Pailin city

Border Crossing & Casino Area The locals refer to this area as simply Pbrohm. This was a main lifeline of the Khmer Rouge during the years of fighting with the government. Food, supplies and weaponry were brought over from Thailand here.

The action today is of the gaming type with the Flamingo Casino open for business and another under construction. The casino sees a lot more business than the one in town, as the Thai people that represent the vast majority of customers like the idea of staying within spitting distance of Thailand. So if you like tossing money away, you have several choices in Pailin. There are also a few seedy looking karaoke bars with ladies working near the casinos and border. As for using Pailin as a border crossing to and from Thailand: The Thais have no problem with it and will issue you a Thai visa or stamp you out between 7 am and 5 pm. The problem is on the Cambodian side as the immigration police say that it?s not an officially sanctioned crossing and there is no way that a foreigner can cross here. So for now it?s best to sticks with Poipet and Koh Kong for land crossings. Getting to the border is the interesting part.

About 5 km on the way from Pailin is a small wooden bridge going over the Oh-chah-rah River. The water coming down from the mountains is clean, so a swim here is an inviting prospect. You also pass by the bombed shell of a tank, reminding you which side of the border you are on. Tank bodies just sit where they die in Cambodia and simply become another part of the landscape. The border is easy to get to ?just the one turn on the map. It takes just under a half hour and is around 180 baht for roundtrip moto-taxi.