HOW TO TRAVEL FROM BANGKOK (DMK AIRPORT) TO CAMBODIA BORDER

Travelling can be fun only if it can be done hassle free. When you have plans of covering 2 countries over land, a lot of planning needs to be done, especially when it involves crossing border, getting a visa and foremost reaching the border.

Travelling from Bangkok to Cambodian Border (Poipet) can be done fairly easy if you know where to go and how to go. According to our itinerary, we planned on exiting Thailand right after we landed at DMK airport. We had saved Thailand or i would rather say South Thailand for the latter part of the journey, our first 7-8 days were just dedicated to exploring Cambodia.

We landed at DMK around 6.50 am (Thailand time), and since we had arrived with an in hand visa we directly headed to immigration. We were the first in line (as most of our co passengers of Air Asia had opted for Visa on Arrival, the crowd was accumulated there instead at immigration). We filled out the arrival form that was handed to us at the immigration counter and since we were heading directly to Cambodia, at the place of stay column we filled in “Transit to Cambodia”, dully signed the formed, got our “Stamp In” from the Immigration Officer and off we were to catch our airport bus to the center of Bangkok.

If you are on a budget trip i would recommend taking the airport shuttles to the center of Bangkok for 30 THB, but if money is not an issue go ahead with a pre-paid taxi that would charge you around 150 THB (check if this includes expressway fare) to Mo Chit or Victory Monument. Since i dint use the airport taxi i will explain about the airport shuttle here in my blog.

Ones you pass immigration which is at 2nd floor, you take the escalator down to 1st floor and exit out. Ask any of the airport official for A1 bus or airport shuttle or Gate 6. Note this bus service functions between 7am to 11pm. Embark this bus and get down at the last stop which is Mo Chit and not Mo Chit BTS, which is the skytrain station. This is 2km away from the bus station which is what you want. Why i insist on this is because i made the same mistake (although i knew deep down i was getting down at the wrong stop). Despite the warnings if you happen to get down at the Mo Chit skytrain station, wait at the same bus stop and board a bus that takes you to Mo Chit bus stand. It will cost 7 THB.

Ones in Mo Chit ask around where you can get a mini van or bus towards Poipet. Do not mention Cambodia, just say Poipet. After asking couple of people someone will point you to the correct direction, i cannot exactly give you the proper direction on how i found this place that took us to Poipet, everything seems hazy and we just kept asking the locals for direction. Just keep shouting Poipet. Also note people in Bangkok do not speak much of English, especially the ones i encountered, so just use this 2 phrases repeatedly “bus” & “Poipet”. After walking for roughly 5 min we found a lady who took us to a mini van that was headed to Poipet. The mini van was comfy with AC and it cost us 230 THB to Poipet which seemed reasonable (anything within 250 THB is reasonable). We paid them upfront and although the entire experience seemed a little fishy to me initially things did work out perfectly fine in the end. It took us roughly 5-6 hours to reach the boarder. The mini-van did stop in a zillion place to pick in different customers which delayed our arrival at Poipet but all in all the trip went fine. They allowed us to use an extra seat because of the luggage which is why we could catch some sleep. They do stop after 2.5 hours for a toilet cum refreshment break.

They dropped us at Rongklua market, which is where you are supposed to be dropped (if you take a public bus it will drop you at Aranyaprathet after which you will have to catch a tuk-tuk till Rongklua market) around 3 in the noon. Our driver dint understand English at all and there were no one to guide you to the border. We picked one direction and started walking. We knew the casinos lie between the Thai-Cam border, so we picked one of it and started walking towards it. But after a while we were lost and couldnt find the border. How difficult is it to find a border i thought? After trying our luck with various local folks, one of them finally directed us towards the 7-Eleven store from where we were suppose to take a left. It involved crossing a railway track too. We were approached by a tout who offered us Cambodian visa. We politely stated we already possessed one (which was a lie) and asked him to direct us towards Thai border, which he did and then disappeared.

International passport holders had to go to the first floor to stamp out of Thailand and then move towards Cambodian border. Towards your right most extreme, there is a booth that provides the reentry permit. Why need a re-entry permit? Read here..Since there were no one applying for a re entry permit, we went in with our filled application form (TM-8), passport along with 1100 THB/head, the date you are planning to re-enter Thailand and voila our re-entry permit was accepted and 15 min later we receive our passport back with the re-entry stamp on it.

Alternate way to reach Siem Reap (directly) from Bangkok is to opt for a direct bus that picks you up from Bangkok and then directly drops you off at Siem Reap. They cost anywhere between 25$-30$ and can be booked online from bookmebus.com. You can use your credit card to book this with 1$ as processing fees. While you book this, make sure you opt for one of those buses that are allowed into Cambodia. There are 2 types of buses: 1. Direct bus: where you dont have to change your bus. All you need to do is get down at Thai border to be stamped out and then get your Cambodia visa, and board the same bus at Cambodia border. Only couple of bus operators are allowed to enter Cambodia.
2. Change of bus: where you get down at Thai border, to be stamped out and then get your Cambodia visa, and then they take you to another bus operator that operates in Cambodia. Your luggage’s will be brought directly to this spot, but you might loose your initial bus seat and you might be pushed towards the back seat. I know its quite unfair, but what can you do? Arguing also wont work as they dont speak English. To avoid this, either book a direct bus to Siem Reap or take a ticket only till the border and ones the visa processing is done, hunt for you transport to Siem Reap.

Off we were to Cambodia…Read here for Cambodia Visa on Arrival procedure…