Thailand to Cambodia – Crossing the border overland

I was traveling from Thailand to Cambodia and planning to cross the border overland. I spent my last week in Thailand at Koh Chang, an island located fairly close to the Cambodian border. It therefore only made sense to travel overland to the next destination: Siem Reap.

My friends and I read in the Lonely Planet about the many scams on this route. We also heard rumors in the backpack community about this notorious overland border track. We decided to take a leap of faith and find out whether these rumors were true or not… Cambodia, here we come!

First things first: the tickets

We went to a small travel agency inside a fancy hotel just around the corner from our hostel. Because this travel agency is connected to the hotel and the hotel has a high status to maintain we hoped we’d therefore be less likely to get ripped off and scammed.

There were various options we could choose from, starting from 600 baht and going up to 1100 baht (15 Euro/16 USD up to 28 Euro/29 USD). We chose the one in the middle: 900 baht. This trip would consist of a ride on a minivan towards the border crossing, getting off the van to actually cross the border physically, and then another trip with a minivan from the border to Siem Reap.

So far so good

They picked us up from our hostel in Koh Chang at 07:15am, where we handed over our ticket and received a sticker. This sticker had to remain on our chest for the entirety of the trip.

The minivan drove us straight to the ferry which left at 08:30am. In about 30 minutes we reached the mainland of Thailand and started our commute to the Cambodian border. Halfway we stopped for a little wee- and gas break, and around 1pm we arrived at a little restaurant. And that’s when it all started. A way too friendly guy jumped on our minivan and politely asked us to all get off and take our belongings with us…

And so the scamming began…

They divided us into little groups of tourists, and we all had our own ‘guy’ taking care of us. They are friendly, they smile, they joke around and they try to make you feel right at home. All carefully thought through so you won’t even consider this being a scam.

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Think again: it is. They charged us 1500 baht (around 38 Euro/40 USD) for the visa. This is 300 baht more than when I flew to Phnom Penh last year. When I pointed this out to ‘our guy’ he smiled and said ‘yeeees, is because you fly! Is cheaper!’ This is obviously a lot of bullshit but the “restaurant” they drop you at is still about 5km from the border. As walking in the heat with 15kg on your back is not very tempting, you have no choice but to obey.

And then…

After we handed over the money, our passports and filled out the immigration forms, we received a special pass: our “post-border-pass to Siem Reap“. We also got our passports back with the visa already in it. We had to wait for about 30 minutes until we left for the short drive to the border.

Once at the border they divided us into groups of about 15 people. We all lined up for a little speech about Cambodia from “our guy”. Our guy told us that Cambodia is very poor and that you can pay with US Dollars everywhere. He also told us that they charge you 14 USD to take money out of an ATM. He suggested everyone should take out as much Thai Baht as possible from the ATMs that we were standing next to (such a coincidence!). Once we would pass the border we’d get the opportunity to change these Bahts to Cambodian Riel for free. I didn’t take out any money because I visited Cambodia before and suspected this was one of the scams. And indeed, later on it would become very clear why they gave us this ‘friendly advice’…

Bye Thailand, hello Cambodia! 

The moment was there: time to cross the Thailand Cambodia border overland. We walked to the Thai border-crossing to hand in our departure card and to get the departure stamp out of the country. We walked about 300 meters to the Cambodian Immigration to receive an arrival stamp. Once that’s done you can stay in the country for 30 days (even though my visa mysteriously says 3 months….)

You paid for a minivan? You go on a big bus!

Despite the fact that we paid 300 Baht extra for a minivan from the Cambodian border to Siem Reap, we were put on a big bus. I nagged our guy about this a couple of times as we just wanted to get what we paid for. When I told him I’d call the travel agency he finally gave in. He told us we’d get off the big bus soon and we’d be able to board a minivan.

Suddenly the big bus stopped and the guys shouted ‘IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE BAHT TO RIEL YOU CAN DO IT NOW BUT HURRY HURRY ONLY FIVE MINUTE HURRY HURRY!!!”

It was immediately clear to us: they have an agreement with that particular currency exchange office where they rush tourists to, to change the Baths they just took out of the ATM for Riel (or USD). Due to the time pressure and rush these poor tourists won’t have the time to notice it is a big scam. Until they’re back on the bus. And that’s when it’s already too late.

Eventually we got on a minivan with a truly friendly driver who even agreed to drop us off straight at our guesthouse instead of at the bus station. We arrived at our destination around 6pm.

The conclusion: as bad as they say?

So, the conclusion. Was this Thailand to Cambodia overland border crossing as horrible as they say? Well, it wasn’t bad as I thought it would be! Yes, we were overcharged for the trip and for getting our visa, but I really don’t think there was any way we could’ve avoided this. I do feel bad for the people who took lots of Thai Baht out of the ATM to then get ripped off when changing it to Cambodian Riel or USD,

As goes for everything when traveling through Southeast Asia: always trust your own gut feeling, don’t just say “yes” to the first offer you get and always try to negotiate. Show them that you’re not the person to be messed around with, but stay kind and respectful.

If you’re looking for more travel inspiration for Cambodia, then why not check out my article “Cambodia – a two week itinerary“.

All pictures in this article are edited with Eef’s Presets – get yours here.

❤ Eef