Cambodia, The new crossing point - Duang, Ban Laem

Ok, I shall let you lot decide where this should be posted cos I have absolutely no idea.

Anyway well today I decided to go to Cambodia, I might add that I decided that yesterday and the day before aswell I had decided to go to Cambodia, but today I finaly got round to it, anyway my son came with me so I thought I would be able to sneak him into Cambodia so at least he has been to another country.

Now I was gonna goto Pong Nam Rorn and use the Prum crossing point, never anybody there and real quick, but I went to Pong Nam Rorn and used the Duang crossing point, never heard of the place before.

So after struggling out of bed at 10am we set off at high speed at 11 am, as you can see in the following pics the scenery is nice once you are passed Chantaburi, nice lanes and nice views.

https://teakdoor.com/gallery/albums/u...400024%7E0.JPG

https://teakdoor.com/gallery/albums/u...400025%7E3.JPG

Also spelt Pong Nam Ron by the locals.

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Err, travel forum, perhaps?!

In a mere 150 minutes we were there, nope I didn't jump one traffic light as I had my son in the car, I reckon alone I could do it in under 2 hours :)

Anyway as with prum there was nobody there waiting in line to be stamped, as he finished with my passport this is where things went wrong, my son who had been hiding in the background so to speak came up and asked them where the toilet was, they realised he was with me and asked for his passport to stamp that, yep he got banned from leaving the country and they weren't gonna back down on it, anyway here is the stream that seperates the 2 countries.


https://teakdoor.com/gallery/albums/u...400013%7E0.JPG

I didn't notice the immigration office in Cambodia and just wandered past, the roads are quite nicely made of mud and dirt and they did have some really classy shacks there, most of the shops were for mobile phones or doctors, bit of a strange mix, heres a pic of the main street.

https://teakdoor.com/gallery/albums/u...400015%7E1.JPG

They even have a guest house, I have to admit I didn't ask the prices for the rooms nor to see the rooms as they were probably not suitable for most of the posters here.

https://teakdoor.com/gallery/albums/u...%20Rotated.jpg

This I assume is owned by the chief of immigration there as he is pocketing the dosh, well he will be when more people use this crossing, I should add that there was a wooden shack that had 2 working gals outside it plying for trade, now I have to admit they were quite pretty but the idea of getting naked in some slum dwelling just put me off of the idea so I didn't avail myself to the oppurtunity.

https://teakdoor.com/gallery/albums/u...%20Rotated.JPG

This is the chief cook of the slum dwelling village, I really have no idea what the old hag was cooking but it created a lot of smoke, tasting some of the smoked bacon in Pattaya it could be she is the main supplier of the crappy bacon we get.

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Walking up the street I could hear music, I believe I found the slum dwellers disco.


https://teakdoor.com/gallery/albums/u...l_sv400018.jpg

Anyway time was a ticking and I thought it best to actually get a visa for Cambodia, so off back to the border, the offices aren't very well sign posted, but on the cambodian side they let you sit in there nice aircon office, the thai side on all crossings they dont like to mix with scum like us so we have to wait outside in the searing heat or the tropical thunderstorms, bastards


https://teakdoor.com/gallery/albums/u...l_SV400016.JPG

What happened to lil dog?

He went and had a piss and then waited in the car...

The journey back;

Well it pissed down with rain, when we got to Chanataburi we must have seen several hundred police and rescue workers, suprise suprise there was an overturned coach off of the road, got to have been a lot of dead and most were probably farangs, oh well the best thing I can say about it is that it pads out the dead farang thread, I couldn't see whether it was from trat which would be ppl from Koh Chang or from chanataburi, either I should imagine a few ppl lost their lives for trusting some foked up yaba coach driver, cnuts.

They would have been backpackers then so no problem.

As a potential future resident of Pattaya/Jomtien is there any better way to get to the birder than going in one of those small minibuses?

You can rent a minibus and driver for yourself for about 2,500baht, or just rent a car for the day.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dirtydog

Walking up the street I could hear music, I believe I found the slum dwellers disco.


https://teakdoor.com/gallery/albums/u...l_sv400018.jpg

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Looks like a wedding. Maybe.

As you can see the roads in Duang are carefully made out of mud. Once you get back onto the Thai side at Ban Laem the roads are much better.


https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../SV400017d.JPG

you were lucky it had been raining DD. I travelled on those laterite roads and after about 10km you get covered in the red dust

when you arrive at a stop point, all the folks on the back of the pickup look like red statues - I was lucky I was inside (extra cost!)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dirtydog

As you can see the roads in Duang are carefully made out of mud. Once you get back onto the Thai side at Ban Laem the roads are much better.


https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../SV400017d.JPG

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But it looks like very flat mud. https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2006/04/120.jpg

I've seen worse roads near Chaiyaphum - pot holed by the sugar cane lorries. Bastards!

Ive used a visa run service for over year that uses the Daung entry point.

Nice service, they do all the paperwork, you sign, carry your passport to Thai Imm. then return to rep. Walk across the bridge and sit for 10 - 15 mins, cross back go though Thai entry and back on the bus.

Leaves the Ekamai area 9:30 AM, lunch and two rest stops included, back by 6:30sh in the evening.

They used to have signs posted in the van (excellent Thai driver BTW) NO LMs allowed. Seems the Thai cops stopped a couple of vans and took all the LMs off since they were a. counterfeit b. stolen. Never could get he right story.

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

Pix taken from Thai side, little red building just visible in front of truck is Camgo Imm. This was the end of rainy season last year. They had to build a higher foot bridge for crossings that day. A dozen or so poles driven in the river bottom and some planks. An experience.

Easy trip with no hassles.

E. G.

What's an "LM"?
Liquid Meth, Lonely Male, Lithuanian Medal?

Cigarettes I believe.

L & M dang, one of the more popular cigs in Thailand... Ligett and Myers Tobacoo company.

E. G.