I did a trip in late Nov (2023) with 3 other guys. We had been at the event (Commander City) in Buriram and tacked on a trip to Siem Reap for one of the guys (bucket list kind of thing).
A lot of confusing information on the web about the procedures and paperwork. I knew we'd need passports (naturally) and even our Thai riders brought theirs "just in case". I knew we'd need the green books for the bikes.
I made the call to leave early (from Buriram city) so we would have extra time at the border if needed and it was a good call.
Took us nearly 4 hours to get 4 bikes through. One of the guys was riding a bike that was owned by one of the Thai guys with us. (He'd bought the bike but just never got around to getting the book put in his name for some reason.) Even though the registered owner of the bike was sitting right there, Customs had a major issue with foreigner riding the bike because he didn't have a rental contract !
We spent over 1 1/2 hours trying to get the paperwork sorted. Found out - you
DO need to have the TM.2 form - but they told us it could be filled out at any Thai police station
before going to the border.
Once we cleared the Thai side of the border, it took us about 2 hours on the Cambodian side. We hadn't done "e-visas" and we hadn't done the "electronic" Customs form. The Thai guys got their passports looked at in one window, but myself and the other foreigner had to use the right-hand window and fill out a visa application. (And pay the fee of course - I think it was the equivalent of $35 US ? Wasn't really paying attention.)
The first Customs guy was
very unhelpful and even our Thai riders were having problems talking to him. All he did was point to a web address that had been written on the wall with a felt marker.
Finally another (younger) guy showed up and he was great (and patient). He walked us through all the steps.
https://tvs.customs.gov.kh/ - scroll (way) down and select "Temporary Vehicle".
You have to create a log-in and a profile and enter a bunch of information. For ID card we were told to use our Passport number - even though that was already entered under Passport information. For license number (of the bike) - just the numbers, not the Thai letters.
And photos. For the passport they want the
front cover of the passport and the "face page". Had to take a photo of the bike and license plate. Had to take a photo of the front and back of the driver's license. You'll need to enter the information (serial number, make, model, year, etc) of your bike as well.
The app also wants to know where you will be staying, the date of entry, where you are entering (border crossing), date you plan to leave and border crossing you plan on using.
It was a PITA with 4 of us all trying to do it at the same time on our smart phones. Luckily the (young) Customs guy was in a good mood. Once we were done he was able to print the forms on his printer. We had to pay 100 baht each.
The good thing is - once you have set everything up, it will be oh so much easier if you want to go again in the future because most of your details will be in their system. (Though you may have to update passport info or bike info if that's changed, and will have to update where you are staying, dates and border crossings. But you can do all that from the comfort of your home days in advance of your trip.)
And take multiple photocopies of everything ! I'd suggest 3 copies at least of the Green Book (page with your name and bike details), face page of your passport, page with your visa/extension/re-entry stamp, plus 2-3 copies of the TM.2 form.
We went through the Chong Chom/O'smach crossing and rode down to Siam Reap. I booked us into the City Angkor Hotel which is a few kilometers (3.3) from "downtown" (Pub Street) but it's right on the main highway, had lots of parking and - 24 hour "security". (Found out later it's managed by a Thai guy from Pattaya.)
(Many of the "hotels" closer to downtown Siem Reap are converted houses with little or no parking and what is available is "on the street" with no security.)
We returned to Thailand a couple days later through the Poi Pet/Aranyaprathet crossing. A little easier though road construction on the Cambodia side just before the border made it a very slow, hot crawl. 30 minutes to go barely 2 kms.And you
don't go to the Cambodian "Customs House" that's about 500 meters before the border. They will direct you to the new "arch" building right at the border crossing. (See photos below.)
There we had to park our bikes on the right side, then take our paperwork to a window on the other side of the arch. That is where you need extra copies of your green book and passport and guess what ? No photocopier close by. (I was lucky as I had made copies before leaving home. My friends had to scramble to get their stuff copied. I did the Cambodian Customs and Immigration and was back at the bike waiting before they managed to get their photocopying done.)
After parking the bike and doing the Customs window, Immigration is up the stairs on the right side of the arch. Naturally, when you get stamped out of Cambodia you exit through a door on the far side, and then have to double back down the road to where your bike is parked.
When the 4 of us were done, the Cambodian Border guy had us all pull up to the barricade so he could take a photo and then wave us through.
Switch sides to the "Thai" side of the road and go to Thai Immigration. That was a bit nerve wracking as one guy took all 4 of our passports into an booth that's right on the street. Then we were called up one by one to collect our passports. (Nerve wracking as I was worried the IO wouldn't notice my Extension and Re-entry permit.)
