Crossing Laos --> Cambodia, Urgent

[mr.OZ]

hello (this is max, i just had to register a new username cause i forgot
the password),
We are way into our big trip now! we did malaysia, thailand, laos, 2 months
on the road so far, 7000km on the bikes, no crashes, no bribes, all good
we're about to leave lao tomorrow morning and want to spend the next 2
weeks in cambodia, then go all the way back to malaysia.


now i really hope somebody can give us some advice regarding cambodia:
we know we can get visa on arrival in cambodia for 20 usD.


I assume it is possible to enter at the lao/cambodia crossing and leave at
a cambodia/thai, is this correct?

I've spent the past hour reading into how to get the bike in, looked at
this forum and at gt-riders.com but still, i'm not sure what to do - should
we try to get a temporary import slip? or just ignore that and just get the visa?

Should we try to buy a local license somewhere, or just don't worry about
it and pay the fines?

and lastly, what about motorbike insurance? we are currently on a 1 month
lao insurance and still have thai insurance and malay aswell (wierd, i
know...), but i guess both won't cover us in cambodia, so what can we do?
just hope for the best?


thanks for any help

max and theresa

ps: i've promised to do some ride reports and i'll do, once we get home!
there's no point doing it on a dial up connection somewhere deep in lao -.-

 

[alexuk]

I dont know if you can get visa on arrival at every crossing.
You could get an e-visa online for $25 iirc

 

[LivinLOS]

Assume your going to cross at the stung treng border..

They do push for silly stuff like a 1 dollar health check.. But dont give any bullshit about 'this province only' entry like Koh Kong and (I heard tonight) poipet.

Do the visa.. Get your passport stamped... and if possible avoid / ignore / keep walking the customs... Cambo doesnt seem to have any kind of customs control system that works.. Once side the country its a non issue (until it isnt, an accident etc)..

Good luck.

 

[Lone Rider]

Should not be a big problem but be ready to deal with greedy officials on the Cambodia side for all kinds of unofficial fees like health checks, forms, etc. Some people reported that they paid some 7 USD in these bribes but, if possible, just ignore them, do the passport check/stamp in and try to ignore customs. Not sure if insurance is available at the border but in Stung Trenf you should be able to arrange that as I don't think that the Thai/Lao/Malay insurance will be valid in Cambodia.

Make sure you pay in US dollars as the exchange they use on the border for other currencies are part of the scams. Tourist visa should be 23 USD but if you pay in Kip they charged someone 250,000 Kip or over 30 USD at present exchange rates

 

[bill]

Should we try to buy a local license somewhere, or just don't worry about
it and pay the fines?

You can get a one year local licence by producing your foreign licence, $45-50 fee, and 4 photos.
Lots of travel agents etc will do the whole process for you.
A couple of days after applying, you're given an official receipt that most traffic police will accept.
It take 4 weeks to finally get your Cambodian drivers licence card.

Seeing as you're only spending 2 weeks in Cambo I wouldn't worry about it.

It's mainly the Sihanoukville cops who ask for Cambo drivers licence. This is a result of the local motodop mafia who lobby the authorities not to let foreigners ride motobikes. Most visiting tourists don't worry about it and pay the fine if they ever get stopped. The official fine is Riel 5000 ($1.25) . You can demand a receipt.

As for vehicle insurance, I think its only available on a one year basis and you need a Cambodian drivers licence to qualify.

 

[mr.OZ]

hey eveybody, THANKS alot for your quick help!

not only did we manage to dodge the "health check", we also even managed to save some money.

first, the lao immigration, i dropped the passports for a stamp out, but when i went to collect them the border officer told us that there was a two dollar exit fee!
i had never heard of this, and told him we were not going to pay it, but i was unsure of myself, and didn't act too convincing.
he probaply sensed my insecurity, and told me he wouldn't give the passports back to us without us paying the 2 dollars.

so i paid the two dollars, but he only gave me one passport back, suddenly telling me it was 2 dollars for each passport.
at that stage i had enough, and made a bluff: i told him we only had brought just enough money for the cambodian visa, and if i paid those 2 dollars i would have to go back to paxxe to get more money. he then told me, ok, do it!
i told him i'd need my passport back to get back into lao. he asked me if I wanted him to cancel the visa stamp out he had done earlier, bluffing aswell i guess, i had never before heard that this is possible. i told him to do it, and thats where he run out of options and gave me my passport back, not looking happy.

i had a weird feeling after this, and removed the money from our wallet, leaving exactly 50 dollars in there.

