Visa Run to Pong Nam Ron/Prum Cambodia

This is probably the nearest crossing point for those of us in the wilds of Pattaya, it is about a 2 to 3 hour drive depending on whether you or your driver are doped up yaba homicidal maniacs, or sedate normal people.

This place is actually quite good as there is never any queues, nor are there any beggars :)

The drive there is on good roads, well apart from the last 20kms, that is pretty ropey but I feel sure that will soon be sorted as they had loads of people working on it, anyway I believe this is a picture of the last sign post, after this it is really easy to get lost as I do most times and then end up at crossing points I have never heard of before.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_02.jpg


I really dont know what these guys do here all day, I assume they are worried about Cambodia attacking Thailand, this is about 20km from the border.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_03.jpg

As you can see with this picture it will be a really nice wide road when they actually finish it.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_05.jpg

They don't let you park near the immigration office due to the fact that you could be a terrorist and your car maybe a car bomb, there is a car park about 500 meters away but who could be bothered walking that far?
So just park on the road about 30 meters from the office.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_06.jpg


Always a few lorries waiting to cross, not sure where these young ladies were going :)

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_07.jpg

I have to admit that I have never seen such big queues there as this picture shows, this is obviously the Thai side to sign out of the country so to speak.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_09.jpg



Once you sign out you have to pass the barricades.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_11.jpg

Swiftly jogging the 200 meters to the Cambodian visa office you will be suprised to see it is actualy just a wooden shack, yet 200 meters away the Thais are sitting in there nice airconned office with dark glass windows.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_16.jpg


If you see this building then you know you are in Cambodia, so now is the time to be careful of landmines.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_18.jpg

Anyway first you pay a crisp 1000baht note to obtain a nice new visa, then they fine you 300baht because you will not be staying the night, funny you don't get a reciept for that, and then its back off to Thailand :)

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_22.jpg

The old customs and excise seem to be top notch in prum so becareful there :)

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_24.jpg

The Cambodian duty free shop is well worth a visit for high end goods like, erm, well cigarettes I suppose.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_25.jpg

So you dont get lost you should keep an eye out for these 2 signs.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_27.jpg


No expense spared :)

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...un_Prum_28.jpg

Pong Nam Rorn is also known as Pong Nam Ron.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u..._forecasts.gif

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...10004/tdtv.gif

Brilliant, and again shows the ease of getting around BKK's bullshit. Thanks DD.

Well a friend of mine nipped down to Prum yesterday, and it seems that the Thai side has splashed out on some nice warning signs.


https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...Brum_2_001.jpg



https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...Brum_2_002.jpg


So watch out for those mines :)

Also if you mention to the Cambodian immigration boarder points are cheaper than Prum they will bring the price down from 300baht to 200baht.

I was at Pong Nam Ron about two weeks ago and the roads are now completely finished.
The Thai imm office has now moved over to the right-hand side of the road.

In and out still only takes a little under 15 mins compared to wasting an hour at Aranyaprathet.

They must have redug up the last 5km again then cos it is still gravel as of yesterday :)

depends which way you go...

if you're coming from Bangkok...and therefore the Sa Kaew end which i did yesterday... there are no roadworks...

if you're coming from Pattaya ..and therefore the Klang end...there are still roadworks...

DD...don't take the first turnoff onto the 3193...take the second one...that's what all the visa buses from Pattaya do...no roadworks

nice pics DD: time for an update though as they've gone all up-market on both sides of the border...

oh...and what's this 300 baht nonsense...just tuck 100 Baht into your passport when you go to Cambo immigration then they'll know you're going straight back and no questions asked...no receipt though!

Klongy, I think that you will find there are three crossing points from pong nam rorn, duang is one on the Cambodian side, Prum is another, the other I also believe is called Prum, check your passport to which you went to, this is Prum on the Cambodian side yesterday :)

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...Brum_2_003.jpg

The crossing that I went to was Daung. The road had been completed right upto the Ban Laem village and was just awaiting road markings.

Where exactly is the Prum crossing?

The prum crossing is about 10km away, they have 3 at least border points right next to each other.

can you be more specific DD:
yep i def. went to Duang but would like to go to Prum cause Duang is getting busier and getting more beggars as well..

I imagine you still take the 3193 off the 317..but where exactly do you turn to get to Prum?

I wish I could KM, but the last 3 times I have been to Cambodia I went to 3 differant places in Pong Nam Rorn, I seem to do the stupid thing and ask the locals if the border is down the road, and sure enough it is, just that the last 3 times it has been differant borders, and no, I have no idea where each one is, it's like I drive to where I think the turn off is, then I ask someone, then they say yes, and there is a border crossing there, and each time it has been a differant one, anyway we got the meeting in chang mai in june so I will probably goto laos :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by klongmaster

can you be more specific DD:
yep i def. went to Duang but would like to go to Prum cause Duang is getting busier and getting more beggars as well..

I imagine you still take the 3193 off the 317..but where exactly do you turn to get to Prum?

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I'd like to go to Prum mainly just for a change of scenery.
A few months ago I took a turning before the 3193 (coming from Sa Kaew) and got lost on some backroads. At one point I arrived at a crossroads with a border patrol but took a turning that I thought would take me in the direction of Ban Laem. But the road eventually got narrower and narrower until I almost ended up in someones backyard. I returned to the crossroads and I'm almost sure I remember a sign pointed the way for a border crossing which I assumed was for only locals (I think it was located to the north of the Daung/PNR crossing).
We asked the border patrol for Ban Laem and basically we were told to double back the way we had come.

