Can anybody give me any recent accounts of crossing from northern Cambodia into southern Laos? I will be needing to get a Lao visa, this I know. Any tips or advice about getting the visa in PP? Cost, delay, etc.? Any shenanigans by the border guards on either side? Any transport scams or nightmares? Are foreigners allowed to cross there at this time? (Some websites say foreigners can't cross there, but I think that might be outdated info.) Any groovy guesthouses along the southern Laotian Mekong route you could recommend? Any and all info is appreciated.
Thanks!
burnermaxwell
1
namthip
we did it last year, no problem crossing but the border guards on the lao side like to line their pockets with some of your hard earned dosh. they held our passports ransom until we handed over $10 each (i think it was 10, not much but still...) other than that it was fine. we got a boat most of the way, got taken to the rickety little customs house on the mekong on the cambo side and had to walk abit to get to the lao border. as long as u have all your visas before u arrive should be fine
3
weilong
The border is actually some way north of Stung Treng. You might have to pay some kind of "overtime fee" two or three dollars. $10 sounds a bit excessive I think I would have argued the point.
Stop for a while in Si Phan Don, the 4,000 Islands.
Si Phan Don
4
spider24
I did the Phnom Penh - Pakse trip in April this year.
I got my lao visa at the embassy, then took the bus the next morning from PP to Stung Treng (GST bus company at Central Market) . I bought my ticket the day before, which was lucky as it was pretty full - but it was New Year time so a fairly manic travel period. It took about 10 hours.
In Stung Treng I stayed in a guesthouse called Ly Ly Guesthouse, which had just opened. It was $6 for a room with a fan but that could probably be negotiated - it was a nice place if soulless. It's beside the market, near the Sok Sambath hotel - the bus drops you off on the other side of the market so it's really close. I asked around about getting a ticket from Stung Treng to Pakse and a guy at the guesthouse called Mr Nak said he could organise it. It cost $15 which I paid up front.
So we left Stung Treng at 7.30am, crossed the Mekong river by ferry (500 riel though they try to ask 1000 from foreigners) and there was a bus waiting at the other side which took us to the border (around 50 minutes). Then I walked across the border (about 400m) and waited at the Laos police post for about an hour and a half. A few minibuses came but only one of them has a deal with Nak. They all asked to see my ticket and told me to wait (no common language but a lot of hand signals!). Then we drove about half an hour to one of the 4.000 island ferry points and I had to change to another minibus. This minibus stopped at a few more ferry points along the way, picking up tourists so it got pretty full. we arrived in Pakse at around 3.00pm. The only 'fee' I had to pay was a dollar to the Lao border police. I didn't pay anything on the Cambodian side but then I was travelling with my cat (I was moving from PP to Vientiane) so I think that distracted them!
Hope it helps.
5
henningwessel
Get the Lao visa in advance. If you want a detailed report do a search for my recent posts. Was there 3 weeks ago. Oh, here it is :)
6
salaygomez
Indeed a good and useful report from HW in the link (I was away for some time and missed it).
When I crossed that border March '06 the Cambodian guards were asking $1 and the Lao ones 15,000 kip. Definitely never heard of $10.
#4 Spider, you crossed the SEKONG River on that ferry. Weren't you surprised to see the Mekong still on your left further upstream?!?
SG
7
just_bob
Look out for this guy. That picture was taken in May '06, but I just had some folks turn up here in Chiang Mai after coming from Laos and they saw the picture and said something like "Oh My God - It's Him!" They too had been scammed by the same guy. Apparently he's a bad poker player and needs to keep his funds topped up by routinely skimming cash off vulnerable tourists. Understand you're coming the other direction, but you could apply some of this knowledge anyway. I recommend you stop in Kratie on the way up, check out infos at You Hong Guesthouse, then travel north and deal with the border ($1 in the officials pockets is the norm) and continue onward to 4000 Islands. I liked staying on Don Kong as it is very peaceful, very few tourists, and great place to hire a decent "LA" bicycle and pedal your way around the island with absolutely no one hassling you and instead everyone very friendly and non-intrusive. Don Det, on the other hand, is becoming too congested.
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