as soon as we arrived at the cambodian border, the fake health inspection guy jumped up, demanding us to follow him to his little tent.
fortunately, lone rider had metioned this, so this time i was sure of myself and told him "no, VISA!" and walked past him, ignoring any claims he made, "no visa without health check"

nobody was in the visa booth thou, the policemen were sitting in the shade, playing cards.
i walked up to them and asked for the visa. they told me to do customs first. following the advice here on the forum i tried to insist on the visa, but they told me again, customs first.

so i walked to the customs office, where a cop was waiting for me, he told me to come in and sit down.
expacting to be asked for money, i tried to clarify beforehand if he would ask me for money, but he wouldn't tell me, just told me to come in and sit down 2 more times.
so i did as he said, but had an idea: i told him about the bad, corrupt cops in lao, and how glad i was to finally be in cambodia with such nice and fair policeman!
it worked, and after filling out numerous forms he handed me a import statement, with the declaration form containing exactly one word: "motorbike". and he didn't ask me for money!

so off to the visa booth again, where the cops told me the visa is each 25 dollar, plus 2 dollars each as we both had no passport photos.
i showed him the wallet with exactly 50 dollars and told him the bad, corrupt cops in lao had taken money from us, and after a short chat they waved the photo fee.
all done and we're off to cambodia!

right now we are in pnom penh, i'm thinking about using the gaffa tape i brought to blind our lights (you can't turn them off)
the police tried to stop us 3 times so far for driving with light on, fortunately we managed to speed past them every time.

 

[KTMphil]

We'd love to read a story of your trip with some photo's if possible....

hey eveybody, THANKS alot for your quick help!

not only did we manage to dodge the "health check", we also even managed to save some money.

first, the lao immigration, i dropped the passports for a stamp out, but when i went to collect them the border officer told us that there was a two dollar exit fee!
i had never heard of this, and told him we were not going to pay it, but i was unsure of myself, and didn't act too convincing.
he probaply sensed my insecurity, and told me he wouldn't give the passports back to us without us paying the 2 dollars.

so i paid the two dollars, but he only gave me one passport back, suddenly telling me it was 2 dollars for each passport.
at that stage i had enough, and made a bluff: i told him we only had brought just enough money for the cambodian visa, and if i paid those 2 dollars i would have to go back to paxxe to get more money. he then told me, ok, do it!
i told him i'd need my passport back to get back into lao. he asked me if I wanted him to cancel the visa stamp out he had done earlier, bluffing aswell i guess, i had never before heard that this is possible. i told him to do it, and thats where he run out of options and gave me my passport back, not looking happy.

i had a weird feeling after this, and removed the money from our wallet, leaving exactly 50 dollars in there.

as soon as we arrived at the cambodian border, the fake health inspection guy jumped up, demanding us to follow him to his little tent.
fortunately, lone rider had metioned this, so this time i was sure of myself and told him "no, VISA!" and walked past him, ignoring any claims he made, "no visa without health check"

nobody was in the visa booth thou, the policemen were sitting in the shade, playing cards.
i walked up to them and asked for the visa. they told me to do customs first. following the advice here on the forum i tried to insist on the visa, but they told me again, customs first.

so i walked to the customs office, where a cop was waiting for me, he told me to come in and sit down.
expacting to be asked for money, i tried to clarify beforehand if he would ask me for money, but he wouldn't tell me, just told me to come in and sit down 2 more times.
so i did as he said, but had an idea: i told him about the bad, corrupt cops in lao, and how glad i was to finally be in cambodia with such nice and fair policeman!
it worked, and after filling out numerous forms he handed me a import statement, with the declaration form containing exactly one word: "motorbike". and he didn't ask me for money!

so off to the visa booth again, where the cops told me the visa is each 25 dollar, plus 2 dollars each as we both had no passport photos.
i showed him the wallet with exactly 50 dollars and told him the bad, corrupt cops in lao had taken money from us, and after a short chat they waved the photo fee.
all done and we're off to cambodia!

right now we are in pnom penh, i'm thinking about using the gaffa tape i brought to blind our lights (you can't turn them off)
the police tried to stop us 3 times so far for driving with light on, fortunately we managed to speed past them every time.

 

[LivinLOS]

so i walked to the customs office, where a cop was waiting for me, he told me to come in and sit down.
expacting to be asked for money, i tried to clarify beforehand if he would ask me for money, but he wouldn't tell me, just told me to come in and sit down 2 more times.
so i did as he said, but had an idea: i told him about the bad, corrupt cops in lao, and how glad i was to finally be in cambodia with such nice and fair policeman!
it worked, and after filling out numerous forms he handed me a import statement, with the declaration form containing exactly one word: "motorbike". and he didn't ask me for money!

Stung Treng customs guy never asked me for money either..

Took his time about it.. But no request..

Do cover the light, Cambo cops will do the old shakedown if your lights are on.. Or any other reason they can obviously find.. Keep an IDP handy too.