Hi all - we are hoping to get to the Laos - Cambodia Border crossing sometime this summer having travelled from the UK - any idea of the scale of issues that we are likley to expect?

We crossed earlier last year, road 13-NH7 near the thousand islands. The border is pretty quiet & didn't take too long. There were some backpackers doing a visa run freaking out about some fee but we didn't get shaken down. Most of the officials there were pleasant.

Neillo8 - thanks - had seen other blogs that had said people had been turned back - might have been because they had Viet Nam registered bikes - ours should be UK if we get that far!

Thanks

getting turned back is weird. Just ride in no one will stop you.. ignore customs.. ignore them on the way out aswell, those borders are joke borders. Get the visa, get the entry stamp.. ignore anyone else. There isn't enough police officers to stop you or chase you. Just have fun. We did it Poipet to Cambodia and out to Laos on the crossing you're on about. Just easy.. we rode under the barrier ignoring the health check guy aswell.. ignorance is bliss...

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Currently on the road.. suck it work
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I wanted to add to the body of knowledge concerning crossing from southern Laos on route 13 to Cambodia on National Highway 7 via motorcycle (registered in the United States, for what it matters). I attempted to make the crossing into Cambodia today but was turned away by the Cambodian customs agent, wherein he mumbled about needing a carnet and if that was not available, I'd need to enter Cambodia at the Poipet crossing. I have no idea why he mentioned a carnet because according to my research, this is not an official requirement for foreign registered cars/motorcycles entering Cambodia.

If I already had my Cambodian visa stamped in my passport and were feeling my adventurous, I would have probably risked racing through the border without stopping. Has anybody successfully crossed from Laos to Cambodia on a motorcycle recently?

That's completely bogus. Not sure if you got irate or tried to sweet talk them but I did notice watching other travelers, the latter method goes much better with the Cambodian side...that and a willingness to park yourself until they let you go...

I didn't mind waiting, the health guy had a nice pet parrot.

We went through the 4,000 Islands / Stung Treng border in mid-April last year (2013), jus a week or so ahead of niello8 [remember Si?]

It was around the occasion of a Faith's - Hindu or Buddhist (I'm not sure which one) - New Year celebrations.

The Laos border guard insisted that we pay $2 each as a 'Happy New Money' gesture. We paid up. I'm not sure if this was a scam or legit? I've since been told that such a request at that time of year is indeed quite legitimate. We paid, as it simply wasn't worth arguing over such a trivial amount. We just wanted to get going down to Kratie in good time.

Then we got hit again for another $2 each by the Cambodian border guards on the other side, even though we had already bought Cambo visas in Vientiane about 10 days previous. They said it was a fee for stamping our passports. The price of ink nowadays, eh?!

Cambodian customs came next, but the main HQ building and its adjacent booths appeared abandoned. We knocked a few doors and peered around a few corners, but there was nobody working. We put it all down to the time of the 'New Year' - then legged it down to Kratie, with no importation formalities whatsoever completed.

About a week later I parked-up the bike in a Phnom Penh storage facility for 6 months, pending my return the following October (2013).

October came and we were back in Phnom Penh. Just over a week after that we headed for the Thai border at Phsar Prom .. where it all got a little awkward with the Cambo Customs officials down there.

The bike, apparently, had spent its six months' hibernation in Cambodia illegally! They wanted to see a stamped-in carnet. I argued, and even pointed to the back (yellow) cover of my new carnet - just acquired for Nepal, India etc - that Cambodia was not part of the International CPD Network. That didn't matter; they insisted that I should have followed the CPD protocol back at the Stung Treng border six months previously. I was apologetic, played the innocent card .. .. and went on a charm offensive. I mean, I was ten times more charming than that Arnold feller on Green Acres!!


In the end the Customs bloke, poking fingers at me, telephoned his superior, who eventually gave instructions to let us pass through to Thailand, despite the lack of paperwork. BUT it was a bit touch and go for about 20-30 minutes!

My advise is to get your carnet stamped-in and out of Cambodia (if you are carrying a carnet) even though Cambodia is not part of the CPD Network.

Incidentally, the same goes for Timor-Leste (East Timor), which also doesn’t officially recognise the carnet system .. but nevertheless seems to want to stamp your carnet on entry and exit in any case!
.

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Right Way Round ...

Ha they never said boo about carnet in or out of Cambodia. There was a crunchy poofy pantalooned backpacker throwing an absolute fit about a tiny fee. She got stuck for a while

Keith that border is where we met peter & Frances and then had some local brew...