Is it just me or is that place getting worse coming from Thailand?
When you walk up to the Cambodia immigration point you are guided to a brief medical check (they stick a probe in your ear) for some highly contagious disease i can't remember the name of for a small fee of 20 baht. OK no problem, but i can't really imagine that they will air lift you out of there if you test positive.
Whilst you are still there, but most often before you even reach the immigration booth, you will be approached by various tuk tuk and taxi drivers asking where you are going and trying to charge you $10 bucks for the short journey to Ko Kong town. It's been that way for awile so that was expected, but the fact that they are swarming around the immigration booth as you fill in the arrival form doesn't really sit well when compared to the professional thai side.
So this time i tell the 5th different tuk tuk driver that has approached me that we want to get a bus to Shitsville. 2 of the touts tell me they have a bus for 700 baht (one 900 baht). OK, but i know from past visits that the normal price was $8, so we declined the offer and i thought i'd rather spend the night in town drinking beer in Cafe Laurent (what a lovely place that is!) than contribute to the circus.
So we agree a price of 250 baht for the tuk tuk ride to Ko Kong bus station rather than take the tuktuk offer. I say can we wait for one of the barang ladies to join us to maybe try and help her get into town. The tuk tuk driver looks at his watch and tells me that if i want to get the last bus to Shitsville then i need to leave now. So we left right away rather than be considerate and wait.
OK, all of the above is i guess the norm. This is Cambodia after all. The thing that gets me though is the sense of entitlement from the tuk tuk drivers after you've paid them what is good money for your average khmer. So we get on the tuk tuk and i know from past experience, regardless of whether you pay them well, the service will still be shite and he will try and get you to go to his preferred hotel to get a commission.
On the way to the bus station (for the ''last bus leaving shortly'') he says he just wants to pop home for something so i shout just hurry up will ya.
We park outside his home and he does something very slowly whilst obviously not giving a single fcuk about us or anything. He is in no hurry. We wait patiently and finally arrive at the bus station where barang are surrounded by tuk tuk drivers and herded onto a bus like sheep.
The bus station looks abandoned apart from one bus and tuktuk drivers. It occurs to me that seing as this bus is twice the price of a normal bus at $15 then maybe this wasn't the ''normal bus'', so if so do i really want to pay these guys more or just head to Cafe Laurent and spend the money on ice cold beer and spend the night in Ko Kong. We were feeling abit frazzled anyway after travelling alot and decided we'd stay the night and check out the town.
We walk down the road followed by the same tuktuk driver who offered to give us a discount on the bus fair or take us to his hotel of choice. We declined...again.
Got the 8am Virak Buntham bus the next morning with free pick up from hotel. The bus actually had CCTV cameras inside and you had to take your luggage up on the bus with you. This bus leaves from a random street in Ko Kong rather than the bus station so it made me wonder who is now running things in the town?
Cafe Laurent and Fat Sam's made the stay worthwhile though.
The Ko Kong border experience
- spitthedog
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The Ko Kong border experience
"I don't care what the people are thinking, i ain't drunk i'm just drinking"
I've more or less stopped doing the overland route in favour of flying but still do it once in a while. Definitely better to spend the night in town. There's a good crowd at Sam's usually. Fat Sam's have a regular driver, name of Harri, who you can call to pick you up if you have his number, or I guess you could call Sams and they might do it for you.
I remember once, quite a few years ago, refusing the service of a taxi driver. I only had a small bag and wanted to get a moto. The taxi driver offered to take me for free and got a bit shirty when I refused (politely the first time, not so politely after the fifth time). So I get on the moto and am enjoying the ride when the idiot taxi driver pulls up along side and starts beeping and yelling. I just smiled and shrugged and continued enjoying the scenery. He then spent the next few minutes pulling ahead of us, then stopping, then tailing us, all I suppose an attempt to intimidate me.
I remember once, quite a few years ago, refusing the service of a taxi driver. I only had a small bag and wanted to get a moto. The taxi driver offered to take me for free and got a bit shirty when I refused (politely the first time, not so politely after the fifth time). So I get on the moto and am enjoying the ride when the idiot taxi driver pulls up along side and starts beeping and yelling. I just smiled and shrugged and continued enjoying the scenery. He then spent the next few minutes pulling ahead of us, then stopping, then tailing us, all I suppose an attempt to intimidate me.
TheGrimReaper wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:45 pmSlavedog, you do not belong on this forum as you talk too much sense.
