Singkhon

Drive South on the Petchkasem Road through Pratchuap Khiri Khan and about 10Kms after the town there is a turning on the right for Myanmar. Take that road and follow it for about another 15Kms and you eventually arrive at the border crossing of Singkhon.

It isn't exactly a big town, more like a couple of shops and a few souvenir stands.


https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...l_P1010017.JPG

Here are a few trucks waiting to cross the border. You can pay 100B and walk across but we didn't bother mainly because there did not seem anything worth crossing for. I am making an assumption that the crossing includes foreigners, I have done the same thing at Songklaburi.

The shops here sell four items mainly, furniture, jewellery, ornaments and plants.

Furniture first. There are two large shops one sold stuff that looked pretty crappy and badly finished, the other was somewhat better.

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The big table was marked at 60,000 B, I can't remember the price of the chair.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...l_P1010028.JPG

These stools are a more manageable 1000B each.

There were also some nice beds, cupboards and so forth, pretty much everything to furnish a house.

You hope you won't need the services of this office.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...l_P1010013.JPG

Wondering what to do with all the empties after Songkhran? Start that extension now!

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...l_P1010016.JPG

Anyway back to the shops.

I didn't bother with the jewellery section.

This guy had an intersting and colourful selection of ceramics.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...l_P1010020.JPG

I think the seat on the right is 2,500B, the jars were 1,500

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...l_P1010022.JPG


Not sure what you would do with these - book ends perhaps.

The big market though seems to be in plants and in particular orchids.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...l_P1010008.JPG

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Some of the plants were arranged in containers but many looked like that they had been hacked out of the ground that morning. I am really not sure what the ethics of buying plants like this is; you decide for yourself I guess.

I was told that the best time to buy is in the afternoon shortly before the stall owners need to shut up and head back over the border, they obviously don't want to carry a lot of stock back with them.

I didn't get into asking about prices as there is no point in haggling over something I have no intention of buying but 20B for an orchid was being freely offered as I walked around.

I said earlier in the thread that you can pay 100B and cross the border. This is not an official crossing point so you can't do a visa run here -

BUT

- I heard rumours a year or so ago that a visa crossing point was going to be established here and the shopkeepers repeated the same rumour - don't know when of course.

The road up to the border from the Petchkasem Road had however just been newly laid, probably in the previous month and is wide and smooth. I would like to think that it wasn't done for the benefit of the occasional tourist bus that is going up there at the moment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dougal

I said earlier in the thread that you can pay 100B and cross the border. This is not an official crossing point so you can't do a visa run here -

BUT

- I heard rumours a year or so ago that a visa crossing point was going to be established here and the shopkeepers repeated the same rumour - don't know when of course.

The road up to the border from the Petchkasem Road had however just been newly laid, probably in the previous month and is wide and smooth. I would like to think that it wasn't done for the benefit of the occasional tourist bus that is going up there at the moment.

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I guess that crossing is still not as convenient as Cambodian ones for most Bangkokians.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

I guess that crossing is still not as convenient as Cambodian ones for most Bangkokians.

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A visa run is something I have yet to have the pleasure of. How long is the time to the Cambodian border from BKK?

A bit academic at the moment but Singkhon would benefit the HH and Cha-Am expats who usually to the much longer run down to Ranong at the moment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dougal

A visa run is something I have yet to have the pleasure of. How long is the time to the Cambodian border from BKK?

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About 3 hours to get there (depending upon the border of course).

Will the boarder at Phetchuap be a vise run any time soon.

I heard the big new road to Singkorn was linked to a trade agreement between the steel-works at Bang-Saphan & the (was) Burmese. Does seem stange that on Pekky-Rd,below Pratchuap is the big green overhead sign for notifying traffic of the Singkorn turn-off,yet it still remains a minor crossing point..with as yet no Imm. office for farangs.

The market there is supposed to do good deals on wooden furniture,but what you order/buy comes over/thru' the border that night,& you pay/pick up next day...T.I.T.