I checked out of my hotel and at 7:30am was waiting in the lobby with my luggage ready to go. The travel agent had given me a ticket for the driver complete with instructions written in Thai so he knew where I was supposed to wind up. Minibuses to the Cambodian border are readily available from any travel agent in Pattaya. They are very commonly used by expats for "visa runs". When their visa is almost expired and can no longer be extended they hop in a minibus to the Cambodian border and stamp out of Thailand, into Cambodia, then out of Cambodia back into Thailand with a brand new Thai visa stamp and come back to Pattaya. Just walk into any travel agent and say you need a minibus ticket the Cambodian border at Hat Lek (the town on the Thai side of the border) Cost was 670 baht ~$17 one way. Round trip is even more common but I don't know if you get a break on the one way price if you go round trip. You can get a minibus strait to the border but I had to leave on Monday and Tuesday was the first day they had all the way to the border so I would ride from Pattaya to Trat and then change minibuses and go from there to the Cambodian border.

If you were coming from Bangkok you could make almost the same trip even cheaper on the air conditioned bus. Just go to Eikimei bus station. Go to the window that says Trat and buy a ticket. Make sure it is the express bus and not the one that stops in every town along the way. In Trat, across the street from the air conditioned bus station slightly to the right near an open air market there are minibuses that leave for Hat Lek every 30 minutes or so throughout the day. Price from Bangkok would probably be ~200 baht for the AC bus and the minibus is clearly posted 100 baht from Trat to Hat Lek.

My minibus arrived about 15 minutes late. It was a BMW van and there were about 5 people inside. The seats were quite comfortable, but a little cramped on leg room, as is almost any kind of public transportation in Asia. Thai sized, not 6' American sized. Still, it wasn't to uncomfortable. While the driver loaded my backpack in the back a German lady told me the driver had been driving up and down various streets for the last 20 minutes looking for my hotel. The driver got in. Headed to a gas station filled up with gas and we hit the road.

I was a little surprised at how GOOD the roads were in Thailand. I had expected them to get worse the further I got from Bangkok but that was not the case. 4 lane divided highways in excellent condition most of the way. As good as many American highways. Thailand has obviously spent allot of money on the roads along that route. After about an hour and 45 minutes we stopped at a very modern rest area where there was a 7-11 convenience store, a very good open air coffee stand, Thai restaurant and decent restrooms. We stopped for about 15 minutes to stretch our legs then back in the van and on to Trat. In Trat the driver pulled up to the minibus stop across from the bus station. He paid my fare, 100 baht, to the operator there and explained to him in Thai where I was headed. I just had a seat and waited. This is also what you would do if you had arrived from Bangkok on the AC bus.

After about 20 minutes we started loading in the minibus. It was a full load. All Thai locals. I was the only falung on board. The people who were on the original minibus from Pattaya all had different destinations and did not get off with me. We headed out of Trat on a two lane paved highway. Not as nice as the road to Trat bus still very good. Heading towards Hat Lek we passed through several Thai army checkpoints. Nothing more than a cursory look-over by the sentry. Along the way the local Thai passengers got off one by one at there destinations. By the time we reached Hat Lek we were down to me and 4 Thai's. The driver drove around town dropping then one by one until finely one Thai lady and me were all who were left. The end of the line.

The Thai lady grabbed her stuff and wandered away. I loaded up my backpack and ask the driver which way to the border and he pointed down the street. I couldn’t see it but set out that way all alone and after a quarter of a block it was pretty obvious. There was a Thai immigration shack with a walk up window, barriers, a couple of bored looking solders and bunch of touts, children running about, and other nuisance type people. I will admit it seemed a little more intimidating than it really is and my heart was beating a little hard at that point. This was for real, I was on foot, walking alone into Cambodia at a somewhat remote border crossing for the first time. Not another westerner to be seen anywhere. I proceeded to the Thai immigration window and handed my passport through to a real asshole looking bureaucrat in a uniform. No land of smiles here. He more or less ignored me for a while as he slowly shuffled papers and then with out even looking up or acknowledging me he picked up my passport, very slowly looked at the exit form. Methodically stamped me out of Thailand and handed it back to me without so much as a single word or a friendly look. I walked from there towards the border.

