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Overland from Pattaya to Koh Kong, Sihanoukville, and Phnom Penh
Quite a few people are interested on making the overland trip from Bangkok or Pattaya to Koh Kong, Sihanoukville, or Phnom Penh, Cambodia and it is a very easy trip. Although it can be done in one day easy enough it does make for a long travel day and I recommend spending the night in Koh Kong and then proceeding on to Sihanoukville or Phnom Penh then next day. Besides the adventure and scenery of an overland trip as opposed to flying, it is also quite a bit more economical. The costs for the overland trip are: 1. Bus from Pattaya to Trat 120 baht Typical costs for flying are: 1. Taxi from Pattaya to Bangkok 800 baht Total costs 5,800 baht ($145) one-way Of course you have to add the price of your Cambodia visa to either trip and if you spend the night in Koh Kong a hotel room with AC, TV, etc. is another $10 but it is still quite a savings. The scenery from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh is quite nice and usually the bus trip isn't that bad. Also before the immigration stations at the Cambodia and Thailand borders closed at 5 PM but now that they are closing at 8 PM. You can now catch the 11 AM bus to Trat in Pattaya and still make it in plenty of time to get through immigration. First you start out in Pattaya (or Bangkok) and take the 6 AM or 11 AM bus to Trat. Stand at the intersection of Sukumvit and Pattaya Klang (Central Pattaya) on the east side of the intersection. A picture is below and you will usually see a few others waiting there for the bus as well. Do not go to the bus station just a little further down Sukumvit, that is for the buses to Rayong and if you take one of them you will have to add three more hours of transfers and traveling time, the regular bus goes straight through without any changes. Make sure that you get on a blue, orange, and gray bus and that it says Bangkok-Trat on the side of the bus. Make sure that you DON'T get on one that says Bangkok-Rayong or Pattaya-Rayong. The bus fare is 120 baht and the conductor will come by and collect the fare after you are on the bus, you don't have to worry about buying a ticket beforehand. Try and travel midweek since the buses can be pretty full on the weekends. Don't worry if people around the bus stop tell you the bus came by thirty minutes ago or that it isn't coming today and try to convince you to take the Rayong bus, this is just the Thai way of doing things and if you follow these directions you won't have any problems. In fact the hardest part of the whole trip is getting on the right bus to start with. The photo below is of the bus stop at Sukumvit and Pattaya Klang (Central Pattaya), in fact you can see a few people waiting for the bus.
After you get off the bus in Trat after approximately a four-hour bus ride, look directly across the street and you will see several gray minibuses parked on the side of the street. This is where you catch the minibus to the Cambodia border. Just walk across and someone will ask you where you are headed and offer the minibus services. The cost is 100 baht and the trip is approximately one hour and fifteen minutes. The photo below is from the bus station at Trat. You can see the rear of the bus that goes from Pattaya to Trat and the minibus station can be seen right across the street.
After you get to the border a throng of vendors and touts offering to help you get through immigration and take a taxi into Koh Kong will besiege you. You won't need their services and my suggestion is to ignore them completely, just saying no doesn't seem to work very well. Continue on across the border stopping at the Thai Immigration Office on the right side of the walk, a photo is below.
After clearing Thai immigration walk another one-quarter of a mile and you will see Cambodia Immigration on the left, a photo of Cambodia Immigration is below. Cambodia immigration officials will hit you up for 1,100 baht ($27.50) even though the published price is $20 US and there doesn't seem any way around it unless you have the patience of Job and don't mind arguing with them for thirty minutes proving your point. My advice is to go ahead and pay the 1,100 baht and be done with it. Right after exiting Cambodia Immigration you will again be besieged with offers of motorbike taxis and regular taxi to take you on the five-mile trip over the river to Koh Kong. The regular price for a motorbike taxi is 50 baht but you might get it for 30 baht if you are a good bargainer. Either way you will be expected to pay the 11 baht toll at the bridge.
Once you get to Koh Kong the hardest part of the trip is over, I think that the best way to continue your journey is to spend the night there, relax in your hotel and maybe check out some of the Koh Kong nightlife which is pretty good considering. My choice of hotels would be the new Promin Koh Kong Hotel, just to the right when you exit the bridge, or the Bopha Koh Kong Hotel located right in town. Either one will run you from $8-15 depending on your room. Another alternative is the Ramsey Makera Hotel, which is much closer to the nightlife but isn't near as clean or as comfortable as the other two. Once you are in Koh Kong, there are two ways to get to Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh. The first is to catch the 8 AM ferry from Koh Kong to Sihanoukville. This costs 600 baht ($15) and takes four hours. Then you can catch a bus to Phnom Penh for $4. The second way is to travel in a shared taxi. You can find these at the market area in Koh Kong and with a little bargaining get an inside seat for 400 baht ($10) to either Sihanoukville or Phnom Penh. The trip to both places takes six hours and if you are particularly adventurous you can make the trip from Pattaya all the way to Phnom Penh in one day. I think that it is more fun to spend the night in Sihanoukville and visit for one day in that city and then take the morning bus to Phnom Penh. Sihanoukville is a fun town with clean beaches and a fairly busy night scene with reasonable hotels and I enjoy visiting. If you are there be sure and say hi to my friend LaudJohn at the Fisherman's Den. The photo below is of the ferry loading up for the trip from Koh Kong to Sihanoukville.
That is about it, the bus stations in Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh are located right in the main parts of the city so you don't have to get much of a taxi ride from either one, in fact you can easily walk to many hotels from the bus station in Sihanoukville or Phnom Penh. Make sure if you hire a shared taxi in Koh Kong that it is a fairly new vehicle and that the air conditioning is working good, that will make a huge difference in the confort level of your trip. Sometimes the overland trip is a good change of pace, give it a try and see what you think. The trip can me made just as easy from Bangkok, there are buses leaving every hour for Trat from the Ekamai bus station and the fare is 140 baht and the trip takes approximately five and one-half hours.
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