Cambodia to Vietnam - New Border Crossings Trapaeng Sre/Thlong

Great read annamoran333. Still another way to avoid Phnom Penh.

Thank you everyone for posting such useful info up here. I wondered if anyone has had/heard of anymore recent success at either of these crossings recently? I am hoping to pass through this way next month...

Any info would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Sam

Just to confirm again that this crossing is fully open to foreigners. We had no problems at all.

My girlfriend and I left Kratie at 7am and were in Saigon shortly before 1pm. We did the journey as stated above, i.e. bus to snoul, moto to the border (great new road, smooth as silk!), walk across border, moto to small town (cant remember name?) and then bus all the way to saigon. Costs much the same as above, maybe a few dollars more. Cheaper than going via Phnom Penh and way way way quicker.

Very easy journey, no waiting for transport at any point. Everyone friendly but noone really seemed able to speak english which was a bit difficult when trying to tell the moto driver in snoul where we needed to go! Border crossing itself was no problem. A few minutes to check through our passports on each side and that was it - the main delay appeared to be that they were a little unsure what needed to be done with our western passports. There were none of the ridiculous processing fees we experienced between Laos and Cambodia - refreshingly this crossing didnt cost us a single dollar on either side. Also, didnt see a westerner all journey which was a nice change.

I would definitely recommend this as a quicker way to Saigon from this area of Cambodia and as a change to simply joining the majority on the tourist buses.

However, just a quick note of caution - we got no helmets with our moto drives (not sure how common this is???) and the driver set off at quite a pace before i asked him to take it slow, we were in no rush. Also with all three of us on the bike and two large bags it did feel a little unsafe and although it probably wouldnt have mattered we did feel more comfortable at 25kmh than at 50kmh!!! The ride was great fun on reflection, now we're alive, but probably a touch dangerous. Next time we'll ask for two motos!

Oh yeah, also dont believe the touts in Kratie telling you that taking this route costs $40!! Not true! They obviously make a commission on the tickets via PP.

Anyway, hope this encourages a few more to take this route. Good luck!