After we left Phnom Penh, we had another volunteer position lined up through WorkAway in Cambodia. But because we’d already been in the country for two months — which required getting a one-time extension of one month on our original one-month visas — we’d have to leave the country and come back in. In other words, we’d have to do what’s known as a “border run”; and it turned out to be a bit more complicated than we anticipated.

Bye Bye Phnom Penh Apartment

When we packed up and said goodbye to our little apartment, we thought that the two months we’d lived in it had been a long stretch. But in the near future, we’d be spending the better part of an entire year in that same apartment.

Bus to the Border

Our bus to the Thailand border was another night bus. But this one was much more comfortable than the last; this bus had actual bunks in it, so we could actually lie down and at least attempt to grab some winks along the way.

But it was not a long night’s slumber, because it was shortly after 5:00 a.m. when we arrived at our drop-off point in Poi Pet — which takes its status as border town very seriously, sporting a number of resort hotels and even a few casinos.

Border Crossing – step 1 Leaving Cambodia

After we were deposited, we tried to make our way to the border crossing, but discovered that it was practically impossible to access by foot, at least via any reasonable route from where we were. So we hired a tuk-tuk to carry us there, even though it was really just a short distance.

As it turned out, this was an exceptionally busy time at the checkpoint, so we ended up waiting in line for about an hour, schlepping all of our bags along for the haul. But when we actually got up to the checkpoint, we breezed on through.

And then we were in no man’s land, a span of about 200 yards that is not quite Cambodia and not quite Thailand, but is thick with an assortment of vendors and hustlers. It was a chance to use the bathroom, regroup, and brace ourselves for the next queue.

Border Crossing – step 2 Entering Thailand

The wait in line to get into Thailand was also about an hour. And this time, when we got to the checkpoint, the sailing wasn’t so smooth.

Thailand has long been a favored choice for a border run, especially from Cambodia, for several reasons. For one thing, it’s relatively close to the major cities of Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Battambang and Siem Reap. Additionally, it has a generous immigration policy which, for most people, is cost-free; nationals of many nations, including the U.S., don’t need a visa for a short stay. (At the time of our crossing, short stay was defined as less than 30 days’ duration; more recently, that has even been extended to 90 days.)

In the past, you could just walk across the border into Thailand, then turn around and walk back out and bingo, everyone was happy. But in more recent times, the Thai government has apparently begun to resent being loved and left so quickly; at least they’ve realized that they’ve been missing out on an opportunity to collect some moolah. So, sometime in the days before our arrival, they changed the rules on us.

When the entry agent asked us how long we intended to stay in the country, we told him that we’d be coming right back into Cambodia; and he replied that, oh no we don’t — we’d have to stay at least 24 hours. And he informed us that we could move to the side, and he would save our place in line while we booked accommodations on the spot.

Fortunately we were able to do so — in a matter of minutes, we found a well-reviewed motel about a mile from the border, in the Thai town of Aranyaprathet, for 15 bucks a night. Thank heavens for the Internets. (Meanwhile, we had to contact our next Workaway host and let him know that we’d be arriving a day later than planned.)

Unexpected Night in Thailand

At first, we tried walking to our accommodations, toting all of our baggage; but we soon decided there was no need to kill ourselves, so we hailed a tuk-tuk. The motel was really rather nice, but it was located in the middle of not-quite-somewhere, so we were unable to find any place to shop for food. Even the few little diners and concession stands didn’t seem to have anything that we would find edible (Thailand is very big on meat, especially pork). So we had to make do with what odds and ends we already had on hand.

But we had no means of accessing hot water for tea or oatmeal; we asked the lady at the front desk if there was any way we could acquire hot water, and she loaned us an electric tea kettle.

Back to the Border – step 3 Leaving Thailand

So we were contented and reasonably well-fed and caffeinated the following morning when we made our way back to the border. This time, fortunately, there was no line at all, so we strode ride up to the checkpoint at once. And we breezed right through the exit from Thailand. Unfortunately, we still hit a snag at the Cambodian entry point.

Crossing the Border – step 4 Re-entering Cambodia

When we showed the agent our visas, he shook his head and indicated that they were expired. Nonsense! We’d just recently applied for and received new visas, so they couldn’t have expired already. (In the midst of trying to sort this out, we were interrupted by the PA system playing the Cambodian national anthem — a tune which we’d become quite familiar with in days to come — and the agents all standing at attention, as we respectfully did likewise.)

But when we looked more closely at our paperwork, we saw to our horror what the problem was: we’d mistakenly printed out our old visas, which had indeed expired, rather than our new ones. We pulled up the new ones on our phones to show him that we were indeed legit, but he said that regulations required that they be printed out — and there was a little shop back down the stairs in no-man’s land that could do it for us.

When we went back down there, however, we found no one in sight. So we weren’t quite sure what we were going to do. Would we be able to get back into Thailand to find a printer there? Would that require booking a room for another night?

As we stood pondering and deliberating and angst-ing, a security guard came to see if he could assist us. He suggested we talk to some of the other personnel inside. And ultimately, one of the agents took out his phone and took photos of our visas on our own phone screens and asked us to wait while he disappeared for a few minutes. After which he came back with the printed visas — not the highest quality print job, maybe, but adequate for the task. You may hear a lot of jokes about government employees, but some of them really go the extra mile — or kilometer, in this case. Thank heavens we were there at a very slow time, or else the problem might not have been resolved so quickly.

Awaiting Transport to Battambang

So then it was off to the little bus terminal, in another tuk-tuk, where we had a while to wait before catching the bus (van) for the two-hour ride to Battambang. During part of this time, we discovered a cute little place to have a cup of tea (and excellent tea it was), at a coffee and tea shop just down the street.

Tuk Tuk from Battambang to Phnom Sampov

After arriving in Battambang, we caught a tuk-tuk to Phnom Sampov, the little village about 10 miles south of town where we’d be volunteering for the next month or so. The tuk-tuk dropped us off at the humble little school, where we met the principal and got a bit of an intro to what we’d be doing there.

Getting Situated for our New WorkAway Gig

And then someone gave us a lift to our new living quarters, about half a mile away. It was really like a motel room, a single room with a bathroom, but it was in a little complex of about half a dozen such rooms that were being used as permanent dwellings. There were no curtains on the window, so we had to improvise. But at least there were new sheets to put on the not-too-uncomfortable bed. There was no AC, but there was a (somewhat noisy) overhead fan — one of the first things we did was to purchase another fan, as the room could get quite warm. There were no kitchen facilities, but there was an electric kettle, which was really all we needed.

Our meals (except for breakfast, which we insist on preparing for ourselves) were to be supplied at a little open-air restaurant about a block away. The arrangement was that we would just go there whenever we wanted a meal, and they would feed us and bill the school. So we tried it out, and the food was not bad. Definitely different from what we would have cooked for ourselves.

It was going to be an interesting volunteer gig, our last on this first global tour.

1/21-23/2023