Border Experience: Traveling from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh

Route: Phnom Penh to Ho Chi  Minh

Date: 29 June 2019

Mode: Bus (seater)

Duration: 7 hours (8:20am to 3:10pm)

Phnom Penh to Bavet border (4 hours)

Bavet Border to Border Check and Ho Chi Minh City Bus Terminal (3 hours)

Fare: 10 USD
Other expenses: 4 USD breakfast, 5 USD lunch

Difficulty: First time land border check, language barrier

Highlight: Places passed by, see land border checking, new travel visa stamped

Lesson: Stay with the bus group, do not rush to do your own move at the border, trust the immigration officer collecting the passport

I reached Phnom Penh again at 4:25 am the following day. It was still dark but there are dim streetlights along the way. I decided to have a walking tour towards the Phnom Penh Post Office again because I planned then that I would get my ride to Ho Chi Minh (HCM) from there. But the travel to HCM should still be in the evening because I still had plan to explore other parts of the city. There was no definite itinerary though including the time to have coffee with a new acquaintance.


As I walked, I passed by longs roads, closed boutiques, opening shop houses, a market, and road intersections. I stopped for a while when I saw a bus station at the Capitol suburb. The station has a restaurant and a hostel. I took my breakfast there for a while thinking that I need energy for the continuous walk. While eating, the reservation booth for bus transport opened. I asked if they have a bus going to HCM and the teller affirmed. She showed me the schedule of departures and the fare. I then decided to reserve for the morning trip and cancelled any plan to walk around Phnom Penh.

I reserved for 8:00 am trip. The fare is 10 USD. The lady teller told me that the trip would take us around 6 to 7 hours - four hours from Phnom Penh to the border and 2 hours from the border to Ho Chi Minh.

I left Phnom Penh at 8:30 am. Inside the bus, before departure, the driver collected our passports. While at the bus, I took some photos around the place. The roads of Cambodia are very busy with construction sites along the way especially when we approached the border. I have read previously that Bavet is a special economic zone of Cambodia. Indeed, construction boom is very much alive in the area and is an indicator of robust economic activity.

At 11:40 am, I spotted a sign "Welcome to Bavet". This gave me a clue that the border was then near. At 12:40, the bus stopped for us to take  lunch at Tanong Restaurant near the border. It was raining a bit but stopped before we reached the restaurant. It was muddy around the entrance to the restaurant. After lunch, the journey continued and after around 10 minutes, we reached an array of buildings with casinos and other offices. By 12:55 we already reached the border.

The border has two areas: the Bavet exit side and the Moc Bai entrance side. I noticed that our passports were already handled by an officer from the immigration. The polo uniform is coloured sky blue. In fact, I suspect him to be a security guard at first but then when I saw that he is the one who was giving our passports to the booth of immigration officers, I was convinced that he is also an officer from the immigration in any of the sides.

The exit and entrance procedure happened swiftly. Passengers just walk to the Bavet exit booth and then another brief walk to the Mok Bai entrance booth on the other side. The officer took care of putting the bulk of passports at the Immigration Officers' windows. He just gave the passports individually after the entrance procedure was finished. When I saw my passport, it has already an exit and entrance stamp. I felt a sigh of relief and somehow proud that I had successfully visited another country and there I was, entering another country again. By 1:10 pm, we were already leaving the border and our bus was heading to Ho Chi Minh City.

The exit from Cambodia and entrance to the other side was as easy as breeze except for the incident that gave me a  lesson.  What happened was that, after passing through the scanner at the entrance side, I immediately went to our bus which was parked just opposite the door of the entrance side. Then an officer with the same uniform as the one who handled our passport was there. I was alone who entered the bus but I never wondered why because I know that everyone is rushing to take a seat back to the bus.

But the officer approached me and asked if I only have one bag. I told him, yes. He told me to go back to the scanner again. But I told him that I just came from there. Then I noticed him got angry as he told me that he was inspecting the bus and he is an officer to be followed. It was then that I realised that the bus was still being inspected and I should not have entered yet.

I apologised and went immediately to the scanner but as I alighted the bus, the officer who was holding our passport just a while ago was giving signal for the our bus to move forward. With him are my companions inside the bus and they are gathered together. He told me not to go back anymore but just beside me was the officer who told me to go back. So I told him, I just need to go there quickly because I was told to do so. And I ran quickly. It was good that the scanner was just a few steps from where our bus was parked. As I rushed to the scanner, I saw a long queue so I apologised to the nearest person to the scanner and told her that I just need to cut the line because our bus is already leaving. She then gesticulated me to go and I was able to let my bag pass through the scanner very quickly.

I then joined the group and we entered the bus at once. Along the way, I realised some lessons in travelling: 1) follow the group whenever it is directed, 2) be observant and ask questions if in doubt, 3) listen and understand clearly before responding to avoid miscommunication.

True enough, around two hours after leaving the border, we had reached HCM. But due to the traffic, we were able to reach the bus terminal at the heart of the city after 3 hours (3:10 pm). One thing I noticed with HCM is that, it has a lot of empty spaces which were planted with trees. It also has pedestrian spaces for walking but there are a lot of aspects to improve about it especially on pedestrian crossing, posts interfering along the way, parked cars beside the road that blocks pedestrian spaces, etc. It is also a highly air polluted city. But HCM has a lot of potentials to grow, expand and be a powerful and livable city.