Pulling Pomelos

A border run to Cambodia provided many photo opps, the truckloads of pigs leaving Thailand, the kids begging, and lots of tourists too. By far, the most exciting part was getting to the boarder. Early in the morning, my Thai friend, Philippine friend and I went to the mall where "casino buses" were waiting to take people to the casinos in Cambodia. We weren't interested in the casinos, but the cheap, round-trip fare worked for us. However, a van going to the same place offered us a free ride. Free? Really? I was skeptical. I let my Thai friend decide, because she would know best, so we took the ride.

About 30 minutes away from the border, the van pulled over and the driver had us switch seats, the white foreigner (me) needed to go to the back to "lay down and relax," making the Thais who were sitting back there, sit up front. This was so "the soldiers at the checkpoints wouldn't be curious and check everyone." As we drove off again, the free ride started feeling more sketchy. Approaching the road stop check point, I did as I was told, and pretended I was sleeping. The soldier opened the door looked at everyone inside and closed it again. Driving off, my friend whispered, "we got through," and a few minutes later, we arrived at the Cambodian border.

This being my first border run, I didn't know what to expect and the I had a high learning curve for the paperwork process...
Get the departure stamp from Thailand, walk down the street under the sign that reads "Kingdom of Cambodia," go to the immigration office to get a Cambodian visa, go to the Arrivals desk to get a stamp into the country, walk across the street (without getting run over by a truck of pigs), stand in line for the departure stamp to leave Cambodia, and then walk back down the opposite side of the street to wait in line for the arrival stamp back into Thailand. What a process!

With my visa, I have to leave the country every 90 days, so Blip will be seeing more of Cambodia in the future. If a Thai friend wasn't waiting on the Thailand side, I might have explored a bit more in the country, maybe next time. :)