I agree Brendan, a nice report. Last July I tried to cross into Cambodia
to visit Phra Viharn temple but due to political tensions it was not
possible to cross over.
I was also denied access to a dirt road that led to The Emerald Triangle
for the same reason.
I hope to visit these same places again next month now that Thailand
and Cambodia have sorted out their problems.
I've uploaded some photos that were taken.
Photo #1 shows a typical warning sign in land mined areas.
Photo #2 shows Khmer touts beyond a barbed wire fence trying to sell
postcards of the inaccessable temple. In the background one can see
the steps leading to the temple.
I'm not sure if the wire fence is actually the exact border demarkation or
if it's fencing off an immediate danger area.
Gary
--- In
BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Jesper Nielsen" <jesniel@i...>
wrote:
> Great account Brendan. Thanks.
>
> I hope there will be photos for us later.
>
> Jesper
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <bwhyte@u...>
> 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
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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