Last Thursday, I went to Cambodia. Well, technically speaking, just a Thai-Cambodian border.
After traveling for about 5 hours east of Bangkok, we reached a quiet border town of Pom Nam Ron. Right on that border is the Banlaem Immigration checkpoint and one of the gateways to the Kingdom of Cambodia. Foreigners usually come here for one reason - to have their passports stamped, out of Thailand and back again! That's the typical visa run process in Thailand. Let's say you are a tourist and you would like to stay longer in Thailand but your period of stay is about to end already, you have to go out of the country to secure a double entry tourist visa. When that visa expires again and you still wanted to stay longer, you have to leave the country once again to be given few more months to stay . Sounds crazy? Some complex rules designed by some lunatic. But believe me, it's pretty simple.
Anyway, back to Cambodia. So I reached Banlaem for the first time. As the bus approached a seemingly busy market at the border, I already saw the two border gates of two countries. And I was able to see Cambodia from afar! Excitement eh?! Not really. So I jumped down the bus and had my passport stamped at the Immigration Office. The office was as big as a baranggay hall, a decent size for a quiet border town. After lining up, I handed my passport to the liaison officer who had been taking good care of us since morning. She told us, "You can go to Cambodia, go to the toilet, shopping for 20 minutes! OK?! After 20 minutes, you come back here, I wait here for you."
So as the first timer, I spent no time sitting around. I grabbed my bag, turn on my camera and took photos of the border. Twenty minutes was all I got. Then I traveled from Thailand to Cambodia by foot. Sounds great ah? It was just about 20 meters away through a foot bridge! As the gray Thailand border gate bid goodbye, the bright Cambodian border gate welcomed me. "Kingdom of Cambodia", it says.
I thought I would have to get through the Cambodian Immigration Arrival checkpoint, but no! My passport was with the liaison officer and she was the one to take care of the arrival stamp. No queue. No problem. Just walk. I was feeling the call of nature so I instinctively followed three people thinking that they would go to a rest room and I was right. After doing my stuff, I didn't realize that the three people just led me to the infamous casinos of Cambodian border where wealthy Thais splurge into gambling. But to my suprise, it wasn't as beautiful as what I thought. It was a simple casino. I have never been inside a casino so this itchy feet of mine brought me inside and watched a woman lost to a 7 of spades. Later, I found out that there were more extravagant casinos located in other borders.
Since my 20 minutes was about to end, I began to go back to Thailand. My 4 minute-walk was once in a while interrupted by alcohol and cigarrete vendors. These sin products sell pretty cheap here. Tax-free. I even saw one Pinay buying a big bottle of Absolut Vodka and two L&M cigarrete reams for about 1000 pesos. Cheap? I'm not really sure coz I don't buy those.
So my travel to Thailand on foot was fine. I had a time to observe the Cambodian people and the community they live in. I could say, the people in that border are living a hard life. Cambodians travel back and forth to the border market. Most of the people in this area work there. There are tons of Cambodian produce and I learned that prices there are much cheaper. There were also a lot of begging children, approching every white guy they would see.
When I got back to the waiting area after 20 minutes, I lined up again and the same immigration officer stamped my passport. Arrival Window. Welcome to Thailand. He interviewed me for some time, and when he finally learned that I am not a possible terrorist, he let me go. I boarded the bus, and began the long and winding road to Bangkok. Another 4.5 hours.
So that's my Cambodian 20-minute adventure.
Thai's welcome
Cambodian's welcome
Thai-Cambodian border gates
*originally posted on www.multiply.com on December 13, 2010
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