The Journey Home, Chapter 7: Corruption! At the Border

Leaving the dreamland of Si Phan Don behind was tough, but it was time to head further south, and into my next country on the list: Cambodia.

Crossing the border via bus, I would continue south all the way to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. This would be an all-day affair, crawling down the sometimes paved, sometimes not paved highways of northern Cambodia, stopping for roadside bathroom breaks and Khmer snacks. It wasn't a short ride, but it certainly had its fair share of events.

Time to Pay Up

An early morning long-tail ferry took me back to Ben Nakasang, the sleepy riverside transportation hub for Si Phan Don. I was going to be crossing a border, which meant I needed a passport, visa photos, and two kinds of money: official visa money and "fee" money. I wasn't at all happy about the latter, which sounded like another name for bribing my way across a border.  Sadly, this ended up being reality in this isolated border crossing in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

A couple hours into the bus journey, we pulled up to a roadside shed with a little white and red pole sticking out across the road. There were about four people, two and half buildings, and a crowd of backpacking tourists cuing up for entry visas.

Here we were - the Cambodian border crossing. It was time to get our wallets out. Officially a $20 flat fee for the visa, I realized quick that I was never going to get through the crossing without losing a few dollars for "extra expenses."

It started with a "health check." I got a thermometer in my ear and a piece of paper about staying healthy in Cambodia - $2. Dropping off my paperwork for the visa itself, I was informed that there was a "Sunday fee" - another $2. Then of course, the stamp itself from the next counter wasn't free - $1 for a "stamping fee."

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it. Our bus driver had offered to take our passports through the crossing for everyone on the bus, since we didn't actually know how or where to get through into Cambodia itself. Of course, this would cost a few dollars - $5 to be exact.

Fees are a normal part of life, but there was just one problem with these "fees" - they were illegal. According to the Cambodia immigration authority, the visa is supposed to cost a flat $20. I'd been scammed out of an extra, illegitimate $10.

In the end, I did somehow get into Cambodia. To me, it wasn't the extra $10 itself that bothered me - it was the system of extraction and exploitation behind it. This was the first time I've had to pay bribe money, and it didn't feel good. I was supporting a system of corruption, and so was everyone else going through this crossing. I'd find out later that this wasn't a unique experience. This kind of scam had been going on for a while. I hope for Cambodia and travelers alike, it will end soon.