A Second Time in Cambodia

It sure has been quite some time since I last posted an entry in this blog! I just read through the last one I made and noticed that it was posted a few days shy of a year ago! Well, anyway, I'll pick up from where I left off. The last time I posted an entry, I showed my Cambodian visa issued in Hong Kong and mentioned that I would be going on a second trip to Cambodia in October 2010. Well, here is the visa issued in Manila for that trip.

Unlike the one issued in five minutes in Hong Kong, this one took two or three days to process. I do not know why there is such a big difference in the time it takes to process visas, but I have a feeling that it is because the Filipino way of doing things is a long process that involves lots of paperwork and waiting for those "special people" who would sign the paperwork. I suppose the Cambodian embassy here has adopted this heavily red-taped system and so that is why I had to visit the embassy in Makati twice.

The requirements for a visa, however, are not too many. There is no website for the embassy in Manila where the requirements are listed, but I think I called in and remember that all I needed was the application form and one (or two?) passport pictures and, of course, the USD20 fee (which can only be paid in US Dollars and not in Philippine Pesos). There was no need to present an onward ticket or anything like that. What I also found interesting was the fact that they did not charge more than the official rate for a visa. Unlike in Hong Kong where they collect HKD200 (which is about USD25), here they collect exactly USD20. Perhaps that's the trade-off for the slower service they offer in Manila?

The embassy is located in an old building whose architecture suggests that it was built in the 1960s or 1970s. If my memory serves me right, it was a pyramid-shaped building made of concrete mixed in with shells or pebbles. I noticed this type of concrete-shell-pebble mix from old buildings built during the Marcos era. Although I do not know what it is called, I gather it was popular in its day as many contemporary buildings also had this type of finishing. Faura Hall and the ISO buildings on the Ateneo de Manila Loyola Heights campus are examples.

A funny thing that happened when I came in the first time was that the guard at the entrance (where you have to sign in a logbook) asked me if I was Cambodian.... do I look like a typical Cambodian? Not to seem condescending, but frankly speaking, I really do not think so.

The chops for this trip to Cambodia can be seen on the opposite page, along with the chops from other places I visited on the same trip, Thailand and Malaysia. The Thai stamps are unspectacular, heavy, and unclear. Perhaps this is because many travelers are processed in Bangkok and so the rubber on the stamps are easily worn. However, I believe that the Singapore airport processes many more passengers than the Bangkok airport, but the chops applied there are often very clear (at least on my passports). Maybe the Thai immigration authority uses stamps with lower quality rubber, or maybe they replace the stamps less often than their Singaporean counterpart?

Thai visas are not required for US citizens for a stay of up to thirty days, so it means that I would normally not be able to apply for a visa unless I planned a long-term stay in Thailand (and could prove it with confirmed tickets). However, when I visited Penang, Malaysia, in November of 2009, there were signs everywhere that said long-term visas to Thailand were being issued free and all that you would need to pay was the agent's fee of five ringgit (less that USD2) and you would have a visa in two-three days. Apparently, this was a move made by the Thai government to boost the tourism industry, which at the time was slowing down thanks to the political turmoil in the country.

Note that the seal of the Thai Consulate at Penang is also heavy and quite unclear. Perhaps it is because there were so many applications for the free visas?

The visa fee at the time was THB 1900 (about USD 55+), but this was waived for a period of time until March 2010 or so. Practically speaking, most Western passport holders visiting Thailand would not be greatly affected by this new scheme as 30-day stay permits are issued at airports and 15-day permits at land crossings. However, the Chinese, who make up a sizable portion of the Thai tourism industry, may be enticed by the free visa and may have taken that into consideration when deciding on where to go for vacation (I gather that Chinese passport holders need visas for almost everywhere; see here). For more information on the free Thailand visas, you may check this link, although there is no use anymore as the offer for the free visas has expired.

The immigration endorsements at the bottom of the page are from Malaysia, from which I have many stamps from many different checkpoints, which I will discuss in a later post.

Cambodia, The Kingdom of Wonders

For this post I will indulge myself in showing of this beautiful work of art they call the Cambodian visa. Most foreign nationals who do not hold passports issued by an ASEAN member country require visas to enter Cambodia. This is one way that the government collects revenue for its coffers. The other way is by charging all foreigners leaving Cambodia the "departure tax" of USD 25, which I think is just an excuse to burn a hole in the pockets of visitors who have already in a way contributed to the economy just by visiting.

Well, anyway, I could have entered Cambodia visa-free for 14 days or so on my Philippine passport, but I had the privilege of applying for a visa on my US passport and so I took it and am to this day thrilled with the wonderful result, which I present below:


This visa was issued in Hong Kong since there was no consulate in Macau (where I was staying) and I was charged HKD 200, which is about USD 30, 50% more than the USD 20 that is indicated on the visa itself. I would complain, but the visa is too nice so I won't.

The Royal Consulate General of the Kingdom of Cambodia in Hong Kong and Macao is a quiet little office that sits on the 17th? floor of a building that sits right in front of the Hong Kong Star Ferry terminal at Tsim Sha Tsui on the Kowloon side. The office is a nice, cozy little place. Upon entry, the seal of the Kingdom, a Khmer-style statue, and the Cambodian flag greet you. As you look to the left, you see a couch set with some magazines about Cambodia ready for your reading on a coffee table. But it's not like you even have the time to read them because after you fill up the visa application form and pay the HKD 200 fee, the friendly clerk at the counter then takes your passport over to some back office (I caught a glimpse of an old man who I guess made my visa) and after literally five minutes, the who process is done and over with. So I guess the visa is just really a source of revenue for the Cambodian government and no some procedure to do a background check and make sure visitors are not wanted criminals (although I'm sure Cambodia nonetheless has its blacklist for immigration).

If you study the visa, like I have done multiple times, you can see that it has quite a few security features. First of all, it has a watermark pattern that shows when help up against light - nothing special, just some lines. Then if you look closely at the lines where the holder's information is to be written, you'll notice that they aren't lines, but fine micro-print that reads "Kingdom of Cambodia." There is also an attractive hologram which is in the shape of the Cambodia Royal Coat of Arms. And, last, the paper is "cut" so that the visa would be damaged if it were to be removed much in the same way the price tags in some stores are "cut" to prevent price tag swapping.


Here is the entry stamp from Siem Reap. I like the little Angkor Wat design, which is also included in the departure stamps, as you can see below:


This chop is clearer than the one from Siem Reap, perhaps because it is newer and has smacked less passports than the one that was used for my entry at Siem Reap. Sadly, the Philippine immigration officer stamped over my Cambodian exit stamp. But since I am returning to Cambodia in October, I will have another chance at a better cancel and another visa as well, this time issued in Manila!