Siem Reap to Bangkok, the Easy Way!

From my transport research (because these transitions tend to stress me out) the legs from Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) to Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and then from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap are relatively easy and hassle free.  It’s when you get to the Siem Reap to Bangkok (Thailand) leg where the fun starts.  The countless stories of near-death experiences and “I’ve never been more terrified in my life” statements start

 popping up.  I wanted to avoid feeling terrified while in Thailand, so I dug deeper.

VIP

Where’s the Hassle??

The problem with this route lies in the transfer over the border.  Many bus companies will take you to the border, and then when you cross to the other side, you then wait, sometimes hours, for smaller mini shuttle vans to pick you up.  These vans are on deadlines, and sometimes speed 130k and faster in an 80k zone.

These two problems – border thumb twiddling and mini shuttle vans from hell – are mostly solved with an bus company called Nattakan Co.  They have an office in Siem Reap just a few doors down from the only KFC in town.  I would recommend going a day or two ahead of time, just to make sure you get the bus/seat you want. 

The Morning Of

Stand by to Stand by

Someone from Nattakan picked me up at 7:35 (they quoted 7:00 – 7:10 so I was telling myself to calm down every 2-3 minutes).  Once in the office, I filled out necessary short forms for departure from Cambodia and arrival into Thailand.  The bus left promptly at 8:00am. 

It’s only about two hours to the border town of Poipet.  We left the bus with any small bags we were carrying on our person and headed to departure procedures. 

After about ten minutes waiting in line, the man behind the counter sat staring at my passport, probably trying to figure out where eight months of my passport were spent.  As I started digging through my backpack to find my Vietnam residence card, he must have given up and stamped my departure.  Step one, complete.  Then we got back on the bus to drive through a 100yard “middle ground” between borders where casinos try to lure in (mostly locals) and got off the bus again, this time with all of our luggage. 

Headin into Thailand!

I stood in line with bus buddies, waiting to get the arrival stamp for about 30 minutes.  The Thai official seemed really relaxed and only asked where I was traveling to in Thailand.  He did not ask for proof of onward travel, as some sites informed they might.  Many tourists coming in to Thailand by land will also leave by land, and won’t have these documents anyway. 

After getting our stamp, the bags were put through a metal detector and drug screeners stood by, waiting to question or search anyone who looked suspicious. 

After that whole process, our bus was waiting for us on the other side to reload our bags and be on our way!  No mini shuttle vans, no hassle, done and done. 

A short ways into Thailand, we stopped and were given a tv-dinner tray of rice and…I think it was chicken, hard to tell – but it was tasty!  I was pleasantly surprised.  From the border, it’s about four hours to Bangkok, so I sat back with the Kindle, happy to be in Thailand and through another border crossing.  A few minutes later, however, the bus stopped again and on came a young Thai fellow with fatigues and a beret.  I thought, that’s cool, we’re picking up a man in uniform.  I quickly realized that he was being trailed by a loudly panting black lab sniffing around everyone’s bags.  Another man in fatigues boarded and spoke some commands to the dog for another pass down the aisle.  They mean business on the crackdown against drugs here.  Quite a contrast from the Vietnam-Cambodia border!  

The whole bus process using this company 08:00 – 15:45.

The drive into the city was so surreal.  Except for the ads plastered on an entire skyscraper front, I thought we were driving into Chicago.  Bangkok is BIG and it has been so interesting seeing a flare of Thai culture mixed with the modernity of one of the world’s biggest cities.