Today’s journey wasn’t one I’d normally write about just a bus ride from Battambang to Poipet, right? But what should’ve been a simple hop turned into a border crossing chess match between Cambodia, Thailand, and our bus schedule.
We left Battambang on a cramped early bus, bags wedged in like Tetris, and arrived in Poipet the day before our Bangkok leg, staying just one mile from the border. We’d booked a 10am bus only to find out the day before that it actually departs from the Thai side. Small detail. Big difference, thanks for the heads up…
Two Borders, Two Timetables, One Shot
Here’s where it got tricky: Thailand opens its side of the border at 8am, but Cambodia doesn’t open until 9am (because of some dispute… it used to be 4am…) even though the bus leaves at 10am Thai time. That only gave us an hour to get through both checkpoints and make it to the bus on time. Tight, we thought impossible having read forums about how slow it is.
So, we decided to set off at 8am sharp, walking straight to the border with our bags, the kids, and crossed fingers.
A Border-Side Game of Chicken
The Cambodian side wasn’t open yet. Staff were sitting at their desks, twiddling their thumbs, while a growing crowd of travellers began to form. Touts were buzzing around offering “VIP lanes” and “express services” and other scams they had on offer so we skipped all that and just went to the office and sat waiting, watching and playing a-z of countries.
At 9am on the dot, the border opened and it was go time. We were near the front, which made all the difference. We got through Cambodian control in minutes, crossed the dusty neutral zone, and joined the queue on the Thai side.
Here’s the thing.
The Cambodian queue on Thailand border had already swelled to 400+ people. However the foreigner queue on the Thai side was around 15 people deep when we arrived, our plan was looking good, however by the time we were at passport control the queue was about 60-70 people behind us!
because we were early, we were processed quickly, pulled into the foreigner lane, and through both borders by 9:20am, even 10 mins later and we would have been waiting behind 70-100 people to give finger prints check visas and it’s slow… so timing was everything!
Planning Pays Off
We reached the Thai side bus stand by 9:30am, drenched in sweat but victorious with 30 minutes to spare. People arriving behind us? They weren’t getting through in time and some had 9am busses booked, which they missed before processing started.
So yeah, it was stressful. But it could’ve been way way worse.
If You’re Doing This Route:
Stay near the Poipet border the night before. Leave by 8am sharp, earlier if you’re anxious we were 8th in the queue at 8am. Skip the touts and head straight to the legit passport control up the steps. Bring patience, snacks, and a sense of humour.
It’s not often bureaucracy, borders, and tuk-tuks all come together in one trip, but somehow… we made it. Next stop: Bangkok.
