Crossing Borders

---

---

The train from Hualamphong station in Bangkok to Aranyaprathet on the border of Cambodia leaves at 5:55 in the morning. We got there a little over an hour before as we wanted to leave some time in case we couldn’t find a taxi or had problems getting tickets etc. Turns out we didn’t need to worry, taxis are frequent near Khao San Rd even at 4:30am and the station is easy to navigate. Still struggling with jet lag, and having slept only a tiny amount the night before, I managed to snooze for the first couple of hours and woke as we were travelling through rice paddies covered in morning mist – a beautiful view to wake to.

The train is 3rd class only, no A/C but the windows open right up and it makes a nice breeze. The seats are wooden so not very comfy but overall it’s actually a really nice journey. The train doesn’t exactly move at breakneck speeds so you get to enjoy the countryside. There was a sweet little family sitting next to us, with two mischievous young kids. They were really friendly as well and asked us a few questions about where we were going. At one station everyone had obviously just been to market and were boarding with all their purchases, ranging from dried fish to giant bags of chillies.

From the station at Aranyaprathet we took a tuk tuk to the border point, which actually dropped us off at a place where touts were selling visa forms for Cambodia – totally unnecessary as although we had gotten our visas online already, you get a visa on arrival on the Cambodian border. But one thing that we were about to learn is that this particular crossing is ripe with touts and people trying to rip you off.

We waited for about 40 minutes to pass through immigration on the Thai side of the border, and passed through Cambodian immigration with a much shorter queue as I guess a lot of people needed to get their visa and we already had ours. The stretch of land in between Thai immigration and Cambodian immigration is really weird and eerie, it’s like a no-man’s land with people just kind of wandering aimlessly about it seems, and dozens of officials standing around.

Once our visas were stamped, we boarded the free shuttle bus to the Poipet Tourist International Terminal. A lot of people say that this is a bad option as the the transport from there is more expensive, refreshments are heavily overpriced, and they try to scam you into changing your USD or Baht into Cambodian Riel at a poor exchange rate. We had done our research on this and politely declined to use the currency exchange. It worked out fairly well for us as in the end we took a shared minivan for $10 each that was ready to leave straight away, so it was pretty hassle free. We didn’t end up paying that much more than if we’d haggled for a taxi in town, and we met a lovely couple Dean and Lucy who were also just beginning a RTW trip.

Apparently you can get a bus in town for $5 but you have to stay the night in Poipet and I wouldn’t have wanted to spend any more time there than we had to. Share taxis can be negotiated to around $30 as well but it can be more of a hassle to arrange as you apparently get followed by touts trying to usher you back to the ‘free shuttle’. It worked out fine for us but for anyone who is planning to undertake this journey, you kind of have to weigh up what is more important – not being ripped off, or risking being quite inconvenienced (and possibly still being ripped off). I’ve heard stories of fake share taxis and buses that drop travellers on the outskirts of Siem Reap and then you have to pay extra for a tuk tuk and things of the like. It’s safer, if initially more expensive to take the route that we took but make sure you have (and keep) your USD in advance, and have refreshments with you in case you have to wait.

We arrived at our lovely guest house at around 6pm, the owner was really friendly and our room is clean, with fan only – very basic but we are travelling for a year and we need to save our pennies.

Next up – the mighty temples of Angkor Wat.



Follow us on our website and Facebook page 😊

Website Blog

Facebook Page

---