From the capital of Vietnam – Saigon, I was heading to the capital of Cambodia – Phnom Penh. The friendly border between these two countries and the short distance between the capitals encouraged me to travel by land, in a bus instead of flying. Anyone who has crossed borders by land, will agree about the convenience of immigration on land versus air. The best thing for me – carry with me as much water and milk as I want; something that air travel restrictions don’t permit.
The bus goes through the Vietnam-Cambodia Border at Moc Bai-Bavet road crossing, which accepts e-Visas on both sides. All you need for crossing the border are your passport and a copy of each of the required e-Visas. Here are the official sites for the Vietnam and Cambodia eVisas.
I met a few travellers who had earlier crossed the border and shared about their positive experience with both Giant Ibis and Mekong Express. I booked myself a ticket on Giant Ibis a couple of days before my departure. Both the Giant Ibis and Mekong Express buses start from the same area and did not offer pickup. My hostel was only 1 km away and I could easily walk to the stop in the morning. Due to technical issues causing a delay, we had to wait in the small office for an hour.
Vietnam Border
Once we got on the bus, we were all given a snack box with a small water bottle and two pastries (confirmed that neither contained any meat). Prior to reaching the border, the bus conductor collected the passports and visas of all the passengers. A processing fee of USD 2 per e-Visa was also collected. I don’t know if the fee is official, but it is mentioned on the Giant Ibis website. It might be possible to not pay the fee and go through the border by yourself, but I did not try it.
At the Vietnamese border, we got off the bus, walked through a metal detector and collected our stamped passports. We got back on the bus and then stopped at the duty free mall at the border for lunch. There was only one restaurant open and everything else was closed. Being a vegetarian, I tend to pre-stock food in situations where it might be hard to find food. It paid off in this situation since nothing on the menu looked filling enough. I had my sandwich and milk and got back on the bus.
Cambodia Border
Once we reached the Cambodian side, we got off the bus again, showed our passport and visa to the officer, got it stamped and got back on the bus. Bags were scanned at both ends but no one stopped the water and milk.
As soon as you exit the Cambodian immigration, there are vendors selling local SIM cards and currency if you need any. I chose to hold on till I reached Phnom Penh. Once we were back on the bus, we headed straight to the Phnom Penh Giant Ibis Bus Stand after a very short break. The whole journey along with immigration took about 7 hours.
Barring the minor hitch before the bus started, crossing the Vietnam-Cambodia border by bus was a very pleasant experience.
Traveled: Mar 2019