I'll try and check it out in a couple of weeks time and report my findings.:)

Do you know of any expat owned bars on the Cambodian borders??? And which town is it in???

All the borders I have been to consist of shanty towns with a few casinos, not really a place to spend much time.

The border crossings do seem to be hit and miss. Went to Prum and drove through the barricade (shown in your photos), but then was refused passage into Cambodia there. Was told to go to Duang, which is we did, but it is getting increasingly crowded. (It was practically deserted the first time I went there last December.) :confused:
Just a matter of time before it rivals Poipet for huge, time-consuming mobs of people.
:(

The Sae Kaew road was odd. My Thai mates joined us for a run to Arranyapratet and I took a left and booted it towards a rail way crossing. THey started shouting at me to stop. I thought IO was going to hit a train.

Turns out the road had been opened less than a month before and he didn;'t know thought I was going to wreck the car (that was later)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dirtydog

the last 3 times I have been to Cambodia I went to 3 differant places in Pong Nam Rorn, I seem to do the stupid thing and ask the locals if the border is down the road, and sure enough it is, just that the last 3 times it has been differant borders

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Went yesterday and missed the turn coming down from SaKaeo...

ended up turning left at Pong Nam Ron...which turned out to be a blessing cause I found my way to the Prum border featured in your piccies here...

there was no one there and processing was very fast on both sides...there are two casinos at this crossing and it's only 12 kms from Pailin...plenty of places to invest some money short time for those so inclined...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wai Narm

Went to Prum and drove through the barricade (shown in your photos), but then was refused passage into Cambodia there

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You were refused entry cause you tried to drive through...park your car in the carpark like everyone else and you'll be processed through in no time at all...

if you're going to the casino let them do the paperwork for you in the carpark...it's a free service provided by the casinos plus you don't have to walk once you've completed Cambodian immigration formalities...car park was 30 baht

If you're going from Bangkok take the Rama 9 expressway past the new airport and stay on until you see the 344 to Klang...exit there and then when you arrive in Klang turn left again onto highway 3 to Chantaburi after about 90 kms you'll arrive at the T-junction which says Pak Seng...turn left onto the 317 and continue for 37 kms to Pong Nam Ron...turn right at the traffic lights and the Prum border is 28 kms away...

most of the road is sealed now but is a bit dusty and has lots of loose stones so beware of the idiots - especially in the vans - who think their windscreens are bullet proof...

From Bkk you can go up to SaKaeo and down to the border or down to Chantaburi and up to the border...

i've done them both but prefer the down & up because there's a four-lane highway all the way to Chantaburi which means only the last 65 kms is two lane....much faster...

Some time back when the Thai government were trying to clamp down on Thais crossing over to Cambo to gamble, a member on the TV forum posted about the casinos using buses to pick up punters free of charge in BKK and would drop them off at the Poipet border. The punters could then buy 10Ks worth of chips and would be given a free room for the night at the casino/hotel. The next day you could cash in your chips regardless of whether you gambled or not and then get aboard a bus that would return you to BKK free of charge.

The post/topic relating to this on TV was quickly deleted and I've heard no more about it.
Anyone have anymore info?
I, like many, have seen the numerous buses going to and from Poipet and coming from the directions of not only BKK but from Khorat and Pattaya directions too. So I believe that they possibly do pick ups free of charge, but what about the free casino accomodation? :confused:

If the above is possible then it would only cost me 1000 baht for a cambo visa and the cost of mc taxi rides to and from my house and the buses pick up point. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by klongmaster

You were refused entry cause you tried to drive through...park your car in the carpark like everyone else and you'll be processed through in no time at all...

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The first time I tried to park right outside the Thai immigration office, they all started panicing thinking I was some crazed Muslim with a car bomb, after that I used to park across the road from them, since then it has been changed and I just park on the main road 20 meters from their office, the car park is about 200 meters from the Thai immigration office.

Well I nipped over the border yesterday to Prum, 1,000baht for a Cambodian visa and 300baht fine for not staying over night.

There are 2 casinos with in walking distance the classier of the 2 is the, "Caeser Casino and Hotel", Although both had signs up stating cameras,guns,crash helmets and spectacles were not allowed into the casino area.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...borders_06.JPG

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...borders_12.JPG

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...borders_14.JPG

I forgot to mention that there still is about 10km of the road that hasn't been resurfaced yet, quite a few deep massive potholes :(

The, "Flamingo Pailin casino and hotel", is the other one, as you can see in this first picture they haven't really put a lot of money into their main entrance feature.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...borders_04.JPG


https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...borders_03.JPG


https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...borders_02.JPG

Not upto Las Vegas standards are they.....

Did you have a flutter?

Na, I walked in there and then suddenly realised how i was dressed, flip flops with dried mud all over them from the previous day at work when we had a load of soil delivered is not really suitable attire for a casino, so I walked straight back out again.

100 meters into Prum there is a market, unless you are going to buy a carton of cigerettes it is not worth the 100 meter walk.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...borders_10.JPG

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...borders_09.JPG

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...borders_07.JPG

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...borders_08.JPG

Pailin is about 12km away, there are a lot of mini buses coming from there to Prum so you could probably get a ride into Pailin on one of those, also you got your normal load of motorbike taxi drivers, although the one at Thai immigration did suggest the price of 40baht to get the 200meters to the Cambodian immigration, obviously after sitting down driving for 3 hours I did need the walk.

The Diamond Crown hotel has a billboard up with phone numbers so I assume you can call them and they will pick you up for free if you stay at their place.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...borders_16.JPG

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...borders_15.JPG

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...borders_17.JPG