With only a couple of days back in Bangkok, we quickly
booked our bus tickets to leave before our visa’s expired. Our next country was
Cambodia and we were heading 400km east to Siem Reap! Staying near Koh San Road
again, we visited the travel agents we had previously used (see blog Bangkok to
Koh Tao) which is located on Chakrabongse Road next to Boots. We booked onto
the earliest bus for 800 baht each and had to be at the office for 8am the next
morning for pick up. We knew that we could get visas on arrival as British
citizens, however make sure your nationality allows this.
The next day we turned up at the travel agents around 15
minutes early and waited there for a good half an hour until our tickets were
checked. We briskly walked around the corner to a single decker bus waiting to
collect us and boarded. It was quite basic compared to other buses we had been
on and we proceeded to head out of Bangkok on the highway with the bus was
about three quarters full. I also noticed it was a left-hand drive bus which
meant it must have been from Cambodia.
An hour into the journey, one of the guys at the front came
walking down the bus saying we would stop in 30 minutes and everyone needed to
pay 1,400 baht or $40 US dollars each for the Cambodian visa upon arrival at
the border. We were told they would get our visas on our behalf but I knew it
was $10 cheaper for each of us to do it ourselves at the border. He said quite
clearly, we couldn’t. With little cash, I paid to withdraw more money from a
cash machine when we stopped to cover the visa costs.
When we set off again for the final part of the journey in
Thailand to the border at Krong Poi Pet, the guy went around collecting
everyone’s money and passports from them. This time he said we could do it
ourselves but it would take much longer and we would have to get off the bus.
Me, my girlfriend and another traveller were the only ones who decided to take
this option out of about 30 people on the bus.
When we pulled into the border, everyone on the bus had to
disembark from the bus to walk through Thai customs. I’m not too sure what the
others did after this but we walked over to the visa building on the right-hand
side (read this on other blogs) and saw signs inside for Cambodian visas. Here
they cost the standard $30 and a 100 baht processing fee, everyone seemed very
nice and gave us the relevant forms to fill in. I had read previously of bad
experiences but we had no problems, nobody tried to scam us and it was a very
smooth process. Make sure you have the correct change and a current passport
photo for the visa.
After this we headed to the Cambodian immigration point
where everyone from the coach was already queuing to get stamped into the
country. We filled in the entry forms and waited 5 minutes to present our visas
and get stamped in Cambodia!
Some final points on the visa process;
- Everyone must get off the bus to leave Thailand and enter
Cambodia.
- It took us only about 5/10 minutes longer to get the visa on
our own.
- We saved at least $10 dollars.
- Those who took the quicker and easier visa option had to
wait for the others anyway.
After this it took around 2 hours to reach Siem Reap, the
roads in Cambodia were much worse than in Thailand yet this was expected. We
got dropped off at Neakpoan square (just south of pub street) and got told that
we would have a free tuk tuk service to our hotel.
The tuk tuk driver spent a good 15 minutes trying to sell
his services for transporting us around Angor Wat the next day, but with only
just arriving we had no intention of committing to any plans. It got a little frustrating
that he continued to try and in the end, we had to say no and sorry. If you say
you’ll think about it, they will turn up at your hotel the next day and wait to
talk to you. He then said the tuk tuk was no longer free and we would have to
pay… We ended up having to pay $2 but we could of easily of walked. All part of
the experience!
 |
| Angkor Wat |
2.5 out of 5
