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#Post#: 124--------------------------------------------------
Rip Van Winkle's Aranya Prathet / Poipet Report
DIR By: Wankenstein
Date: September 28, 2019, 4:17 am
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[TLDR;] I won't be doing that again in a hurry [/TLDR;]
Lots of warnings from people that this main thoroughfare between
Thailand and Cambodia is a bit of a chew.
I went through it once in 2002, and then this year. A world of
difference.
When I first did it, there was just a little wooden hut, and
loads of Khmers trying to get you to let them fill in your Khmer
TM6 for a few pennies. I remember there was a teenage girl with
that "Mask" genetic condition there too, and lots of children
asking for 1 baht. The whole process then was swift and easy.
Almost an immigration carousel.
Fast forward to now, and there's a load more buildings and
infrastructure around both sides of the little "weclome to
cambodia gate" thing.
Here's a map to help with the verbal diarrhoea below:
HTML https://wikitravel.org/en/Poipet
walking in, up the stairs, a little confusing, the lack of
uniforms could make you wonder who is or isn't a tout.
overwhelming majority of people going both ways are Khmer. They
do all the digital fingerprints and photos now. Once your're
through, you go down the stairs and try and work out where to go
next. Following other people you are in nomans land (but on
Google Maps it's still Thailand), and cross over a little river,
and then you see run down shops, cattle fencing andThai
passport-holders' special queue.
You have to cross over a confusing busy road, and down through a
road tunnel that's still a work in progress, and past casinos
until you see a titchy little hut across the road for Visa on
Arrival, filled with Khmer coppers, in various states of attire.
One of whom, not wearing any uniform spoke English, and you
wonder if he's a tout or a copper.
Just hand over your $30 or $35 depending on whether you want to
be able to extend your visa later, and one friendly bobby asked
for a hundred baht. They give you a Cambodian TM6 (which you
should keep, because you need it later). A few minutes later,
sticker in passport, out of the portakabin and carry on down the
lane past the larger than AranyaPrathet casino hotel buildings
and into a little Santa's grotto of a entry office, with a big
shrine of sorts inside it, and lots of dudes of unknown purpose
hanging about. Four rows, and they do the digital prints and
photos again, and then out you go.
Wander along a bit further and you get to what looks like a sort
of open air duty shop, and the kbal spean roundabout. On the
other side of the road is a nondescript hut with "departures" on
it, and that's your way back to Toyland. They stamp you out, and
do the digital prints and photos again, and then you wander back
down the road past the casinos.
I happened to find myself strolling along with a 5'8" pretty
Cambodian girl, called Em, aged 26, who spoke no English, but
enough Thai for us to chat. She bought a bag of creepy crawlies
to munch on, and we strolled past a herd of fat americans
walking along the railway track.
You cross the road, and another little lad yaps at you, and you
go and get another TM6, and up you go back to an identical
checkpoint building and queue again. My Thai SIM kept working
all the time on the Cambo side.
Now, the queue was 90+% Cambodian, but there were some honkies
too. a couple of old boys who looked like they might be visa
running. I gradually started wondering what if they don't let me
back in, my 5-minute old Cambodian visa is spent now... ee-fuk.
So I stewed a bit, but took comfort in ogling the mocha-coloured
scenery around me.
So I came to the desk, and I was smartly attired. Had my
certificate of residence letter from Sakaeo immigration office,
and my ME NI O Visa. The dude flatly said in Thai, "nah mate, no
can do - you can't come back in same day". I politely protested
in excruciatingly posh Siamese. He directed me to the
Superintendent, whose photo adorns the Sakaeo immi office in AP
town centre.
He was relaying bad news to an Aussie old boy via a dusky Thai
old girl (with some tattoos that told a story) who was
interpreting. He was apparently having to go back to Oz. Didn't
make sense to me.
The boss then turned to me, and I came and sat in front of him,
showed my papers, and gently related my tale to him in Thai. He
was equally adamant, "nah mate, no can do...", again, I politely
petitioned him with a flurry of carefully-distributed "krups",
and explained that the rib and rugrats were Thai and waiting
downstairs, she had to be in hospital in Thailand, and we'd been
married for n-teen years, that I'm not a tourist etc... and said
where we lived down to the tambon. He kept saying, in Thai,
"yeah, but no, but yeah but..." policy this and that... and then
we switched into English. Something made him change his
position, maybe because I indicated that I had talked to SK immi
before and they said I could do what I was doing, and he sprung
up, walked me back to the same guy on the check in desk, and
told him that my visa meant I could go out and come back in,
same day.
I thanked him politely, and went back through to Toyland.
Phew.
Back to the Star Plaza, and then Big C for yapping and scoffing.
Mrs and kids would have come with but they forgot their Thai
passports. They are eligible for day passes into the border
area, but they wouldn't be able to accompany me through any of
the immi stuff if they are using Thai passports.
I've never had that sort of snag before, and I don't think I'll
do that again. I spent all of about an hour or so doing the
AP-Poipet carousel this time, so actually about the same as 17
years ago.
Next time, I'll go to one of the crossings at Chanthaburi, or
find reasons to hang around in Poipet or Siem Reap.
#Post#: 125--------------------------------------------------
Re: Rip Van Winkle's Aranya Prathet / Poipet Report
DIR By: Wankenstein
Date: September 28, 2019, 4:18 am
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Frankly, the bellends at TC should delete my content rather than
using it on their shit site... this post is about the only
useful one on there.
#Post#: 140--------------------------------------------------
Re: Rip Van Winkle's Aranya Prathet / Poipet Report
DIR By: CD Pat
Date: September 28, 2019, 11:15 am
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Lots of sexpat types were proclaiming that Cambodia was like
''Pattaya 30yrs ago'' and how every bloke should move there if
they still wanna live the dream
Not sure exactly what they mean by 30yrs ago, but that claim is
clearly dripping with sleaze
#Post#: 744--------------------------------------------------
Re: Rip Van Winkle's Aranya Prathet / Poipet Report
DIR By: Boon Mee
Date: December 11, 2019, 5:40 pm
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--- Quote from: CD Pat link ---
>
> Lots of sexpat types were proclaiming that Cambodia was like
''Pattaya 30yrs ago'' and how every bloke should move there if
they still wanna live the dream
>
> Not sure exactly what they mean by 30yrs ago, but that claim
is clearly dripping with sleaze
>
--- End Quote ---
They have some pretty fancy casinos there in Poipet now but
seeing that place once was enough for me.
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