My 30 Minutes At Prum (pong Nam Ron)

[AlarmGuy]

Just thought I'd share today's experience of my trip to the Cambodian border crossing at Prum - about 20K from Pong Nam Ron in Chantaburi.

I went with my Thai wife in our car and arrived at 12:29pm (it was stamped on my car park ticket). Walked 50 yards to the Thai passport control and got stamped out (non-imm O).

Walked 150 yards across the bridge and had a single Cambodian on a motorbike offer me a ride for Bt50. I refused and he rode off.

Gave the guard my passport, filled in the forms, he stamped it and I gave him Bt1000 without a single word being said. It looked like there was something really interesting on TV.

He pointed me in the direction of his mate about ten feet away. He filled in my exit form and asked for his Bt300.

I handed it over with a smile, walked back across the bridge, got my Thai stamp, got in my car, paid the Bt50 car parking fee and away I went at 13:00pm.

I had intentionally timed it so the Pattaya runners were already done and dusted by the time I arrived, but I did not know it would be that quiet. I saw one falang walking back across the bridge - and that was it. No scammers, only 2 beggars and otherwise nobody around. The only other unexpected cost was the Bt50 for parking the car, but hey, it was in the shade in a secure place - so no complaints there.

Yes - I know I paid Bt600 over the odds, but I had prepared myself for this in advance so that all stress was removed from the journey. Compared to my last trip to hel_l on earth (Poipet) - my trip to Prum was "a walk in the park" and I left a very happy falang ;-)

Edited April 4, 2008 by AlarmGuy

[Crossy]

Thanks for the report

I'm sure the "you can do it for 200 Baht" crowd will pop up soon. But IMHO preparation and paying a tad over the odds to smooth the way is acceptable if it minimises my time mucking about, time is of course, money

Edited April 5, 2008 by Crossy