Saturday, January 3, 2015

Crossing Borders : Bangkok to Cambodia

We were really hesitant to go through this since we are both girls and you know how paranoid the parents get
The problem is, our ticket to Manila is coming from Siem Reap. So we tried with all our might to check for flights from Bangkok to Siem Reap, but they are too expensive for us (yes, 125dollar one way is already costly for us).  Being the frugal people that we are, we don't want to waste our return ticket so we searched for alternatives.
One of the most helpful blogs that I found was from Lakwatsero. We are already determined to follow his path when I ran into a news from Bangkok Post.
The first blog is really helpful however, I felt uncomfortable with the transfers. I'm really anxious with the thought of not having a vehicle from the border to Siem Reap (although I know it's close to impossible and it's just the paranoid me talking).
So our agenda on our first day in Bangkok is to go to Mochit Station then took a cab to Northen Bus Terminal and book this bus.
The cost of the ticket is 750 Baht.
bkk-cmb busWe were at the Northern Bus Station platform 106 at around 8:30 am. We got a couple of Dunkin Donuts and some water to munch on while we're waiting.
969409_603781402968218_1841339978_nAt around 9:15 am, we boarded. The bus is much like our Deluxe buses here in the Philippines. It has a bathroom at the end of the bus so make sure you get front seats because it gets stinky after a while a couple who unfortunately got seats at the back transferred near us.
The man who serves like our Journey Attendant (cause I can't use Flight Attendant since we're not flying) handed us some pre-packed snacks: cake and orange juice. Tastes ok considering it's free. Around noon, he handed us our lunch. I thought we're gonna stop at a restaurant.
we forgot to take a photo of the cake
we forgot to take a photo of the cake
Few minutes after we were asked to get off to fix our documents since we're gonna have to go through immigration both with Thailand and Cambodia. The foreigners we're with are hesitant probably because of the blogs but we went through with it since we know that we don't have to pay. Good judgment for us because the place is actually an official Cambodian Immigration Satellite inside Thailand to facilitate easier crossing once we reached the border. They gave us forms to fill out and we're also able to do bio break with a 5 Baht fee.
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After sometime we're already at the border going through standard procedures.
We can't take photos in the immigration parts so this is the only photo we got.
We can't take photos in the immigration parts so this is the only photo we got.
Since we already filled out the needed forms, we finished early and we even had the chance to have a frappe and check in through their WiFi in Poipet.
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Then we're back on the road again. From here, you will see that it is a lot like the outskirts of the Philippines. Notice that its already Right Hand Drive in Cambodia so we were really impressed with our driver.
A few more hours, we arrived at our destination: Siem Reap! There are tuktuk drivers waiting to take you to your hotel for a dollar each. We got Lucky Man and he became our driver the next day for our Temple Run Expedition.

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