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Date of the journey:- February 2020
Distance travelled:- 131 miles
The holiday over, it was time to move on. Our visit to Thailand was just for a holiday and some downtime with Tania’s brother.
For the time being, we would travel from Thailand to Cambodia. From our accommodation in Laem Sing at the Namfon Resort Laem Sing Beach, it was a 30-minute songthaew journey back to the Chanthaburi bus terminal. This cost 300 Baht, payable to the driver.
There was no direct bus or minivan to the Cambodian border from Chanthaburi. So we first had to take a minivan to Trat bus terminal, an hour and a quarter drive away. This cost 70 Baht per person.
The road to Trat was good, as all the roads in Thailand were. On arrival at the Trat bus terminal, we quickly found out that the vehicles to the Cambodian border leave Trat bus terminal from bay 13. This bay is the furthest away from the terminal building on the right-hand side. It is indicated by a sign in English saying the Cambodia border.
This journey was an hour and 20 minutes at a cost of 120 Baht per person, again payable to the minivan driver. The road for this journey started off being nice and smooth. Part of the road was being reconstructed, meaning it got a little bumpy for a while.
Having arrived in Khlong Yai, the Thai border town, the minivan dropped us off right in front of the Thai immigration office. Departure from Thailand was simple, a photograph, fingerprint scan, and a stamp in our passports and we were free to go. A 5 minute walk across no man’s land and we arrived at the Cambodian immigration checkpoint.
We chose to complete an e-visa application online prior to arrival. Having read reports of corrupt immigration officials overcharging for visas on arrival. This didn’t seem the case as other foreign nationals were getting their visas without any problems. More photographs and fingerprint scans, an arrivals form to complete, a stamp in our passports and we were in Cambodia. The whole departure and arrival process took no more than 35 minutes.
Our accommodation for the next couple of nights was at Neptune Adventure, a riverside jungle resort at Tatai. Only accessible by boat which we had to get from the Tatai bridge.
To get to the bridge we took a taxi from the border for 20 USD for the 40-minute journey. Currency in Cambodia is the Cambodian Riel but USD is accepted everywhere. There were cash points on the Cambodian side of the border, these dispense both USD and Riel. Cambodia is mainly a cash country, with only the major cities accepting credit or debit card payments.
Our accommodation at the Neptune Adventure was a 10-minute boat journey up the Preat river, a free transfer provided by the owner.