Bangkok to Saigon Cycle Challenge 2003

South-East Asian Borders

Thai-Cambodian border crossing at Aranya Prathet / Poipet

Our first crossing of a land border in Asia was going to be a significant event: We were going to lose our trusted Thai guide Tanin. And we would have to do the crossing on our own (contrary to what we had been told before the trip). Cambodia, unlike Thailand, requires a visa, but, unlike Vietnam, you can get it at the border. So, there would be interesting dealings with border officials. Furthermore, Cambodia has right-hand driving on roads, while Thailand (without ever having been a British colony!) drives on the left, so we would experience something we had never seen before: a land border with lane change.

The surroundings was totally in line with our excitement and apprehension. A really intense bustle is building up around us in the 1-2km towards the border, with a big market just before the crossing. Many large trucks line the roadside along the way. For the actual border crossing the bulk is made up of pedestrians and people pulling and pushing carts with big loads, and only occasionally are there cars passing in either direction. As most of the crossing was done on foot, we didn't really notice when the traffic changed from LHS to RHS driving.

Our border-crossing took several stages to complete: We first queue up with Thai immigration to obtain the exit stamps in our passports. We then say good-bye to Tanin and Ouh. Tanin is worried as he has not heard from Chris and doesn't know where we will be met by our new set of guide and driver for Cambodia. Thus, we are taking off into the "unknown", pushing our bikes and carrying all our luggage.

Next step is to obtain a Cambodian visa. Several Khmer official speak excellent English, making the process manageable. To our surprise, we are asked to pay for the visa in Thai Baht, no US dollars are accepted! This would have been less surprising had we not been told that the dollar was the main currency in Cambodia (and in fact, we did not encounter any other occasion where US dollars were not accepted at a fair rate). As we learn later, Baht is the main currency in this western part of the country (until Siem Reap). However, US dollars are normally accepted anywhere, even by official state institutions (like the post office).

Unfortunately, we just got rid of all our Baht before the border. So, we hop into the groceries store that is next to the immigration buildings and exchange US$ into Baht (at a 20% premium—we're still in Thailand!) Armed with the money and forms filled in, we obtain our visa for Cambodia.

Armed with our Cambodian visa and Thai exit stamps in our passports, we walk a few 100m though no-man's land, a large stone gate, more no-man's land, past a large building (a casino), and finally to the Cambodian immigration checkpoint. There we fill in more forms to walk away with very official stamps in our passports, past yet another official double-checking everything and—we are finally in Cambodia! All in all, it took well over an hour go get here.


Custom procedures

Immediately behind the border crossing is a huge square (or we should say "round") where traffic circles around amids lots of small trading and un-loading and re-loading. As the ground is not paved, a lot of dust hangs in the air as the day starts to heat up. The place looked and bustled like one big cow market.

Our next task and challenge is to find our Khmer guides while at the same time fending off incessant offers of pickup rides to the next big tourist centre, Siem Reap. Half of the party is staying with their bicycles and all of the luggage in a shady place at the side of the square while the other half take their bikes and start roaming the big square trying to find our new guides. Even though we have no idea what to look for, it is not at all as tricky a task as it first might appear: it is not so much for us to find our guides, as much more for them to find us—all we need is to be visible. White tourists in cycling gear with mountain bikes stand out like sore thumbs.

And sure enough, before finishing the first loop around the square, we are already spotted by our new driver. The guide has actually tried to meet us at the border crossing with a sign, which we have missed having been earlier than what they anticipated. We give Tanin in Thailand a quick call (yes, we had good mobile coverage almost everywhere) to let him know that we met our new crew—and off we go into Cambodia!


First impressions of Cambodia

Away from the border, the bustle dies down very quickly, but it is not difficult to tell that we are in another country. Poor road, run-down houses, dust everywhere,...

Cambodian-Vietnamese border crossing at Moc Bai

At the end of the 25km road construction zone, the border crossing into Vietnam at Moc Bai is advertised from afar by a tall stone gate, similar to the one at the Thai border. But surprisingly, the border crossings here is a very low-key affair: none of the bustle of the Thai border, only a few people are crossing over, and no significant trading seems to take place either side. On the other hand, just like at the Thai border, there is a casino on the Cambodian side of the no-man's land. In fact, it is probably the biggest (and neatest) building we have seen in Cambodia outside the two cities of Siem Reap and Phnom Penh!

We say good-bye to our Khmer guides, put our backpacks on and start pushing our bicycles towards the immigration counters. For the Cambodian exit formalities, the unavoidable forms are being filled in this time by a helpful official.

Just behind the border, a Vietnamese official screens them and we walk another few 100 m through non-man's land, we then pass a barrier with more Vietnamese officials, who send us on to the immigration booths. All looks pretty clean, even sterile (and with a touch of "socialist realism"). And it's obviously designed to handle a fair bet more traffic than what we are experiencing.

The immigration officials check our passports, give us more forms to fill in (this time with no friendly help) and when we are back at the counter, one person takes the form, his boss stamps it (twice correcting the duration of stay on Trudy's form) and stamps the passport, then hands everything back to the underling, who enters all the details into a computer before handing everything back to us.

We are still not done: next is the health declaration check point (they still screen for SARS prevention; in Cambodia we saw some posters at the border but no longer any forms). More stamps and another fee of 1000d (Dong) ~ A$0.10 —interestingly, here at the border all amounts can to be paid in Riel. At the end of the pipeline, there is the final check by a senior border official—and we are in Vietnam.

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