Days 108-110: Sihanoukville

After somehow falling asleep to the sounds of techno and eating only a packet of chips and one packet of choco-pies, we woke up to the sudden realization that breakfast needed to wait until after we made the 2km walk to go and get money. Thankfully, the ATM on Otres Beach 2 was working, unlike the one where we were staying on Otres 1.

We really debated for quite some time on where we wanted to go in Cambodia. We have only 9 days here before we fly out to India. Where to go? After careful consideration, we decided that we needed more beach time. Despite many opportunities for beach time, we somehow always ended up either being rushed through beach time by something we couldn't move (visa extensions, flights, etc) or we had to make an economic choice on where we wanted to spend our  money, usually involving spending elsewhere. Apparently, we are not meant to have great beach time!

It is low season in Cambodia, and here, in Sihanoukville, it is also monsoon. Not sure if that is the case all over Cambodia right now, but we certainly aren't getting the fun in the sun we had dreamed about! It has stormed at least 24 hours of the 3 days that we've been here. At least we had a little bit of relaxation on the beach, in the sun, even if we didn't get in the water.

We had heard a lot of 'bad' reviews about Otres 1. Some people had said the beaches on the islands are much better. We really enjoyed this beach. We changed hotels from our party hotel to the more relaxed one next door. We also had the opportunity to stay only in beach shacks, which, other than the party night, let us fall asleep listening to the sounds of the numerous waves crashing on the sand.

Yes, there are a lot of locals trying to sell you various wares on the beach; however, they don't nag you too much about it. It's also so windy here that you could really kite surf if you wanted to give it a go. We felt practically like we were kite surfing just trying to sit on the beach chair!

Cambodia feels different than it's neighboring countries, that's for sure. However, it's hard to get an accurate read on 'real' Cambodia, as we have only arrived to a tourist destination that is filled primarily with foreigners during this time of the year.

For one, Cambodians quote everything in and accept USD. Even their ATMs given you the choice to get money in USD or in Cambodian Riel. Who does that? You can't just go and adopt somebody's else's currency. Asia isn't the EU (at least not yet, it's not like it).

Unfortunately, due to our location, everything is expensive compared to what we know it should cost. Plus, it's in USD, which thanks to the declining Australian dollar, doesn't buy us nearly as much. We also know that, due to our location, we're also not getting really authentic local food. In that way, we can't wait to get over to Siem Reap. So nothing interesting to report in terms of food.

We take the day bus up to Siem Reap tomorrow and, although we enjoyed the beach, we can't wait to see real Cambodia.

Day 107: Transit to Sihanoukville, Cambodia

We’re now quite veteran, I’d say, at our land border crossings here in Asia. We know what to expect and what we need to do to make sure we don’t repeat our previous mistakes. It’s pretty straightforward:

1. Book a through ticket so you don’t have to deal with the tuk-tuk scams here there and everywhere
2. Look up the visa price in advance and get the appropriate amount of USD
3. Have a passport photo accessible in case you need one for your visa on arrival
4. Bring or make sure you know you can get local currency so you don’t end up starving
5. Bring extra snacks with you, again so you don’t end up starving
6. Look up a few local dishes in the local language so that, when food finally comes, you don’t end up eating questionable food

It seems straightforward enough, right? Ready to go and prepared for our 11 hour bus journey to Cambodia, Pallavi and I had one last delicious Vietnamese coffee, and boarded the bus at 8:00 a.m.

When we got on the bus, the conductor started handing out all of our arrival/departure immigration and visa paperwork. Standard stuff.  The conductor then came around and asked for our passports, our paperwork, and $35 USD for the visa.

I had read 3 things about the border crossing:

1. The conductor usually handles the passports through this particular border crossing and to just let them do it.
2. There is a lot of corruption that happens at Cambodia’s border crossings. If faced with some official asking for a processing fee or an exit fee, know that there isn’t one, and just stand your ground and they’ll back off.
3. The visa fee is currently $30 USD.  NOT $35. At least that’s what I thought…..

I told the conductor that I thought the fee was $30 USD. He said, “no, that’s if you go to the embassy. Here it’s $35.” I said, “no, I’m pretty sure it’s $30.” He told me he’d come back to me. 

We then asked the foreigners behind us what the visa price was. Maybe I had remembered incorrectly? Maybe I had remembered an outdated price? Who knows. Those foreigners said that they thought it was $30, but who knows with inflation. It had been $20 in 2014. 

Finally, we gave the conductor the $35 USD and Pallavi told him, no offense, but we'll just check the price when we cross the border. 

What was the price? $30 USD!!!! 

We confronted the conductor and asked him. He made up a whole bunch of reasons, including my favorite, the one where he stood in front of the sign that said $30 and said it was $35. A very long story short, from what I could make out from the poor conductor, who, after every debate point I presented to him, repeatedly said he didn't have the money to give me back, was that these bus companies pay a bribe of $2 "Vietnam exit fee" to the Vietnamese officials and a $3 bribe to the Cambodia officials for "expedited visa on arrival." 

We never should have given the guy the $35. We should have just given him the $30 or just done it ourselves. 

It's not the amount of money that matters. It's the principle of the whole thing! If I want to bribe somebody (which I wouldn't) that's my decision. Not somebody else's. 

Anyway, we're pissed off and will write a complaint to the bus company to demand the money back. We then cross the border and we change just a little money to get us by for our food needs until we reach Sihanoukville, where we know where we want to go but where we haven't booked a place. 

We go along, we eat the crackers we've brought with, but the bus doesn't stop for lunch like it normally does. Plus, it seems to be running really slow! When it finally stops, we grab something small and get back on the bus. The bus was supposed to arrived at 7 p.m. or so. The plan was to get to town, find an ATM, withdraw cash, get a tuk-tuk to the accommodation (which is supposed to be an $8 USD tuk-tuk away), and then get to the accommodation. Do we arrive on time? No! 

We arrive at 9 p.m.! 9 p.m. and we only have $7 USD! That's not enough time to find an ATM and make sure we get accommodation. We manage to find some tuk-tuk driver to take us to the beach accommodation for $5 USD, and, of course, it starts to pour the second our tuk-tuk arrives. 

We walk in to the reception/bar area, drenched, to a throng of people, just chilling and drinking, clouds of smoke drafting through the air, and they all turn to us! 

We don't have energy to look for anywhere else, and the vibe seems cool enough. Thankfully, they have accommodation, so we take it. Do they have a working ATM though? 

NO! The local ATM is broken and the next ATM is a 2 km walk away. We'll have to deal with that tomorrow. We have only $2 USD to spend on chips and choco-pies for the dinner, and then we just put all of the beers on the tab. 

We can't believe it. This time we really weren't #badbackpackers. We really were #goodbackpackers and fate was against us! Next time border crossing. Next time. We'll show you! 

We'll deal with the money situation tomorrow. Tonight, we are going to just chill in this place with great music, a great vibe, tons of people, and we'll sleep with the sounds of dance music.