Day 6.
After a fun filled and unforgettable day in Angkor Wat, its time again to leave and proceed to our final destination - Bangkok, Thailand.
I have been reading accounts on how frantic their experience is on the Thailand-Cambodia border cross is. With the goodness of the Cambodian people, I felt that it would be okay and will run smoothly. I never thought they were talking about the travel itself and not the actual border cross itself.
Our adventure started when we learned that Mekong Express and Giant Ibis, our two transport services, do not extend to Thailand. Sadly, we need to look for another transport service to get us to Thailand. Thus, we decided to take Bou Savy's partner transport. Just like the first two, they picked us up from the hotel at 8:00am and we proceeded to the bus station near Pub Street.
The bus controller checked our tickets, put our bags in the compartment and we were off to Bangkok. According to blogs that I have read, travel takes about 6-8 hours to arrive in Bangkok. Sadly, this is not true.
Unluckily, one of the passengers left her passport at the hotel they were staying at Siem Reap and we have to wait for the runner to hand over her passport. Everyone else is so pissed off with her, since your passport is a very important document, thus, it should not leave your side by any means. It took about 45 minutes before we finally left Cambodia.
Cambodian border - Exit pass
After 4 hours on the road, we arrive at Poipet terminal where we grabbed brunch and have some our money exchanged to Thai Baht. However, it is only a short stop since the border is about 10 minutes away from the terminal. We were also given a small sticker just to identify ourselves with our bus mates.
Arriving at the Poipet Border, we got our bags and we were instructed to walk to the Immigration Counters. The lines were long because there were about three buses that arrived at the same time. After waiting in line for about 30 minutes, our passports were stamped with Cambodian exit and we proceeded to Aranyaprathet Immigration Counter - the Bangkok Immigration.
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| Cambodian Indicator. Crossing from Cambodia to Thailand (background image, Thailand immigration) |
Bangkok border - Entry Pass
We asked one of the guys we were with where we are heading next. He told us to walk straight ahead and cross the street, since the entry pass to Thailand is at the left side of the road. This time we remembered, they observe the right hand drive.
After walking for about 10 minutes, we arrived at the immigration center of Aranyaprathet. Again, lines were long since we were with the same people we had on Cambodian border. One of the immigration people is handing out entry passes that you need to accomplish before you enter the actual counters. Just like our Cambodian border cross, these entry passes were presented along with your passport.
We waited for about 30 minutes again outside the Immigration complex and then we entered the actual office. There were four lanes for the foreigners and two lanes for nationals. Sadly, the Immigration Officer on our lane seemed to have that Filipino government employee's vibe and it took us about an hour before our passports got stamped (talk about conversations on the phones, with another immigration officer and leaving his station - well, since we don't understand them, we just gave him the benefit of the doubt).
Upon receiving our stamped passports, we exited the complex and walked straight. Good thing, another man instructed us to move along and somebody is waiting for us on the end of the road. This man checked our stickers and made sure that we were on the right group. Reaching a small stop, another man asked us where we are going and we told him that we are bound for Khao San Road. He counted 10 of us and mentioned that we will be in one "shuttle" to Khao San. We hesitated but since we noticed that some of our bus mates were there, we gave in.
We settled in the van, and other epic Bangkok journey has begun. The road trip took about 6 more hours - because of the heavy traffic, road repairs and a gas station stop over. Bangkok - without its traffic, without these scammers we encountered in the Immigration counter - is beautiful. We thought that after the grueling whole day travel, nothing worse will come. But we were not prepared for more "bad" experience in Bangkok.
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