Immigration exit done and Custom Declaration handed back to Thailand, the friendly officer lifted the barrier allowing me out of Thailand and pointed to the right small little shack barely 20m away which was the Cambodian Immigration.
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| Thailand Immigration & Customs at Chong Chom |
I was really focus this time so no picture was taken unfortunately.
Cambodia immigration was straightforward and I filled up the arrival card then got stamped in for 100 baht processing fee. I did not ask anything regarding Bluey and just pick up bluey and ride on.
Down the hill about 300m pass immigration and I see a smaller shack with small little words on the window that said customs & excise. Being stupid, I slowed down and parked my bike right next to booth.
There was no one crossing this border surprisingly. I crossed at 1130 am but the whole time I saw less than 5 people crossing over.
The customs officer opened the booth window and I passed him my passport and Bluey’s Malaysian Vehicle Ownership Papers. Immediately he called someone and asked if a Malaysian bike can be allowed into Cambodia.
Thinking fast or rather stupidly again, I passed him a copy of the Thailand temporary import permit form and then also pass him a copy of my previous import papers via Poipet.
I could see the special Custom Permit (Temporary) booklet at the table by his hand and it was definitely something different and new. How time slowed down so much for me waiting for some sort of reply for the officer while he conversed with a higher ranking officer on the phone.
Wait he says ...
A moment later another officer turn up which I presume was the one speaking on the other end of the phone. He looked at Bluey papers and without any questions started writing up the Custom Permit (Temporary). I held my breath, I dare not celebrate until I had the papers and were riding well far far away from the Border.
Where are you going?
Samroang, Siam Reap, Phnom Penh, Pailin .... I rambled away
You exit to Thailand ?
Yes, from Pailin to Thailand. Its it ok ?
A silent nod was the reply
The officer finished writing up the Customs Permit (Temporary) and looked again at my papers and frown. He looked more closely to the copy of import papers I obtained from Poipet on my previous entry which was clearly and totally different from what he was preparing to issue me.
Why you don’t have papers for me to issue you this?
He dangled the copy of import papers from Poipet.
Gulp!
Sometimes I wonder, even when preparing to lie, and the practice of everything but when it comes down to something as important as border crossings, I somehow always end up telling the truth. I would skirt around, omit certain things innocently, but still a variant of the truth. I somehow feels like if I were caught on an outright lie, that would be the end.
I got asked last year when I was in Phnom Penh for papers to enter Cambodia again this year but the Ministry of Tourism says maybe by this time the system will be changed and I don't need to go to Phnom Penh.
A hard glance on the papers again and the officer finally made the seal stamp of the Customs Permit (Temporary) and handed me back all my documents plus a very very precious Customs Permit (Temporary).
You can go.
Thank you .....
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| Temporary Import Permit for Bluey |
I was genuinely surprised. I thought for sure I needed to pay a little bit of money as a fee at least but never did the officer mention anything of that sort. This permit was free compared to the one previously at Poipet, I needed to pay USD12.5 but somehow the customs always round up the figure to USD 15 and never return change.
I rode off as fast as I could still not celebrating yet watching out for road blocks or police checks which normally happens near borders. You think you have escaped but then DANG. No road blocks and I reached the small village of Samroang barely after 1pm. I gave it a moment thought and decided I will put more distance between the border and me and rode straight to Siam Reap.
Upon closer inspection of the Customs Permit (Temporary), I now understood how lucky I was really in even obtaining this piece of paper. The address and nationality was stated THAILAND and this was not written but readily printed on the permit. If I understand correctly, this permit is issued only to Thai nationals with Thai vehicles.
Anyhow, since I have the permit anyway, I have mentally convince myself that this permit is legit. If stopped and asked by any police regarding the wrong type of permit being issued, I would just claim ignorance and that I was issued the permit so I thought ...... HEY I GOT PERMIT SO I AM NOT IN THE WRONG!!!
Next challenge will be leaving Cambodia ....
Traveled on : Mar 2019
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