Every 90 days I have to leave the country for a so called “Visarun”. I have a Non-Immigrant Business Visa, but as an intern I am not earning enough money to just go to the immigration bureau (for this you have to earn at least 40,000 Baht). The Visaruns from Pattaya are completely organized by travel agencies, they pick you up in the morning (normally betweeen 6 and 6.30 am) and you can expect to be back at late afternoon. The comfort of the minibusses and the given service depends on the travel agency you choose, but it’s normally very fair. The regular cost for this visarun including all fees at the border and lunch is 2,000 baht, sometimes you get also a trip for less than 1,500.

Going to Cambodia border from Pattaya takes about two hours, depending on traffic, condition of the minibus and the driver’s skills.

After the Thai border control checked your passport and visa you can leave to Cambodia over an old wodden bridge. Here you will be enjoyed by the first cambodian kids begging for some Baht. There starts the moral question. I am sure this kids are forced to do this begging, but on the other hand, in a country like Cambodia they can be happy to not end up as child prostitutes. That’s why I have then some 5 and 10 Baht coins in my pocket and give them some.

Cambodia is a very poor country. When you come from Thailand you drive on a more or less good street. Then in Cambodia it is just an unpaved way as you can see on the picture above. For the cambodians the Thai are already rich people from another country. What must this people think about us farrangs?
Next “highlights” on the visarun tour are the duty free shops and the casino. You can get a box of 200 cigarettes for less then 150 Baht. But be sure that it is not the same quality as in Thailand. I got one times Marlboro Light. I still have them. As same don’t be stupid and buy Viagra, Kamagra, Cialis etc. For sure you are risking your life if you take them.

The casino was impressive to me. In the middle of the jungle you enter a building and inside you see a hundred cambodian croupiers, mostly female and attractive. First we went throu the casino to the restaurant. There is a buffet with a kind of western food for free. The Thai food is cooked fresh and you have to pay for it. After that i decided to gamble a bit together with some others I met at the trip. It was the first time for me in a casino and I was a bit curious. After all I won 20 Baht. Wow! I gave my big win to the nice croupier.

Two different worlds. The rich foreigner and the begging Cambodians (by the way I met the very sympathic man on the picture 3 times again, he comes from near my home, South Tyrol)

The final bureaucracy with me on the left

Back to Thailand

A small temple on the Thai side of the border