Thailand – Cambodia :: Border Crossing | Asean Series (4/5) – Part 1

i don’t exactly remember all the details that i’d gone through on this country. well.. it was the moment of time when i felt tired from the journey and got homesick. the story in Cambodia is going to start from border crossing Aranyaprathet – Boipet, enjoying the magnificent Siem Reap, then spending a day in the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. on this post, i’m going to write about my story of border crossing from Thailand to Cambodia.

i went to Siem Reap from Bangkok by night bus. i did choose Virak Buntham as the bus operator because it was fit my schedule just right since it departed from Bangkok at 01:00 AM then arrived at Siem Reap around 01:00 PM – but in my case, it was around 11:00 AM. i booked the bus through bookmebus and it cost me USD 23. on the day of departure, i’d waited in bus operator office from 09:00 PM. they let you wait or leave your belongings to carry on the trip on their office. the office’s waiting room was proper enough with chairs and wifi that you can connect to for free. if you started to get bored, you could roam around the area – it’s nearby to Khaosan road.

my experience with the bus operator was .. pretty good. there were dramas tho, but.. since i didn’t involve in one, so it’s okay. i could say that some ‘exciting’ stories occurred because of miscommunication. seeing that the bus officers could not speak English and the foreign passengers want to be understood well. hmm. anyway.. my notes: be patient and be polite to others, most importantly when you’re not in your home country; no complaint, that’s the way so you can enjoy the journey; check your booking before departing, this-is-a-must.

the bus type was sofa bus, two column on which having 2-2 seat of each row. that time, the bus was not full and luckily there was no one be seated next to me :) before the bus departed, our passport were collected so the officer had the data required for border crossing. after they gave back the passport and the bus started to depart, i slept :D until the bus stopped in the border of Thailand to Cambodia, Aranyaprathet. it was around 05:30 AM, and the immigration office was not yet open. i could see that many locals also waiting for the immigration office to be open. the bus officer informed us what to do and told for foreigner which required visa on arrival, they could help us by paying to them some amount of money which i didn’t really pay much attention because i didn’t required the VoA. then once all set up and the immigration office was open, the officer asked us to get off from the bus, then he guided us to where we need to queue to get the stamp out of the country. oh, i forgot to mentioned that for this border crossing, we could left our belongings on the bus.

it was less then an hour to queued until we got the stamp before we walked to Cambodia’s border to get stamp in of entering the country. right on this moment, the officer offered me that i could skip the queue by paying them 100 Baht. whereas i didn’t have any Baht left, i could pay them USD 5. i didn’t have any choice to be honest, due to the fact that i went with a group of people. [another notes: be thoughtful. more importantly when there are bunch of person involved]. once all gathered, all we need to do were walking across to Cambodia’s border, Boipet. then waiting on the bus while the officer took care of immigration matters. well.. by the time, we could go inside the building which known as casino, in case we need to use the toilet.

i was amazed by how fast the officer handle the immigration. haha. not long after we came back from the toilet, the officer came and returned our passport :D around 08:00 AM, we were ready to continue the journey from Boipet to Siem Reap which were going to take 3 hours.

the bus operator office in Siem Reap was not far from the hostel that i was about to stay at so i didn’t get bother by the tuk-tuk drivers whom approached the passengers once we arrived. the first thing that i did after i carried all my belongings was buying prepaid SIM card. as i researched before, the provider, Smart, counter was just next to the bus operator office :p after the card settled in my phone, i walked to the hostel, The Luxury Concept Hostel, which located some meters away from the Smart counter. notes: if you don’t want to deal with the transportation you need to take next to your place-to-stay from you arrival point, pick out the place which in walk distance.

i hope that this writing can help you to get some information or at least a bit of picture in case you’re planning to go to Siem Reap from Bangkok by taking a night bus. when i was planing the trip, it’s hard for me to found sufficient amount of source for reference. but well.. i could manage it, so are you! sometimes.. you can take other’s opinion for your consideration, but it’s wise enough not take it to dictate things.

thanks for stopping by! see you on the next part of Cambodia stories!