Between the lines

By John Keeble

Crossing borders is usually tedious. Queue here, queue there. But the Poipet (Cambodia) / Aranyaprathet (Thailand), for decades seen as the most dangerous crossing in Southeast Asia, was unusually interesting.

I arrived there at 7.30pm, almost a surprise after forgetting how dangerous it can be to travel on Cambodian roads at night, and queued at a slum of an immigration office for my exit stamp.

Then I walked through towards the Thai immigration -- and realised I was passing through very rich territory: big hotels, casinos, shops, what looked like tourists and gamblers staying there.

I didn't think my leftover dollars would quite buy me a good time there so I stuck to Plan A .... walk through to the Thai side and get a taxi to Sa Kaeo, about 30km east, to meet my wheelchair volunteers team.

I left Siem Reap (Angkor) at 5pm, arrived at the hotel in Sa Kaeo at 9pm. No time difference, so just four hours. Not bad.

And, as a bonus, got a glance at the rich life between the lines.