Great account Brendan. Thanks.
I hope there will be photos for us later.
Jesper
----- Original Message -----
From: <bwhyte@...>
To: <boundarypoint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2004 7:17 AM
Subject: [BoundaryPoint] burma, thailand
> Greetings,
> I have been offline while overseas in Burma and Thailand.
>
> In Thailand I made daytrip to Laos and Cambodia, and tried to reach their
tripoint.
> the N. Cambodian border runs along the edge of the cliff/drainage divide
between it and Thailand. Generally the mountains here (hills really) slope
gradually down on the Thai side, and drop off abruptly in a cliff on the
Cambodian, so the drainage divide is the top of the cliff.... Except at the
Pra Vihaar temple, which the ICJ awarded to Cambodia in 1962. The temple
sits atop the cliffs, and in 1962 Thailand vacated 24ha of land here. But it
has since slowly pushed the boundary southwards, and currently its big
sealed road to the temple ends abruptly and one has to walk 100m down a
slight slope to a gate near a small gully. Upon crossing through the gate
and across the gully one is in Cambodia. Here is a small market ands the
beginning of a long lfight of stairs that forms part of the temple, and
leads up to the temple on the clifftop (with great views).
> Thailand now claims right up to the bottom of the temple stairs. Cambodia
claims the real border is much further north, so there are no boundary
pillars here, only a stretch of no mans land, ocupied currently by the
Thais. The gully forms a good natural boundary here and appears to be
considered the de facto boundary.
>
> Otherwise the cliff face descending into Cambodia is the boundary. Agian I
saw no pillars along the cliff face further back from the temple, but it
makes an interesting natural boundary, as the cliff often overhangs land
below it, making for a non-vertical plane boundary. And as to jurisdiction
over rock climbers.. who knows.
>
> Apart from the temple itself, the disputed land around the temple is heavi
ly mined, so there was no question of wandering around off the cleared paths
looking for pillars! This also deters the locals fomr corssing away from the
lockable gate on one side of the gully!
>
>
>
> At the Laos-Thai border crossing of Chong Mek, east of Ubon Ratchathani,
there appear to be no pillars either. There is a fence made of old gates,
wire etc, separating two markets. On the Lao side a large air con duty free
shop sells French, Chillean and Australian wine, cigrattes, etc. It is
surrounded by thatched huts selling Chinese wines, pirated CDs, textiles,
Lao wine and beer, etc. One can freely wander into Lao here to the market
(officially there is a 10Baht fee), but a visa is needed to proceed further
into Laos.
> From the Lao side crossing into Thailand seems free, and as most
westerners get a free 30day permit upon arrival in Thailand, there is no
problem. Vehicles cross fairly easily too it seems. It is possible to hire a
car in Thailand, in Ubon, and drive it across for the day, even as far as
Pakse, with a valid visa (obtainable at the border).
> I asked about pillars, but apart from km posts, and highway land boundary
posts, there are none visible. The Lao guard said the pillar next to the
road gate was currently away for repair/replacement. The Thai guard had said
the pillar was broken, but pointed towards the gate, suggesting it was lying
there, but it wasn't. The boundary seems agreed upon here, but the 250k
scale Thai topo of the area is not available for sale from the Thai Survey,
due to disputes somewhere nearby (4 other boundary sheets with Myanmar are
also restricted due to boundary disputes). I suspect there are pillars along
the other land sections of the Thai-Lao boundary, but haven't seen any.
> Past the market, the fence seems to disappear, but it was gettying late,
so we werre unable to wander along the boundary either side of the market.
>
> The Lao/Cambodia/Thai tripoint appears to be accessible, but by 4WD only.
Termed 'the emerald triangle', we were able to follow tourist signs pointing
to it along provincial highways, until an army checkpoint at a turnoff. The
officers said there was a road up the mountain to the tripoint, and my
friend remembered visiting it a few years back with an official governmental
party, but the road required a 4WD even in the dry season, so our car was
unsuitable to try.
> The army didn't seem to have objections to our going there if we had had a
4WD, though the issue of landmines/UXO remained to be considered.
>
> Brendan
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BoundaryPoint/
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> BoundaryPoint-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>