A soldier at the barrier looked at my passport to verify I had been stamped out properly and passed me through into a no mans land between the Thai and Cambodian border posts. I was immediately set upon by a pack of very aggressive touts offering to sell cigarettes, carry my bag, sell me weed, get me a taxi, help me with immigration forms, find me a hotel........... They were quite annoying and quite aggressive but harmless otherwise. Probably wise to lookout for hands in your pockets or in your backpack though. There was no sentry or border guard on the Cambodian side. You just walk right in. Your first stop is in an office to visit the health quarantine officer. You can’t miss it because about 12 touts will point you towards it. Inside there was a guy in a dirty white coat seated behind a wooden table and another guy standing around for no apparent reason. He had a simple health questionnaire about SAR's symptoms and have I traveled in countries where there is yellow fever and such. Then he asks if I had an "international vaccination certificate" which of course I did not since you DO NOT need such a certificate to travel in Cambodia. He said since I do not have it I must pay him 50 baht. This is total bullshit and do not fall for it. I said I had contacted the Cambodian embassy in Washington DC before my trip and ask about that and they told me I did not need the certificate. (My own bullshit) He thought about it for a minute, and then signed my paperwork. I did not have to pay him the 50 baht bribe.

Next, on to the visa office. A couple of doors down you walk into a dirty, barren office, and there are several asshole looking bureaucrats in uniforms sitting behind a scarred up old wooden table with a single chair in front for you to sit in. The back door of the office was partially open and you could see into a dimly lit room where there were several men in military uniform along with women and children all sitting around a big dinner table eating rice and loudly talking. The visa application is simple and after I filled it out I handed it to the asshole bureaucrat with my passport and the required passport sized photo. (don't forget to bring two passport photos with you for your visa) He didn't even look at it and said the visa was 1,100 baht. This is more bullshit. The official price set by the Cambodian government is 20 US dollars (funny that even the Cambodian government sets official fees in Dollars not Riel) The semi official price in Thai Baht is 1,000 which was set at a time when the exchange rate was better. That is of course closer to $25 today. The Cambodian border agents have long capitalized on the spread and demanded payment in Thai Baht rather than the official US dollar amount. If you force the issue they have to accept the $20 payment but they can keep you there half the day while you paperwork is sent to Phom Phen by carrier pigeon for verification so I was prepared to pay in baht but not the 1,100 he ask for. I handed him 1,000 baht, gave him a friendly smile, told him I know it is 20 dollars and that 1,000 baht is a very good deal for him. He again stated it was 1,100 and I again smiled and said 1,000 baht is a very good price for him. He said he would have to ask the commander and then after a word or two in Khmer shouted to the back room and an answer from a disembodied voice that sounded like it had a mouthful of rice, he waited for several minutes and said the commander had agreed 1,000 baht was OK. Damn corrupt Cambodian border officials. He placed the visa sticker in my passport and directed me to the window next door to have my passport stamped. There was a typical entry/exit form to fill out. I did this, handed it through the window, the agent stamped my passport and handed it back. No money was asked for at this point.

The touts have to wait outside the offices but at the window you have about 4 touts hanging over your shoulder the whole time. I needed a ride to town and one of the touts spoke good English and was soft spoken and less annoying than the rest so I ask him if he had a moto. He of course did. I offered 50 baht for a ride into town. The correct price is 30 to 50 baht and I was tired and did not feel like bargaining so I offered the high end of a fair price. He immediately accepted. Once you hire a motodop the rest of the touts leave you alone. It was worth the 50 baht just to get rid of all those touts. I let him carry my bag to his moto. He loaded it on the moto, started it up, and I hopped on the back.

Riding on the back of a motodop (Cambodian motorcycle taxi) in Cambodia is not nearly the hair raising experience it is in Thailand. (Except in Phom Phen) If you are not the adventurous type you will probably still be quite comfortable on a Cambodian motodop. Cambodian motodops are very cautious drivers and traffic is very light. They rarely get over 20 miles per hour they and never rev there engines above a very low rpm or accelerate quickly. I almost suspect they drive that way to conserve gasoline and to prevent wear and tear on there engines. You can probably get a car taxi but in my opinion motodops are the most efficient way to get around.

Koh Kong is several miles from the Thai border across a river. The road is a brand new narrow two lane concrete road. Very smooth and with almost no traffic. Along the way there is yet another checkpoint where you hand your passport through a window and they verify you have your visa and are properly stamped. No hassles or demands for money there. At the river there is a brand new toll bridge. You pay the toll. I think it was like 20 baht, I don't remember for sure. The toll is clearly posted and paid to a girl in a booth. Then on into town. Koh Kong is on the other side.

It was about noon. Just 24 hours and a wild night of partying since I landed in Bangkok. I left Pattaya around 7:50 am and was in Koh Kong Cambodia in about 4 hours of fairly easy travel. The total cost was 670 baht ~$17 for the minibus ticket from Pattaya to the Cambodian border. 1000 Baht ~$25 for my Cambodian visa. 50 Baht ~$1.25 for the Motodop to Koh Kong. and 20 Baht 50¢ for the toll bridge.

