welcome back brendan
& since we can recall your earlier visit to bedenl
khlath makes at least the second tricountry point youve tried
which i believe places you among the top 10 players on the world
class leaders board
--- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, bwhyte@u... wrote:
> 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 heavily 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