If you overstay your visa, the charge is $5 US per day, which doesn't concern me too much. It was the mysterious 'additional charges' which may then get slapped on top by the Cambodian immigration officers, which worried me.
I talked to one guy who had come across the Lao/Cambodian land border and he said on the Cambodian side, everyone had to pay $2 US for a mystery 'medical' test, which involved a guard spraying air from a pipette held 5cm from your forehead, nodding and then waving you on. Apparently, everyone had passed this mysterious medical examination ! :0)
I took a mini-bus to Koh Kong which was about 3.5 hours and cost $6. As soon as i was inside, i zonked out as usual and awoke to see the two Cambodian ladies sitting next to me staring at me sleeping with my mouth wide open...
Koh Kong is described in the Lonely Planet as quote "a frontier town of smugglers, gamblers and prostitutes, which acts as a functional stop on the southern over-land trail between Thailand and Cambodia. ...Casinos dominate the border line..."
I remembered the restaurant owner from Bangkok saying he had been to Lao and Cambodia to gamble (as gambling is illegal in Thailand) and missing those unplanned evenings out at the Casino in Leicester Square with my former team at Cheyne, i decided to visit one here....
I checked in to the 'Asean Hotel' on the riverside, which is near the bridge that leads to the border. It's a fairly new hotel, must have been under 3 years old. The single/double rooms with en-suite, aircon, hot water & cable TV were GBP 9.30 and very nice.
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The description in the Lonely Planet led me to believe this town would be like Mos Eisley Space Port in the film Star Wars .... of which the legendary Jedi master 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' commented to Luke Skywalker :- "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious." (obviously, second only to Dartford & Lewisham in the UK - apologies Mark & Brucey.. LOL)...
I expected to see smugglers with eyepatches, hopping around on wooden legs and shady characters boozing at the end of bars with firearms tucked into their jeans offering me a variety of contraband....but......
....Koh Kong actually turned out to be quite a nice town, full of really friendly locals... and i found out there was only ONE rather dissapointing casino on the border !!!
The only scam i was (almost) subjected to, was the moto driver who brought me to the hotel trying to charge me $20 to take me across the bridge to the casino and back.
When i checked up, the hotel staff said it was only $3 one-way ( a 15 minute motorbike ride). The moto driver was a wiley character, a 'Mr Von', and i'm still not sure who wanted to go to the casino more, me or him !! We finally agreed a price of $8 for a return trip, providing he stayed with me for 3 - 4 hours whilst we tried our luck...as he wanted to gamble too...
Unfortunately, there was only one roulette table (with 2 people on it) and 2 blackjack tables with no one playing; plus tables with some weird card game i'd never seen before... which all the punters (only about 20) were playing at...
Mr Von tried roulette, while i tried my hand at both roulette and blackjack.
I did have visions of winning and paying off half my holiday costs and taking Mr Von out for a slap up meal.... but in the end as is usual when you have those visions, I ended up losing GBP 40 and Mr Von GBP 20 :(
We both rode back on his motorbike across the bridge feeling rather deflated.... but we still had a good time.....
The next morning Mr Von collected me at 08.30 to take me to the border. We passed the casino on the way & he tried to persuade me to go again for an hour or so with an inane grin on his face, but i declined and we proceeded to the border.....
The border was right by the sea..
I went across with no issues. At land border crossings into Thailand you get a 15 day visa for free.
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