I didn't have a hotel in mind. There are good hotels in town for about $15 but I wanted to see how cheap I could go so I told the driver I wanted a hotel with a bathroom and shower in the room near the boat dock for no more than $3. He said no problem and took me to a hotel that was more or less what I expected. Upstairs, a ceiling fan but no AC. Bathroom with a shower, sink and a squat toilet but no hot water. It was a little worn but was clean, quiet and secure. What do you expect for $3. I was satisfied but probably most of you would want to splurge on a $15 room with fancy AC, TV, sit down toilet, and hot water.

As I was checking in the motodop ask if I was planning to take the speedboat ferry to Sihankville tomorrow. I told him yes. Then he ask if I would buy the ticket through him rather than the ticket office since the price was the same either way for me but he would get a 40 baht sales commission if I bought it through him. I wondered if it was a ploy to get my money and I would never see a ticket so I hesitated but I did appreciate his honesty in admitting he would be getting the commission. Motodops in Cambodia get a commission on almost anything you buy if they are the one who brings you in so you always have to read between the lines of any thing your motodop does. More often than not his commission is more important to him than your satisfaction. Often it does not affect your price and is just how they do business. Other times it can be added to your bill or can result in bad advice. I didn't really mind the guy getting a commission so long as it didn’t affect my price. He could see I was hesitating so he said I could get the hotel to issue a receipt for the money and take responsibility for making sure I received my ticket. I had read this is a common and legitimate practice so I agreed. Since the motodop driver was being honest with me about the commission and I did need transportation around town I ask him how much to hire him for the day. He just said "whatever you think" and wouldn't list a price. I ask, "is $5 OK?" he seemed a little disappointed but readily agreed. I had my hotel and transportation for the day. I locked up my stuff in my hotel room, and then ask the driver to show me around town.

Koh Kong is a very small town with mostly dirt roads. Very third world. Open air shops, chickens, pigs and other livestock running loose in the streets. Very friendly people. Children come running to practice saying hello in English. It didn't take long to see all of the place. I ask him to show me the brothel district and he grinned and headed out of town down a very bumpy dirt road.

This is priceless....very detailed and honest. I thought about making this trip many times in Pattaya but just didn't want the hassles. You and I have similar writing styles, only I write more run-on sentences. I cant wait for the rest of the report and hope their are more pics.

Nice job of reporting. Thanks for taking the time to put some of your experience where it can be accessed by other mongers contemplating the same route.

I first crossed from Thailand into Cambodia via Hat Lek / Koh Kong about a month after they completed the bridge. It was interesting for me to see the change that a year and a half has made in this once sleepy little town when I past that way again last month. You are right about the town being friendly and I hope that it can stay that way. Nothing like a flood of A-holes to get the locals down on all tourists alike.

When I first crossed the border at Koh Kong there were only 2 or 3 moto's and one car to greet the traveler and via for the business ... that's changed a bit, hey? There was also an "S" shaped path through 6 foot high razor wire that you went through with a Thai machine gun placement on one side and a Cambodian gun on the other. Relations were a bit more tense between at that time between the two countrys ... glad to see that stuff gone.

O.K. let's hear about the girls now and don't get so caught up in telling about your 3somes and 4somes to keep including some good travel info!

McDIJJ

The girly reports are coming. I'll have Koh Kong's girly report finished tonight or tomorrow. Koh Kong of course included a short time "fivesome"??? (me and four girls all naked in one bed) and a long time, overnight threesome. I intend to continue a format alternating between sections largely devoted to travel and other practical related info on a very specific level for the benefit of anyone else passing this way, and then sections devoted largely to whore mongering related activities. Keeping it separate seems to make sense to me.

This is great stuff. Me and a buddy are looking for a sex filled CNY holiday spot - sounds like Cambodia could be it. Looking forward to rest of your trip report.

CNY?

Excellent logistical report Sancho-- Im glad to see the med combo didn't affect your writing style

I'm going to have to make this trip before long. I'll probably just do a 3 day trip to Koh Kong as a side trip while in Pattaya, rather then venture beyond.

Sancho, good stuff here. When I was in Siem Reap, I was a bit disappointed b/c it's so touristy. I bet the Southern part was a lot more wild-west; my driver was telling me that the South part of Cambo still has some lingering Khmer Rouge wannabes. Gotta check it out soon. Keep the reports coming.

CNY may mean Central New York....

Yes, thank you very much for all of the practicle info, I hope to go to cambodia next time I am in SE Asia, and this lets me know exactly what to expect.

Thanks man!

ThaiMar