Too Hot To Trat

Trip Start Feb 25, 2006
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Trip End Jun 24, 2009


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Flag of Thailand  ,
Thursday, October 11, 2007

It was time for another visa run so I decided to head back to Cambodia. Not because Cambodia is the best place to do a visa run, it's probably the worst. It's only redeeming factor is it's close to my favorite Thai island. I had heard conflicting reports as to the best way to get from Bangkok across the border and then back to Trat to catch a boat to the islands. My last visa run to Cambodia was to the pit known as Poipet and I wasn't too keen to return there even though the nice casino with the best blackjack odds I've ever seen paid for my visa run and a bottle of Scotch last time. I wanted something a bit closer to Trat. I heard that Ban Laem was a better border to go to because there are less touts and scam artists there to hassle you, but information on this little border crossing was scarce at best unless you wanted to take one of the Bangkok Border Run specials for 1900B. I was told that it's only a short taxi ride from Chantaburi, but looking at the maps, it didn't look that close. In fact, Ban Pakad was closer so I tried to find info about that crossing, but almost nothing was available Horrible Lines
Horrible Lines
 . I decided that I'd make it into an adventure and check it out anyway. Except for the pissing down rain when I got to Ekamai Bus Station, the bus to Chantaburi was a breeze. When I arrived in Chantaburi, there didn't seem to be any public transport anywhere around. All I got were quotes from taxi drivers for 600B to go and come back. They said it was 80Km away, but I had heard that a ride there should be about 100B. I figured they were just trying to rip me off so I passed, but since I had too much luggage including a laptop with me, I didn't feel like walking all around town to find another option. I just booked a ticket to Trat to see if I could find a way to the Hat Lek border for a more reasonable price. Strangely enough, this opened up an opportunity for haggling where they wouldn't move on the price at all before. I figured, if what they were saying was true and it would take an hour to get there, 30 mins at the border, an hour back and 160Km round trip including waiting time, $15 for a personal driver and car didn't sound too unreasonable. In fact, it sounded down right cheap. The best part about being ripped off in Asia is that even if you get taken for a ride, you still are only charged $15 total. If a taxi driver back home takes you for a ride your bill could end up being over $100. I really just wanted to get it done as easily and quickly as possible so I agreed to 500B. I didn't want to have to spend the night in Trat as it's a hot, (too hot) crappy, little, big city with not much to offer Old Sign
Old Sign
 . Unfortunately, the 100B discount got me a rickety old songthaew barely holding it together. We even got a flat tire on the way. But luckily this old pickup truck had a spare with at least a little air left in it and my driver could have been on any Formula 1 pit crew with a little practice. Using only a primitive jack, he was able to get rusty bolts off and a beat up old slick tire on in less than 15 minutes. I stood down the road about 100 ft and kept traffic that was driving far too fast for this little country road from hitting him. Not too bad a delay considering it could have been much much worse. It actually did take us an hour 15 minutes to get to the border, but once there it was pretty much cake. I checked out of Thailand, walked over to the Cambodian Entry point, got my visa for $20 after some haggling, stamped into Cambodia, got a bottle of Johnny Black, and checked back into Thailand within 45 minutes. Of course, they asked me at least a hundred times for 1000B ($30) for the visa before finally relenting. They later tried to make up some 300B fee for just doing a border run and not going into Cambodia. I told them, "I've done this before and I AM going into Cambodia, right over there to the duty free shop". When I got back from the shop, he tried one last time for 100B before stamping me out of Cambodia, but I just offered them shots of whiskey and made them laugh before they waved me on. My driver was waiting for me patiently reading a newspaper and an hour and 15 minutes later we were back at the bus station and I managed to catch the 5pm bus Trat Modern Sign
Modern Sign
 . Unfortunately after I bought the ticket, I found out it was standing room only for the hour and 30 min trip. Fortunately, about 30 minutes down the road a bunch of people got off and I got a seat. On the bus I met a woman that owns Pop Guest House in Trat and she said it would be better to stay in Trat than trying to get to Ko Chang at 7pm at night and trying to find a place to stay that late. I was tired and couldn't be bothered to travel for another 2 hours so I took a cheap 100B room from her. It had been a long day that started at 6:30am with only 2 hours of sleep. I had dinner a few beers and crashed for the night.

Travelers Tips - I have not been able to confirm this, but I was told that if you get to Chantaburi before noon, there should be minibuses/songthaews that will take you and other border runners to Ban Pakad for about 100B each, but after noon there just aren't enough runners to make it worth their while. So take the first bus out of Bangkok at 7am if you want to come here for your border run. If you don't mind paying 500-600B for a taxi, it can be a "quick" 11 hour run without all the hassles and crowds of Poipet. As you can see in my pictures, the lines here are basically nonexistent. If you are going to the islands, there are 2 options both from Centerpoint Ferry Terminal. A speedboat can take you to your island of choice for 450B unless you are a local, then its 300B (current schedule is 10am, 1:30pm, and 4pm). The regular boat takes much longer, but is only 250B at 3pm. From Trat to Centerpoint, it's 150B for a private car or 40B in a shared songthaew (wait for 7 people).
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