Phnom Penh - Great Place - Tourist Visa Difficulty

[mushepea]

Last month my 1 yr multientry visa expired. i decided to go back to Phnom Penh (PP) to get a tourist visa which i have done before without a problem. (It was before the cambodians burned the thai embassy down!!!) i was made to pay 1200B at koh kong cambodian immigration for my $20 cambodian visa - even tho i had no thai baht left only dollars but they wouldnt accept them - they wanted me to go back to thailand to the thai ATM for baht. luckily someone i was traveling with had a spare 1200B to lend me. if u go this route get your cambodian visa in bangkok so they cant scam you. (the cambodian embassy in bkk is at 518/4 Pracha Uthit Road (Soi Ramkamhaeng 39) now, it has moved from near lumpini park where it was before.)

anyway, after queuing for about an hour at the thai consulate in PP they wouldnt accept my application. you need an onward, paid for airticket departing thailand within the 60 days AND confirmation of hotel reservation AND travel itinerary while you are 'touristing' in thailand. (and a photo).

I dont know exactly what ill be doing for the next week never mind 60 days and i never book hotels in advance. hence no visa. I came back in a bus, only $15US all the way to bkk. the cambodian road was good until about 20km from poipet, they are still surfacing the last part. but it took 14hrs to get to bkk.

There are big signs at thai immigration aranyaprathet - ONWARD TICKET MUST BE SHOWN - but luckily i wasnt asked for it. But i could have been so be warned - it will happen as policy changes.

They are making it too difficult to stay here nowadays.

I RECOMMEND EVERYONE TO VISIT PHNOM PENH. It has really improved since i first went there in 2000 and there is a lot of money about there now. they have road surfaces in PP, the buildings are being renovated and there are some great bars. Many bar owners from thailand are setting up in PP and sinoukville and i really enjoyed it there. Also the beer they brew is tons better than that cr*p they make here too and ITS SO CHEAP compared to thailand. I am thinking of going to live there, the thais dont want my cash anymore, so i'll move on.

Maybe thats why they make it hard to get a visa there, they dont want us having a good time on a visa run, its a pennence isnt it!!!LOL.

Remember the goose that laid the golden egg?? thailand is on the same road. once everyone leaves (and takes their money out of the economy) they wont come back.

take it easy.

[marginline]

Remember the goose that laid the golden egg?? thailand is on the same road. once everyone leaves (and takes their money out of the economy) they wont come back.

take it easy.

Thank you for your advice mushepea; it's good to know for anyone travelling on visa-exemption stamps that if you've exhausted all your visa-exempt days...Phnom Penh is definitely not the place to go. So you arrived back in LOS on a 30-day visa-exempt stamp I s'pose? Man, that's a real bummer.

Btw, I liked your analogy about "the goose that laid the golden egg"...it's spot-on to what a South-African gentleman said to my partner and I - while we were all people watching and enjoying a cool Beerlao in Vientiane a couple of weeks ago. He told us about a time 20-years ago when Thailand was "begging" for foreigners to come visit and stay. Now, he continued "there's a haughtiness towards farang" and that is the reason he packed-up and moved North.

FWIW as much as I love Thailand and Thai people (well most Thai people ), if the gatekeepers force my partner and I to leave, I think you're right; we won't come back - until of course there's a Tesco/Lotus in Vientiane!

Again then mushepea - Thanks for the report!

[tijnebijn]

Nice report indeed. It is very well known PP is hard for visas nowadays .

Why not try it in Malaysia ? I am not so sure about tourist visas , but I cannot remember anyone noticing you need an

onward ticket from there .......

but yeah I can understand also people wanting now to go forward in another asian country .

It is still the same atmosphere , thats why i think most of us came here in the first place .

A bit of topic , but i wonder why so little people mention Indonesia , there are so many great places .

Maybe a little difficult to move out when needing to , no nearby neigbours.

Also great to hear Pp improved so much , my last time was also in 2000 .

[midas]

I RECOMMEND EVERYONE TO VISIT PHNOM PENH. It has really improved since i first went there in 2000 and there is a lot of money about there now. they have road surfaces in PP, the buildings are being renovated and there are some great bars.

Yes indeed ! Unlike the Thai's, Cambodian's seem to understand

the principles of town planning and aesthetcially pleasing architecture