and decided to have another look. I got a bus ticket.
Early on the morning of my departure, I got up after a night of almost no sleep. I went out to meet the minibus at the appointed time and place. And I waited almost an hour for the minibus to show up. I could have slept for almost an hour more. Drat!!
The minibus ride was a fairly normal sort of thing. They filled it up to the gills with people, luggage and such and set off for the border. An hour and a half into the trip, we stopped for fuel and breakfast. During that time the driver rearranged the stuff inside the minibus to make more room so the ride would be more comfortable for those who were kind of stuffed into the space inside. He actually did a pretty good job. Then we got under way once again. Shortly before the Cambodian border, we stopped at a small roadside cafe/eatery. We were there to get something to eat, as the rest of the way to Siem Reap in Cambodia would be without a stop for food. We also met our “helper.” A young man met us at the restaurant and began by explaining that he was there to help us get our visas and get us over the border without any hassles. He told us the price for the visa would come out to 1200 Baht, or about 40 dollars. There would be a further 100 Baht fee for his services in this regard. When I pulled out some US dollars for the visa fee he said it would be best if we used Baht for this instead of dollars as it would end up costing more for the visa that, as the officials and people of Cambodia always round up and do their best to rip off tourists when they use dollars. And I suppose that was the beginning of the story he used to do what he did.
When he told me to use Baht instead of dollars, I began to question him closely about this whole process. I had read that there were two parts to getting into Cambodia. The first part was to get a visa, and that would cost 20 dollars. However, often at the land border crossings, the officials would try to inflate the price and it would come to quite a bit more, the exact amount depending on how successfully the visa applicant was at standing his/her ground. Since I am not good at that, I was a bit apprehensive about that part. But after the visa was purchased, there was a stamp for the visa that would cost a further amount of money, usually quoted as 25 dollars US. I asked our “helper” about that and how I would be able to pay that if I used Baht. He told us that there would be no further fee. That was his role. He would get us in the back door, so to speak, and there would be none of the usual sorts of hassles that border crossers faced. Well, then it was only going to cost about 40 dollars instead of the minimum 45 that I was expecting. I handed over my money and relaxed. And I suppose that was step two in the process of what happened.
Lunch came and we ate. We filled out health forms. Well, actually our “helper” filled them out, with “no symptoms,” because he wanted so much for us to get into Cambodia. We paid for our meals and headed over to the minibus to head to the border. As we were getting into the bus, there were a couple of people at a nearby table who shouted out something about not changing money at the border. I didn't really take that in properly. And that became the third step in the debacle.
We got to the border area and got out of the minibus. We were urged to take out money from the neighbourhood ATM, so we could change the money across the border, for no commission. Most of us duly did so, trusting in our “helper” to get us through with no problem. When one of our number couldn't get money out on her ATM card, he even escorted her into the bank to get some from the tellers. And still no alarm bells were going off. It was unbelievable that I didn't start twigging in.
We went through the process of leaving Thailand and entering Cambodia. It was relatively painless and easy. There were no problems and we all got into a shuttle bus to go and get a taxi ride the rest of the way to Siem Reap. When we got to the taxi spot, our “helper” guided us to the currency exchange windows so we could change our money for no commission and to help us avoid getting ripped off by the unscrupulous people in Cambodia who would mercilessly strip us of our money because we were just dumb tourists. And even with the posted exchange rates staring me in the face, even with the hard, hard push by our “helper” to change money, with the knowledge that nobody ever seems to be that helpful unless there is something in it for them, I changed the money I had taken out of the ATM.
And then, just to add ultimate insult to injury, as I was getting into the taxi, our “helper” asked me for a tip. And I gave him one, a ridiculous one at that. And as we were heading down the highway in the taxi, I finally began to think carefully about the exchange rates we had been subjected to. Here is how it went:
I took 10000 Baht out of the ATM. At the current exchange rates, that comes to about 340 dollars.
I changed those Baht for Cambodian Riel at an exchange rate of 1 Baht for 102 Riel. This left me with 1 020 000 Cambodian Riel.
Their posted exchange rate for the US dollar to Cambodian Riel was 3800. So my 340 dollars worth of Thai Baht should have ended with me having in the neighbourhood of 1 240 000 Riel, a difference of 220 000 Riel.
But this isn't even the end. In Cambodia, they go for the most part on an exchange rate of 1 US dollar for 4000 Riel. They have for years. And I had even talked about that with our “helper” at the lunch place. The currency exchange place wasn't even offering that much, so it was a further rip-off. I should have actually had in the neighbourhood of 1 360 000 Riel, for an even bigger difference of about 340 000 Riel.
