TRAVEL TIPS - CAMBODIA THE
CAMBODIAN BORDER GAME

The object of the game is to reach the ferry before it departs .

If you intend to take the ferry to Sihanoukville, Cambodia from Koh Kong plan on giving yourself time to miss the ferry and stay the night in Koh Kong. The boat departs at 8am. The border opens at 7am. If you are detained for any reason you more than likely will not reach the ship in time for departure.

Reaching the ferry from the Had Lek Thai Immigration booth is like trying to reach Treasure Island or playing a boarder game. There are pirates along the way who disguise themselves as tour guides. In reality they are mostly hustlers and thieves. Having said that we have had reports there are some honest people that do this sort of thing and charge a fair price. We have had good experiences with some motto-taxi and dinghy operators.

Reasons for a delay along the way include:

Touts are permitted to loiter around Thai Immigration at Had Lek

If all goes well at Immigration it takes at least 10 minutes to reach the dock where the dinghies depart to take you to the Koh Kong shore. It will take about another 10 minutes to cross the river and reach the Koh Kong shore. In many cases you will be intentionally dropped down the shoreline a good distance from the ferry. You will then have to take a motto taxi to the ferry buy your ticket and then board, another 5-10 minutes. In a pinch the tickets can be purchased on the boat.

During this entire process you will be hounded by touts trying to make commissions by setting you up with a motto-taxi, taxi, dinghy or a nights stay at a guesthouse. They will swarm you like flies and crawl over you like maggots to distract and confuse you to get your business.

If you are isolated in a dinghy you may also find the price of the ride increasing in the middle of the river and being advised that you will miss the ferry if you don't pay [See: Cambodia By Land & Sea]. We've missed the ferry on two occasions due to intentional interference.

On our last ferry trip to Sihanoukville we overheard and elderly tourist ask a younger traveler how much he paid to cross the river in the dinghy. Twenty baht was the reply. "I paid 100 baht." The elderly tourist angrily replied. Ughhh!!!

There is no organized way to make this trip and that situation may never change. As one tour guide (?) said, "We're waiting for the tourists to come [and then get organized]." The guide had a business card, which was the first one we have ever seen from any of these touts.

We informed this lad that we tourists aren't as dumb as we look. We added that the word gets around and back to Bangkok's Khao San Road. We added that many travelers would not want to go through the hassle of making the trip. [See: Bangkok's Khao San Road]

The dinghy dock where the major problems exist

The price of going from immigration to the dinghy dock is 30 baht by a motor-taxi and 50 for a regular taxi. To cross the river in the dinghy is 20 baht. The touts try to isolate you to gouge more money out of you. Try to board a dinghy with a Khmer or a group of people. If they see a foreigner the dinghy operator will sometimes pull away from the dock leaving you to fall into the water.

On the return trip there is no helping hand from the touts when you try and climb out of the dinghy to get onto the dock. The hand only comes out for the money.

To get to the border from Bangkok take an air-conditioned bus from Bangkok's Eastern Bus station [Ekamai] to Trat. The price is 189 baht. A van from Trat to the border is 100 baht. The van is organized and departs every 45 minutes [From Trat to Had Lek - 6am to 6pm From Had Lek to Trat 7:10am to 5:30pm].

If you catch a bus between 10-11pm you will arrive at the border just before it opens. If you catch a bus before 10am you should be able to reach the border before it closes at 5pm providing you locate the van departure area quickly and the van is not full.

The van departs from Trat near the market, which is across or up the street from the bus station. The difference is, which bus company you use which relates to where you are dropped.

On the return trip after departing the Thai immigration the van is in a parking lot on your right about 50 yards from the Thai Immigration check point.

If by choice or are you are forced to stay in Koh Kong, its OK. It's a sleepy border town where we haven't heard of anything going wrong with a tourist. There are many guesthouses available for 80 baht [with fan & shared bath] on up.

For upscale travelers we recommend the Koh Pick Hotel. It's a bit away from the center of town but they have very clean rooms, cable TV, AC, refrigerator and firm comfortable beds for 400 baht. If you prefer not to have AC you can negotiate a lower price. If you stay for a few days your bargaining power increases.

You can walk to the Koh Pick from the dinghy drop. It's a good hike but doable. If you're not in the best of shape or prefer not to walk, a motto taxi should take you for 5-10 baht. There is nothing to do around the hotel but rest.

The town center is busy and there are a number of palaces to eat cheap. We have yet to find what we would consider good quality food but you'll live. You can walk the center of town in about an hour.

The local people are warm and friendly and not hustlers like the touts. They charge you the local price without you having to negotiate. Speaking Khmer is to your advantage. If not, pointing and using a calculator is helpful.

This is not a trip for everyone. Its enjoyable if you can tough out the problems and go with the flow. It's a good way to see the real world in a different way.  

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