Bus To Phnom Phen - Visa Situation

[bangkok blue]

Can anyone advise on how the visa is obtained by entering Cambodia on the new bus service from Mo Chit? Do you need the E-visa? If not, do you have to que yourself at the border, or will someone from immigration come on the bus and take everyone's passports while we just wait?

[sosisbesar]

Apply for e-visa if you haven't already got one:

http://pattayatoday.net/features/your-visa/joint-visa/

[bangkok blue]

Thanks, but is the E-Visa a necessity, or can it be done at the border when travelling on this new bus and if so how? Everyone gets off and does it themselves, or an immigration official or bus rep' will take the passports and do for you?

[sosisbesar]

Passengers without visas cannot continue with the service but are left behind at the border to make their own way onwards.

Edited March 6, 2013 by sosisbesar

[bangkok blue]

Really??? So, there is no way to use this service unless you get the visa before via E-visa? Where does it state this?

[Theboy]

Get an E-Visa - very simple, and no messing about with the cost

[sosisbesar]

Really??? So, there is no way to use this service unless you get the visa before via E-visa? Where does it state this?

Geesh! You ask for information and when you get it you demand written evidence???

Pray tell, should it be notarized too?

[phuketrichard]

i would also like to know where u heard or read this? Seems something this important would have been mentioned in the article or at least before u buy ur ticket

http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/easier-stuff/337216/bangkok-cambodia-buses-launched

this makes a better trip to sr.

• 
  

  Step 1, travel
  from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet by train, leaving Bangkok's
  main Hualamphong station at 05:55 every day and arriving
  Aranyaprathet 11:35. The fare is just 48 baht
  (about £1 or $1.60), no reservation necessary, simply turn up
  and buy a ticket at the station on the day (the ticket office
  will be open!). They may offer a combined train+bus ticket
  to Siem Reap, but I recommend only buying the train ticket, to
  stay flexible with onward transport. Bangkok to
  Aranyaprathet
  is 255 km, 159 miles. The train is 3rd class only, but
  it's clean, spacious and it's a pleasant and enjoyable ride,
  clickety clacking along with a breeze blowing through the open
  window. There's
  also a 13:05
  train from Bangkok arriving Aranyaprathet at 17:35, but this is a
  bit too
  late to move on from the frontier and you may have to spend the
  night at Poipet. Useful tip: This train also calls at
  Phaya Thai station at 06:10 (next to the Phaya Thai BTS Skytrain
  station) and Makkasan station at 06:20 (Makkasan railway station
  is not the same as the Airport Rail Link's Makkasan
  station, make that clear to your taxi driver). Boarding at
  these stations can be more convenient if you're staying in
  northern Bangkok.

• 
  

  Step 2, take a
  tuk tuk from Aranyaprathet station to Poipet.
  Aranyaprathet is only 6 kilometres (3.8 miles) from the
  Cambodian border at Poipet, and you'll find tuk-tuks waiting for
  you at the station. Take a tuk-tuk from the station to
  Poiphet, cost 80-100 baht, journey
  time 10 minutes. If you haven't already bought a
  
  Cambodian e-visa, tuk-tuk drivers may try and take you to a
  travel agency to buy a Cambodian visa at inflated prices.
  This is no real problem, just say 'No' and insist that they take
  you direct to the border point and they will do so. They
  may tell you it's an 'official' visa office, and
  official-looking people may even ask to 'see' your passport or
  visa, just ignore them and repeat that you want to be taken to
  the official border post, and you'll be taken there. The
  official Cambodian visa office is after Thai exit
  formalities, between the Thai and Cambodian border posts.
  So it's really very simple: If you haven't had your
  passport stamped by a Thai border guard at the Thai border post
  and passed through the 'Angkor' arch (see the photos of these
  below), it ain't the official Cambodian visa office!
  The official visa cost is $20.

• 
  

  Step 3, walk
  across the border. The border is open 07:00-20:00, and
  Cambodian visas can be bought there
  if you haven't bought a
  
  Cambodian e-visa beforehand. First get your
  passport stamped at the Thai side, then walk on for 100 yards
  under the 'Angkor' 'Welcome to Cambodia' archway to the
  Cambodian border post to buy your Cambodian
  visa, have your fingerprints scanned and your passport stamped. Be careful with your
  valuables when crossing the border, just in case there are pickpockets
  around. The whole process should only take around 30
  minutes, but at busy times it can take an hour, sometimes more.

• 
  

  At the exit from Poipet border post onto the big
  roundabout, you will see (or be guided to) an official free transit bus
  to the 'Poipet Tourist Passenger International Terminal' 10 minutes
  down the road from where all the share taxis and buses leave for
  Siem Reap or Battambang or Phnom Penh. This shuttle bus
  (and the man with the official badge who guides you to it) is
  legitimate.

• 
  

  Step 4, take a
  bus, minivan or share taxi from Poiphet to Siem Reap.
  This is 152 km (95 miles) and should take around 2½ hours by share
  taxi or 3 hours by bus now that the highway has been improved.
  Prices are posted at the ticket counter at the Poipet Tourist
  Passenger International Terminal. A shared taxi costs $12 for
  a seat or $48 for the whole car. A bus costs $9, minivan $9. You may
  also be approached y taxi drivers outside the border post, perhaps $40 for a
  taxi all the way to Siem Reap.

spend the night in sr ( or more) and than bus down ( 5-6 hours) to PP

Edited March 8, 2013 by phuketrichard