They have a variation of good cop/bad cop at the Cham Yeam border. It’s called bad cop/worse cop, and they play it well. The stated $30 USD visa fee becomes 1500 Thai Baht or if that fails, $37 USD, and they show you a letter to explain why this differs from the official government website. Then they yell at you when you (politely) try to point out out how ridiculous that is. I surprised myself by displaying a bit more bravado than I expected to but they held all the cards. He really lost it when I asked if they had change for a ten, yelling at me to just give him the (damn) money and let them worry about the change (not in those words but that was the general idea). Then, perhaps in a moment of guilt, they gave me a $2 credit for having a photo and gave me back five crisp ones.
Five minutes later I was killing myself laughing, safe and sound on the bus to Sihanoukville. I was the last one on. Perhaps everyone else just paid… Now I’m wondering how much they make in the run of a day. Do all of the staff at that checkpoint benefit or only the crooks with the police badge on their arms? Is this their retirement scheme? Everyone should have one…
i would love to be able to post a picture of my tormentor but I so enjoy my freedom