Crossing into Thailand

A few days ago we made the 8 hour journey from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand via the Poipet, Cambodia crossing. So far on our trip we’ve only entered the next country via an airline flight and most everyone was looking forward to this bit of adventure. Our guest house owner in Siem Reap was very experienced at this and setup a taxi to the border, gave us some instructions about where to go at the crossing and setup a van to pick us up on the Thai side. All in all things went very smoothly, save for the new November 25th law that reduced the visa exemption from 30 to 15 days for people coming into Thailand at a land crossing. More about that a bit later.

The 3 hour drive in Cambodia was by far one of the most interesting rides we’ve had yet. Km after km of beautiful rice fields with the occasional “hill” in the distance. The scenery of the local people along the way made it the most interesting and fascinating to me. The pictures below give a bit of a peek into what life in the countryside of Cambodia is like for so many. The change on the Thai side of the border was striking. No rice paddies, no bikes, no motorcycles, no tractors, no people really to speak of, just a paved highway the entire time. It was a bit like advancing the clock a good 50 years.

We are now in Bangkok and spent most of our first day planning our next few months of travel. This was partly spurred on with some urgency because, as mentioned above, Thailand just changed their visa exemption law. Before, citizens from one of the 42 exempt countries (including the US) were given a 30 day visa exemption at the airport or border crossing. But, less than 3 weeks prior to our arrival, and unknown to us, they changed the law to 15 days for those entering Thailand at a land crossing. Supposedly this was done to limit the border runs that many foreign workers do in order to come to Thailand for work. Others said that it was done to encourage more tourists to enter the country via airlines that are now ailing from the recent airport closure. Either way, it messed our plans up a bit or at least limited our options. We are scheduled to go to Koh Phangan, and island in the Gulf of Thailand, from Dec 18 to Dec 27 for a special time at the beach over Christmas. Our visa exemptions expire on the 28th and we were left with the option of leaving Thailand or paying $40 each for a 7 day extension. We wanted to visit Laos and/or Vietnam anyway so we decided that leaving and coming back later was the best approach. But, we were extremely limited on our departure day and had only expensive flights from which to choose. So, much to the kids delight, we are taking the overnight train from Bangkok to Nong Khai/Vientiane and will cross the border on land into Laos. We may fly back in and get our 30 day exemption and have more flexibility to stay longer the second time.

Bangkok has been enjoyable so far with much more to see. Friendly people, great food, interesting sites and easy transport around the city with the SkyTram and cheap taxis. The kids are beginning to get excited about Christmas and the beach. We are all looking forward to staying put for 10 days and doing nothing but swimming, reading, snorkeling, walking the beach, etc. Getting there should be quite interesting too. We leave on the overnight train tonight at 7:30 to Surat Thani, arriving at 6:30 AM. We then take a bus to the port where we catch a ferry that stops at Koh Samui before arriving at Koh Phangan where we will be picked up in a 4×4 to take us to our bungalow “resort.”

Happy Holidays!