Fortunately he did notice and stamped me in until the end of my current Extension.
Then we rode 30 meters to the "Customs" check. They collected the TM.2s and we were away.
Maybe an hour total to leave Cambodia and enter Thailand, compared to the nearly 4 hours it took to leave Thailand and enter Cambodia.
We rode to a PTT about 30 kms away and went for coffee. That is when we remembered to remove the covers from our headlights.
Points to note:
Cambodia now loves AMERICAN dollars more than Thai baht. Everything is listed in either US dollar or (maybe) Cambodian Riels. Be careful using Thai baht as you may (will) get shafted on the exchange rate.
Cambodia drives on the RIGHT side of the road and their speed limits are lower than Thailand. We went around one round-about and the lead (Thai) guy naturally moved to the left side of the road only to be confronted by an angry Cambodian waving him to move to the right side. We stuck to the speed limits as we weren't sure what the cops were like.
It is illegal to have your headlights on during the daytime ! We confirmed this at the border and were told "if" a cop saw us he might ticket us. I had prepared for this and had brought enough "helmet bags" for all of us.
(Whenever you buy a new helmet it usually comes with a cloth bag that has a string to close it. They worked perfectly to cover our headlights. We didn't end up driving anywhere at night anyways.)
Cambodian drivers will literally force you off the road when they decide to pass someone ! In Thailand, if a car/motorcycle/truck is overtaking a motorcycle riding on the outside of the outside lane, they usually give just enough room to get by motorcycle.
In Cambodia, drivers will cross completely into your lane and force you onto the shoulder even if there's plenty of room to pass on their side of the road !!
Seriously ! We even had motorcycles cross into our lane when they were simply passing another motorcycle !
Get your paperwork (TM.2 and Cambodian Temporary Vehicle application) done ahead of time. Make sure you have loads of photocopies. I'd rather carry 5-6 extra pieces of paper than spend 30 minutes scrambling to find a photocopier at the border.)
If you are on a rental, make sure you have a copy of the rental agreement. Probably need a copy of the owner's ID card as well (and probably something from him saying it's OK to take the bike into Cambodia).
Most things are more expensive in Cambodia, like gas for example.
You will need to buy a Cambodian SIM card. Luckily they have vendors sitting right at the Immigration Office that will sell you one and help you set it up. (We were told our Thai SIM cards wouldn't work and I never bothered checking if that was true or not.)
The Poi Pet border crossing (from Cambodia into Thailand).
Thai (Vehicle) Immigration (looking back towards the Cambodian arch).
Thai (Vehicle) Customs checkpoint just past the Immigration booth.
(Mucked up as I had to print-screen some Google Map images.)
Anyways. After leaving Cambodia we were directed to park where the white car is in the photo above. The passport office is just a little booth but - no lines ! Then into the Customs check.
And all they did was look at our paperwork, keep the copies they wanted and then waved us on.
Oddly enough, no one at either crossing ever looked at us, our bags or our saddlebags. No one asked if we had anything to declare or had any booze/cigarettes.
Note for the Chong Cham/O'Smach border crossing. Don't go to the Customs office in Chong Cham. Go to the border.
Going from Thailand into Cambodia, the Thai Immigration Office is on the left side of the road and the Customs Office is on the right side. We ended up going from the Immigration office to the Customs to Immigration to Customs and back to Immigration again, then moved our bikes to just past the Immigration office where another IO checked that we had our TM.2 forms and waved us on.
The Cambodian Immigration office is in a building - on the right side of the road - about 50 meters past the border. There are 4 windows, 2 on the left if you don't need a Visa and 2 on the right for those that do need one.
A couple meters past that building is the Customs Building. Highly recommend having that online Temporary Vehicle application already done.
Riding in Cambodia is kind of like riding in rural Thailand. Crappy roads outside the cities, lots of little villages, farm vehicles. Different beer advertisements (I had no desire to try "Krud Beer") and different gas stations and way fewer 7-11s (compared to Thailand where they seem to have one every 200 meters).
A little bit of planning and preparation before you go can make your trip a lot easier.
Note on the Cambodian Temporary Vehicle app. You can enter and depart from different border crossings. You just have to scroll through the list and decipher which ones you are planning to use.
I have no idea what they will/might do if you don't leave on the date you had in your application or if you use a different border crossing. It shouldn't make a huge difference, just like if you decide to stay at a different hotel than the one you listed on the app.
Of course, knowing what we know now, we could have saved ourselves some sweat and time but we did accept that it would be a learning exercise for all of us and hopefully next time we'll be able to put that learning to use !
