From Battambang To Ban Laem Crossing.

[Humanoid]

I will be in battambang, and I want to get to thailand, using the 30 day visa-exempt stamp, without an airplane ticket.  Apparently, I can only do this at the Ban Laem, Chantaburi, crossing, by buying a 200 baht bus ticket.

My question is, how do I get from battambang city to the crossing point?

I've figured this out so far...  On the cambodian side, the province is battambang.  The district is kamrieng.  And the village is "daung" / "daung lem" / "daun lem".

Are there bus companies there with english signs saying "daung"?  What do I tell people who ask me where I want to go?  Do I say "ban laem thailand", "daung", "daun lem"?  Which name will they most likely understand?  At what time is the last bus?  How many hours does it take to get there from battambang?

Has anybody ever taken this path?  What else should I know about it?

Thanks!

[cali4995]

Humanoid, Here's a link to a Cambodian Map

"Pailin" is the name of the Cambodian province opposite the Ban Laem checkpoint.

There is a major casino there, and apparently also a road to Battambang, which

from the map, looks to be an adjacent province. I read a few travel accounts on the

internet which say to take a taxi from Battambang to Pailin. About 2 hours but I know

the roads can be a bit sketchy at times. You're right about the name of the local village

because I've seen that "Daung" on my Cambodian stamps in my passport.

Telling them you want to go to the "Pailin Casino" should get some understanding. Yes,

you need to buy a 200 baht bus ticket to Siem Reap as your proof of onward travel to

get the 30-day stamp. Tried to find the khymer script for you but I can't. Be careful.

[Humanoid]

Getting to Pailin should be easy. But the crossing near pailin is "phsa prom", which goes to "ban pakard" on the thai side, not "ban laem". Are you sure I'm supposed to go from battambang city to pailin before getting to daung? It really looks like a long detour to go to pailin first. Check out this map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...931091&z=10

Battambang city is on the right hand side along road 5, where it makes a T-intersection with another marked road. If you follow the marked southwest road from that T-intersection, it will lead to pailin, and then to ban pakard, thailand. But if you go north from battambang along route 5 for about 12 km, you will see another clearly visible (but unmarked) road going west. If you follow this road to the west, it eventually gets to a fork approximately aligned above pailin with 2 roads to choose from. If you take the lower road, I believe this one eventually reaches daung. This is the road I believe I should take, if there is a bus that goes this way.

I can see there is a very small road from pailin to daung, but I heard it's like 2 hours, and I'd have to take a motorbike. It's also clear from the map that this road is much smaller than the one I described in the previous paragraph.

I'll try to take the bigger road from battambang straight to daung first. If I cannot find a bus that takes this road, then I guess I'll just take the longer detour through pailin, costing an extra 2 hours.

I found the khmer script for kamrieng district. I think I'm much more likely to find a bus sign that says it's going to kamrieng district, than to daung village. Here is the khmer script for kamrieng district:

ស្រុក​ កំរៀង = srok kom riang

The first word is srok which means district, which I guess might be omitted on bus signs.

I found it in these two wikipedia pages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battambang_Province

http://km.wikipedia.org/wiki/ខេ...;បង

I hope it'll suffice!

Edited October 3, 2007 by Humanoid

[cali4995]

Humanoid, I called google and asked them to re-route the satellites

so we can get a better look at this general area......just kidding.

I found an excellent recent account which would probably be very

helpful to read (below). "Pailin city" is actually 20KM inland from the

border. You definitely want to go to "Daung" which I guess is the name

of the local Cambodian village. I think you're correct they're saying

two crossings exist, but only at the one can you use the onward

bus ticket method. And I think within Cambodia there are even

inter-provincial checkpoints which makes for too many names

and even more confusing. This crossing at "Ban Laem" I don't believe

has even been open to foreigners much more than the last year.

Read this it will help. Bring your machete, you'll get there eventually.

http://www.talesofasia.com/cambodia-overla...lin-reports.htm

[cali4995]

Humanoid, here's yet another map. With this you can navigate around

and actually see "Ban Laem" right on the border. It does look to be

Northwest of "Pailin". With Battambang far to the Northeast, So I see

what you're saying about not going the "long way around". The google

satellite image is great but only Thai province/amphur designations.

http://www.thailandguidebook.com/map/index.htm