Welcome to Cambodia: Bribes, Propaganda, and a Compliment
Our entry to Cambodia began, unfortunately, like most people’s: with bribes all around. $1 to the man mysteriously taking our temperatures by pointing a laser at our foreheads as part of quarantine measures, $2 to the man giving us our visa, $2 to the man giving us our entry stamp. Protesting at the border is futile; the officials suddenly don’t know any English and would just send you back to Laos (where, incidentally we had just paid $2 extra dollars for the privilege of leaving). As long as the bribes are low enough tourists keep paying them, and it is not like there is anyone official to whom you can complain – the officials ARE the problem.
We had purchased bus tickets back in Laos to take us across the border all the way to Phnom Penh. After going through the border, we had to board a new bus, which, surprise, didn’t remotely resemble the VIP bus we were promised and shown back in Laos. At least we got seats; apparently Cambodians aren’t worried about things like maximum capacity limits for safety, let along comfort, just like Laotians. For the first two hours of the trip, those unlucky enough to board last got to stand in the aisle, and then were provided with tiny plastic chairs for the remaining 10 hours. Why 12 hours on the bus, you ask? Well, that’s a good question, considering the trip was supposed to take only 9 hours. And one that representatives of the Cambodian bus company answered like all others: it is not our problem, we didn’t promise you anything, take it up with whomever sold you the ticket in Laos.
As an added bonus, the bus company apparently felt we all needed to be educated on the United States’ bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Which would have actually been fine by me – I had been wanting to learn more about this period of history – if our “education” hadn’t consisted of an extremely unbalanced documentary screeching throughout the bus full of Western tourists at top volume less than ten minutes into our entry into the country. An interesting welcome, for sure.
After many hours of sitting next to a surly American boy who generously shared with me that he couldn’t wait to get to Phnom Penh to finally take a hot shower because he hadn’t showered since he got a tattoo back in Vietnam – TMI, for sure, but something I could have guessed from many hours of sitting in close quarters – and listening to my Ipod on top volume to drown out the ever-present Southeast Asian bus soundtrack, I was ready to get off this bus. Just as we thought we were nearing Phnom Penh, we stopped at a rest stop and were told that actually, we still were at least two hours away. Fantastic. I got myself some fruit from a young girl at the rest stop – fruit being a highlight of Cambodia, we would come to find out – and after I paid for the fruit, the fruit vendor told me I was really pretty. I was pretty sure she had to be lying, considering I had started my day at 5:30, which was many, many hours ago at that point, but I had already paid, and she looked sincere. Hmmmm….maybe Cambodia won’t be so bad, after all.