A train journey to the border

I thought the other day that I was lucky as I had so far been lucky enough to avoid all the crap from the local tuk tuk and taxi drivers, but despite not voicing aloud my relief it would seem that it was stacking up only to hit me this morning, or at least try to.

All the internet and travel guides said that I had two options to get to the border town of Aranyaprathet, a four hour coach ride from the northern bus terminal or a five to six hour train ride from the main train station terminal in the south of Bangkok.

The hotel and their tour information office was not much more help, as they couldnt tell me which one was best, and having heard about coach scams taking forever to reach a destination I plumbed for the train, that and it was only meant to be about 48 baht which is obscenely cheap when you think that its up to a 6 hour journey.

However getting to either terminal means a tuk tuk or a taxi and as it was a bit of a way out I figured that a taxi meter was a safer bet than a tuk tuk who might try and take me to a factory or something and make me miss my train.

It should have been wise thinking, but the taxi drivers in the mid morning sun must have been suffering from sun stroke as they all suddenly thought that a tourist on the way out of town was an easy mark. The first taxi driver refused to go on such a 'short' journey, the second said he would not use his meter and instead quoted me 300 baht for the journey which was such a hopeless overcharge that to even try and haggle down to the 60 that it should be seemed futile.

The next one didn't seem to be in any urgent hurry when I said I had a train to catch and instead wanted to sidetrack me to his friends tourist stop where I could buy a nice air conditioned coach cheap-cheap but I wasnt buying it so I dug my heels in and said that I would buy it myself at the station at which point he said why bother taking a train when I could just take a taxi all the way to the border with Cambodia!

At this stage I am not sure if he was about to collapse with heat fatigue or just enjoyed wasting my time, but if for a ten minute ride in good traffic is 35 baht plus distance making around 60 baht then for a 6 hour journey in possible bad traffic and absolutley no idea if he was going a direct or indirect route would be in the hundreds of even thousands of bahts and once out of the city limites I would be hopelessly lost and at the mercy of the next taxi or tuk tuk driver.

Realising that this was all a waste of time I just did what I always ended up doing, walking away ( after telling him loudy to fuck off and threw his chums hand away as he tried to stop me from leaving ) and then walked to the end of Khao San road where there were plenty of genuine taxi drivers, plus in the night time plenty of high price massage parlour tuk tuk pimps but luckily it was too early for them to be on shift.

Taking a lift from a driver that barely spoke a word of English and relied on me showing him a map and pointing was in the end the best option and once I got off at the end I asked for directions on where to get a ticket, it was indeed 48 baht and this gave me time to check my emails at the station ( for a whopping 20 baht for 5 minutes !?! ) a half hour mini massage and then a bit to eat before standing on the platform with all the others.

There are only two trains a day that run to the border from Bankok, one at around 6am and the other at around 1pm, but only the morning train will get you to the border before it is closed for the day and you will have to spend the night in the town of Aranyaprathet which has a few options and cheap motels, hotels and B&B's.

The train journey was an experience, as it was third class which meant hard seats, only two or three small fans bolted to the ceiling and all the windows wide open as makeshift aircon, with metal grilled shutters that could be slid down into place to shield from the heat, but being metal they heat up and act like radiators pretty quickly so their effectiveness if only really to prevent you from getting sunburn while sitting down.

It was to hot to sleep, I didnt have enough reading material to last for the whole six hours, so instead I read up on a few of the bits in Siem Reap that would come in handy and bought a few of the refreshing ice chilled cans of drinks from the old ladies who travel the train hoping to sell more than 2 cans which covers the train fare and a third means they are in profit. In an effort to keep my bodily fluids up as I was sweating heavily I know for sure that I helped one lady make a profit and I am sure they all did good trade if the plastic bags of empties they left with were all sold by them.

Just when I thought that I could travel through at least one country and not get rained on, it started to rain with thunder and lightening flashing off quite near, though thankfully it was a passing shower and not a torrential monsoon or enough to threaten the train or its tracks.

I also noticed that from the dry fields outside of the train plenty of mini fires had sprung up and I was not sure if this was from the lightening or what, but the local children and farmers didnt seem too bothered by it, happily playing or walking by as small plumes of smoke were smoldering next to them.

Aranyaprathet it only 6km away from the border and as you get off the train you will be swamped by touts offering to take you to the border, but the scam here is that they all know it is already closed before the evening train arrives and what they are wanting to do is take you to see it, then suddenly apologise that it is closed but then offer to help you find accomodation in one of the overpriced and underquality guest houses where they will get their commission.

Knowing this I had already booked a cheaper and more modern alternative in the town itself and just ignored and waved them all away as I made my way on foot to the guest house.

Travelling certainly gets you over the embarrasement factor of asking people for directions or advice and as long as they look semi serious and willing to talk I am now happy to ask in almost any situation.

After I checked in, found my room to be confortable and all in order I went for a walk around the town to see what was going on and pretty soon I walked along a street where a friendly local waved me over, sitting with her friends, and then I spotted a smiling Brit who turned out to be the owner, so I thought that this was a nice enough place to hole up and have a few drinks.

It turned out that Mike who was married to a local for the last few years, had had variuos success with bars and such in the past before thinking that the quality of lifestyle suited him best in the small border town, as it was cheap, relaxed, always full of travellers passing through but never enough to swamp the town and with his first truly british pub he could make a nice home away from home for westerners with honest travel advice for both Thailand and Cambodia.

The smiling lady turned out to be one of the many Cambodians who had fled across the border to safety when the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot started their killing spree and dictatorship.

Her English was not the best but when you consider that the KR killed anyone who had an education ( they went so far as to declaring that all people wearing glasses must be educated ) the fact she can speak any at all is high praise for a life away from home.

I won't dwell on her past, as she herself is trying to get past it and seems to live only for the moment, but after witnessing the murder of her parents and older siblings, beatings, abuse and worse she managed to escape with her three younger siblings across the border to Thailand where she has spent the last twenty years doing all she can to ensure that her younger brothers and sister can have a chance of living a normal future life.

The past will always haunt them, but from speaking to both her and to Mike, the pub owner, while her story is gut wrenching and certainly tragic the worst part for me to comprehend is that it is hardly unique and similar or near identical tales can be told from most of an entire generation of late twenties to middle aged Cambodians.

I spent the remainder of the night in their company, drinking, eating and trading stories then off to play some snooker, going to see a local live rock band before I headed on back to my motel and crashed for the night.

The hotel room area has a very beautiful scenic garden area just outside the rooms but with its water feature it makes quite a bit of noise and although I didn't mind at first by the end of the night I wished that I had asked for a room further away from the waterfall feature.