Cycle Route: Sangkha, Thailand to Anlong Veng, Cambodia

July 21, 2014

GPX Track

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Distance

The total distance of our route was 41.99 miles (67.59 km).

Elevation

Max Elevation	1,220 ft	372 m
Min Elevation	125 ft	38 m
Total Climbing	8,009 ft	2,441 m
Total Descent	8,379 ft	2,554 m

Terrain

This ride was flat for the first 20 miles and slowly started to ascend for a good 5 miles before the border crossing into Cambodia. The hills were long and some were very steep. We noticed the road conditions in Cambodia are a bit worse than what we’re used to from Thailand; some sections of road were covered in potholes.

It’s hard to tell from this photo, but this road was absolutely riddled with potholes. We marked the area on the map above.

A few miles from the Chong Sa Ngam / Choam border crossing, the road started to descend. After the border crossing, its all downhill to Anlong Veng.

Border Crossing

The Chong Sa Ngam / Choam border crossing between Thailand and Cambodia was dead simple. On the Thai side of the border, we rolled through a security check, parked our bikes and jumped in line to get our departure cards stamped. Haley managed to lose hers at a hotel, but it took all of 5 minutes for the border guards to issue her a new one.

Once we officially exited Thailand, getting our Cambodian visa on arrival was similarly simple. We provided photo ids, filled out some paperwork, and paid $20 USD for each visa, said “Awkoon” (“Thank you” in Khmer), and were on our way. The whole process took us roughly 20 minutes.

For more information about visas for Americans, check out our Visa Requirement Guide.

Accommodation

We stayed at Hotel New Lucky Star for $8 USD. Our room had a fan, cold water and good wifi. It wasn’t the cleanest hotel, but it was okay for one night. We were able to take our bikes in the room, which is always a plus.

Food

We ate oatmeal and bananas before we left our hotel. Matt was still hungry, so we stopped at 7-Eleven for a sausage and cheese croissant and water for 66 bhat. For lunch, we ate at a local restaurant on the side of the road and had 2 delicious papaya salads with noodles for 59 bhat. For dinner we splurged on 2 fried chicken meals and three beers for $12.34 USD. We bought 2 (terrible) bubble teas for dessert for 14,200 riel.

You might have noticed that we paid for all of this with 3 different currencies. While Cambodia has its own official currency, the riel, they accept payment in US dollars and Thai baht. All change is issued in riel. The exchange rate we got at the time of this writing is $1 USD = 4,040, 4,050, 5,000 riel, depending on who gives you change… 1 THB = 1,200 riel, 100 THB = 12,000 riel

Costs

One night at Hotel New Lucky Star and all of our meals cost us around $27 USD. Our 30-day Cambodian visas cost another $40 USD. Altogether, our first day in Cambodia cost us $67 USD.

The first day in a new country is always challenging; hopefully, it won’t take us long to pick up the basics of the Khmer language and learn the ins-and-outs of transacting in 3 different currencies!