Initially I thought there was only one casino at this border town as shown in the map but once I approach the border, mushrooms of casino lined the sides like honorary guards all the way to the border post.
Pailin Town
Pailin was not really a touristy town and lack the usual tourist gawking around that usually follows the banana trail along Cambodia. A plain surrounded by mountains, which was a rare sight in Cambodia, streets were well paved and housed and shops clean cut showing the leftover of the gemstone riches of old days.
On one mountain sat the must see Pagoda on the hill temple of Pailin. Phanom Yat Pagoda overlooking Pailin main town and mountain was gilded with gold and was a hot dating spot for young couples.
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| Sleepy Town of Pailin |
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| Phanom Yat Pagoda - Pailin |
At the foot of the hills is Granma Yat Statue, A shrine that looked similar to the local lore in Malaysia of Datok Kong, I presume this was the local land god but alas ... I had no one to tell me the tale.
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| Granma Yat Statue - Pailin |
Gambling in the Border Psar Prum
Checked out all the casino I could see and mostly catered to online gaming with cameras to live dealers plus massive baccarats tables as usual. The Flamingo Casino was the only one that had a little variety of games and I ended up three days always there gambling.
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| Flamingo Casino - The Oldest, Largest and most Table Games in Psar Prum |
In short, I payed the learning fee for how to play Asian Poker or Pai Gao Poker as the locals call it. The casino was very chill with only locals and Thai local tourist frequenting it regularly so a foreigner like me was quite a sight for the people there. The casino staff seam to came from all over hence some of the pit supervisors from the Philiphines who could speak English keep chatting me up.
Initially some curious players tried to asked me questions in the minimal english they could muster. Apparently nearly all the players here were regulars and knew each other one way or another like a big morning market that seams to know the neighbourhood customers. New faces were rare and forigen tourist riding bikes all the way from Malaysia was extremely rare.
After the first few hours in the casino the new players whom just join the table would be introduce to me by the current players as a foreigner from Malaysia. All these was in Thai languege and I guess it was amusing to them. Eventually one of them could speak good English and once he knew I was riding around south east asia with Bluey it became the table conversation. Questions were passed from players to him to relate to me and so forth and they all chatted with big smiles on their faces. Many times the games was like on pause while we all chatted like some new friends just met a the Bar.
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| The Single Street of Psar Prum, Lines with Casino on both sides |
Gambling was not the main motive for most coming to the casino, enjoying company and entertainment was the main goal.
Players and dealers all offered me free food from the casino but I only knew how to order fried rice since there was no menu. One dealer even offered me a free room in the casino to stay and as tempted I was to feel like a VIP player, I turn it down knowing the danger of staying too close to a Casino. Still 20km distance ride everyday still did not deter me from playing. Every day ... 20 km to the casino and after a loss ... a sad 20km back to the hotel.
Traveled on: Apr 2021
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