Hey, thought I'd share yesterdays border crossing experience with you all...
So after a nights sleep in Chou Doc I headed to the border crossing, maybe two and a half hours ride southwest. I arrived at the crossing at about 12:00 am though I did stop to get some US $ along the way, just in case I needed to grease the way.
On the Vietnam side I was stopped by a guard who wanted to see my passport, he then walked me up to the immigration office to get an exit stamp. However the officer was currently on lunch, after about a 15 minute wait the officer showed up stamped my passport and waved me on. I tried to show him my bikes blue card, he continued to wave me on with little more than a nod of recognition that I had even tried to show him something. They were all very friendly.
In between the crossing offices there is a frenzy of activity lorries everywhere, most of them having their cargo moved between Viet lorries and Cambodian ones, or vice versa.
On the Cambodian side I almost passed by their immigration office as no one was waving down incoming traffic, it was only become I was riding so slow that a herd a call from within one of the offices. I pulled over where a guard asked to see my Cambodian visa, I told him I didn't have one. He pointed out an office behind theirs and said I had to apply there. Again the officer was nowhere to be seen, but this time the wait was only about 5 minutes. I had to fill out 2 forms, one was the visa application and requires a passport size photo (which we didn't bother with) and a $25 fee (I paid 600,000 Dong), the other form was stapled in to my passport and will be used on exit, the visa will last for 1 month I was told. Once I had the documentation I was pointed back to the immigration office where my passport got a new sticker (the visa) and a bunch of stamps, I was then sent on my way. I was stopped one final time leaving the border by a guard who checked my Cambodian visa. Again all the guards seemed very friendly.
The whole thing took about 40 minutes and was pretty hassle free. No one questioned if I was exporting my bike or even if I intended to bring it back, in fact no one even looked at the bike (an old Honda GLPro).
So after a nights sleep in Chou Doc I headed to the border crossing, maybe two and a half hours ride southwest. I arrived at the crossing at about 12:00 am though I did stop to get some US $ along the way, just in case I needed to grease the way.
On the Vietnam side I was stopped by a guard who wanted to see my passport, he then walked me up to the immigration office to get an exit stamp. However the officer was currently on lunch, after about a 15 minute wait the officer showed up stamped my passport and waved me on. I tried to show him my bikes blue card, he continued to wave me on with little more than a nod of recognition that I had even tried to show him something. They were all very friendly.
In between the crossing offices there is a frenzy of activity lorries everywhere, most of them having their cargo moved between Viet lorries and Cambodian ones, or vice versa.
On the Cambodian side I almost passed by their immigration office as no one was waving down incoming traffic, it was only become I was riding so slow that a herd a call from within one of the offices. I pulled over where a guard asked to see my Cambodian visa, I told him I didn't have one. He pointed out an office behind theirs and said I had to apply there. Again the officer was nowhere to be seen, but this time the wait was only about 5 minutes. I had to fill out 2 forms, one was the visa application and requires a passport size photo (which we didn't bother with) and a $25 fee (I paid 600,000 Dong), the other form was stapled in to my passport and will be used on exit, the visa will last for 1 month I was told. Once I had the documentation I was pointed back to the immigration office where my passport got a new sticker (the visa) and a bunch of stamps, I was then sent on my way. I was stopped one final time leaving the border by a guard who checked my Cambodian visa. Again all the guards seemed very friendly.
The whole thing took about 40 minutes and was pretty hassle free. No one questioned if I was exporting my bike or even if I intended to bring it back, in fact no one even looked at the bike (an old Honda GLPro).