This is really amusing. I entered Cambodia at Phnom Penh in Late 1995, and almost the same charade was going on. My recollection is there was a long bench-like table, and they just handed the passport from one officer to another (I think there were five people). Each did their little theatrical part, but it was clear their only real interest was the hard U.S. currency fee.

Even better was when I was departing a few days later for Siem Reap. The terminal appeared brand new (at that time the country was still more or less under U.N. control, and they had been spending a ton on basic infrastructure), and there was a very modern x-ray and metal detector. For some reason when I put my backpack on the conveyor, an officer waved me off, and appeared to want me to carry it through. So I did. No alarms went off, and it certainly should have with the collection of junk I had in the backpack.

I turned around and looked at the detector, and it did not seem to be on. The x-ray machine was operating, but apparently was only being used for larger carry-on pieces. So if you were carrying something small enough, you did not get screened! BTW, the Royal Air Camboge (or whatever they were called) plane was actually a wet leased Malaysian Air 737, with an Aussie cockpit crew.