All aboard!

Today I left Laos and arrived in Cambodia. It was a very brief visit to Laos – really only a transit through from Vietnam to Cambodia as for the first time on this trip I have somewhere to be by a particular date. But it was good to see a new part of the country on my way. I like Pakse and the surrounding area.

I took a public bus from Pakse to Stung Treng, the first town over the border in Cambodia. The bus continued on to Phnom Penh. It was the first time that I’ve taken a public bus where all the passengers were western tourists. I want to know how Lao and Cambodian people travel across the border. There’s got to be other transport, probably cheaper, that tourists aren’t told about! This border has a very well organised corruption racket going on. I’ve crossed many international borders overland (this was the 5th on this trip, not including European borders with no passport checks) and none have ever charged a fee to put the exit stamp in the passport. The fees – US $2 to get out of Laos and another $2 to get stamped into Cambodia – are unofficial and go straight into the pockets of the officials. It’s not a huge amount of money but it’s the only overland border between Laos and Cambodia so sees a lot of people passing through so must be quite lucrative over the course of a few months. I don’t know if they also charge Lao and Cambodian people but they charged three Vietnamese people crossing on motorbikes at the same time as I crossed.


I decided to break my journey in Stung Treng so I didn’t spend the whole day travelling. I arrived at lunchtime and the first thing I needed was a cold drink in the shade overlooking the river. When it cooled down in the late afternoon I went for a walk. My blip and the extras are from that walk. The monk in the extra stopped to chat to me for a few minutes before being driven off by his friend.