All this resulted in about 25% of the money that I carried into Cambodia being lifted off me after I had barely set foot in the country. And I got nothing for it. Absolutely nothing.
But I was still too stunned by my own stupidity to really start feeling angry at that point. So I did have time to be looking around and take in the nice scenery in the countryside as we made our way to Siem Reap. And if that had been the end of the story of my stupidity, I would leave it at that. But to be even more amazed at my gullibility, check after the photos.
After getting so royally ripped off through the border, I arrived at the guesthouse where the person with whom I booked this bus ticket had booked me. I checked in and then went down to find out how to go out and see the temples again. By this time I was annoyed with the thieving scam artist at the border. When I sat down at the tour desk, the guy was rude. He was telling me to do things and I couldn't figure out why, as I had already done them. So I was questioning why he wanted me to do them again, and he was getting short and cross with me. And if I had been in my right mind, I would have gotten up and found another place to book tuk tuks to go and see the temples. I would have given better thought to how this was the last link in the chain between Bangkok and Siem Reap, and that that should have automatically made him suspect as some kind of accomplice in the scam at the border. Unfortunately, with only a couple of hours of sleep and my mind on the thieving scam artist at the border, I wasn't in my right mind. And I persisted until we had reached the point where the guy was willing to talk to me about hiring a tuk tuk and guide for the next day. I explained to him how I had been ripped off. He sympathised with me. He also told me how foolish I had been to have let it happen. (This was, of course, yet another opportunity to get up and assert some sort of intelligence.) And then he told me the rate to hire a tuk tuk and guide for the next day. It didn't seem an unreasonable price, so I accepted. He quoted the price in US dollars. But, of course, I only had Riel. So he used a conversion rate to tell me how much I would owe. And that exchange rate was 4500 Riel to a dollar. And here is how that one worked out:
I bought Riel at a rate that came out to about 3000 Riel to a dollar, thus losing 25-30 % percent of the money I changed (because of the normal rate of 4000). Now I was changing it back into dollars at a rate of 4500. Thus I was losing out at a rate 12.5 % worse than the normal rate that everyone else in town would use for the next three days. And I compounded my foolishness to the point that I should just get some sort of tattoo on my forehead that says “Rip me off. I'm stupid.”
I quickly went for a walk to cool down, realizing what I had done, finally. I was really annoyed and I was dismayed that the Cambodia I remembered had come to this. When I had been here before, people worked very hard to part visitors from their money. But they did it with a smile that was genuine. And more importantly, they did it in a way that left the visitor with something. There would be all but worthless bamboo bracelets that were bought for a dollar. There would be postcards the sellers would get for 10 cents that they would sell for a dollar or two. There would be badly photocopied books, sold for a couple dollars, but that would cost cents to produce. But they were something for the money. Here I had spent almost the entire day being taken in again and again, and I had absolutely nothing in return. I was angry. I was angry with the thieving con artist at the border who had purported to be a helpful friend. I was angry with the currency exchange window for being so deceitful. I was angry with the guesthouse manager for being curt and rude and for ripping me off even further. I figured I was going to end up angry at the woman who arranged the bus trip, for the same reason as I was suspicious of the guesthouse manager, namely that she was the first link in the chain. I was really angry with myself for being so stupid and getting taken in again and again and again.
But I was also sad. I was sad that I now had this horrible impression of Cambodia that was taking the place of the wonderful memories of my first trip. I was sad that Cambodia was descending into this kind of greedy money grab. And I was sad for Cambodia and Cambodians. So many people cross the border from Thailand. They go to Siem Reap and then they go back. And they are all being subjected to this kind of treatment. And many wouldn't be expected to figure any of this out. They would get it later, when it was too late. And that would be their impression of Cambodia. And the country will get one of those reputations for unscrupulousness and greed, for mistreatment of visitors. And I was really, really sad for that to be happening to a country I have such fond memories of.
And then I tried to re-focus on the good that was there. I didn't believe that all Cambodians were going to be scum. And as I was walking, I found a guesthouse where they seemed to be much like the Cambodians I remembered, with a ready smile, with a willingness to be good and to have visitors have a good time and leave with good memories. I booked in for the next night and felt a bit better that I was going to have at least some measure of revenge in the whole sordid mess. I was going to be taking a couple of nights of business from the guesthouse that I would stay at that night.
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