- spitthedog
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Yeah, we finally got offered a free ride aswell in the end. I don't like free though either...in fact i prefer overpriced to free.
Another thing i noticed is that if you get there and it's crowded all the touts outside are trying to pressure you into getting the quick processing fee of 500 baht or something such.
He also stopped off at another bus agent on the way to the bus station. Fug that.
It's not the money i have an issue with, as like most, i just wanna pay and get away from there as fast as possible, but more the fact that i guess Immigration are working in tandem with what look like extras out of The Pirates of the Caribbean or the souless zombies from The Walking Dead right outside their immigration booths.
You want overpriced tuktuk with completely shit service and several detours?
Another thing i noticed is that if you get there and it's crowded all the touts outside are trying to pressure you into getting the quick processing fee of 500 baht or something such.
He also stopped off at another bus agent on the way to the bus station. Fug that.
It's not the money i have an issue with, as like most, i just wanna pay and get away from there as fast as possible, but more the fact that i guess Immigration are working in tandem with what look like extras out of The Pirates of the Caribbean or the souless zombies from The Walking Dead right outside their immigration booths.
You want overpriced tuktuk with completely shit service and several detours?
"I don't care what the people are thinking, i ain't drunk i'm just drinking"
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If there's a big line at Immigration, just put a dollar in each of your pps, open the glass door between the windows, hand it off, & they'll do you right away,
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I do that border regularly.
I find it quick and easy. No additional payments.
But then again I am not guileless.
I catch an overpriced seat in a minivan or bus from the border direct to Paradise sur mer. Maybe an hours wait with a beer. About a 4 hour trip from the border to home.
Generally 10 hours from Pattaya to SHV for about 1100 bht.
I find it quick and easy. No additional payments.
But then again I am not guileless.
I catch an overpriced seat in a minivan or bus from the border direct to Paradise sur mer. Maybe an hours wait with a beer. About a 4 hour trip from the border to home.
Generally 10 hours from Pattaya to SHV for about 1100 bht.
Note to self: Must be nice to morons.
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- Jumped Up Little Oik
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So what your syaing is everyone else that passes through the brother of some high ranking officials border post is guileless?LaudJohn wrote:I do that border regularly.
I find it quick and easy. No additional payments.
But then again I am not guileless.
I catch an overpriced seat in a minivan or bus from the border direct to Paradise sur mer. Maybe an hours wait with a beer. About a 4 hour trip from the border to home.
Generally 10 hours from Pattaya to SHV for about 1100 bht.
I call bollocks and bullshit.
Anyone fancy getting up a commando style team and doing them at night on their way from the border to the Casino ? It's surely about time. I would wait for the PPP or CD to bring awareness to this issue but I've been waiting since at least 2010.
CDlongtime. Excuse please.?
- spitthedog
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Mr Lovejuice wrote:So what your syaing is everyone else that passes through the brother of some high ranking officials border post is guileless?LaudJohn wrote:I do that border regularly.
I find it quick and easy. No additional payments.
But then again I am not guileless.
I catch an overpriced seat in a minivan or bus from the border direct to Paradise sur mer. Maybe an hours wait with a beer. About a 4 hour trip from the border to home.
Generally 10 hours from Pattaya to SHV for about 1100 bht.
I call bollocks and bullshit.
Anyone fancy getting up a commando style team and doing them at night on their way from the border to the Casino ? It's surely about time. I would wait for the PPP or CD to bring awareness to this issue but I've been waiting since at least 2010.
CDlongtime. Excuse please.?
While it's true i may be abit guileless, i might have been in a slightly different situation than LaudJohn of Sihanoukville as when you are traveling with your little sweetheart and in no hurry whatsoever then those ''overpriced'' 700 baht bus tickets from the border to Shitsville might not look as good value as the $8 ones in the morning. It's all economics with a few free beers thrown in for free innit.
Anyway, i'll probably fly next time.
"I don't care what the people are thinking, i ain't drunk i'm just drinking"
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- Jumped Up Little Oik
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There's always the rapist direct bus service, Virak Buntiam. Then all you need do is deal with immigration. Remembering of course to insert the butt plug before traveling.spitthedog wrote:
Anyway, i'll probably fly next time.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g3 ... vince.html
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I used to live in Koh Kong and how many times on a V.K bus from PP to KK have tourist bought a ticket in PP to the Border and have been dumped off in Koh Kong to find their own way to the border !!! An absolute rip off by Virak Buntham.There's always the rapist direct bus service, Virak Buntiam
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
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