We went through the 4,000 Islands / Stung Treng border in mid-April last year (2013), jus a week or so ahead of niello8 [remember Si?]
It was around the occasion of a Faith's - Hindu or Buddhist (I'm not sure which one) - New Year celebrations.
The Laos border guard insisted that we pay $2 each as a 'Happy New Money' gesture. We paid up. I'm not sure if this was a scam or legit? I've since been told that such a request at that time of year is indeed quite legitimate. We paid, as it simply wasn't worth arguing over such a trivial amount. We just wanted to get going down to Kratie in good time.
Then we got hit
again for another $2 each by the Cambodian border guards on the other side, even though we had already bought Cambo visas in Vientiane about 10 days previous. They said it was a fee for stamping our passports. The price of ink nowadays, eh?!
Cambodian customs came next, but the main HQ building and its adjacent booths appeared abandoned. We knocked a few doors and peered around a few corners, but there was nobody working. We put it all down to the time of the 'New Year' - then legged it down to Kratie, with no importation formalities whatsoever completed.
About a week later I parked-up the bike in a Phnom Penh storage facility for 6 months, pending my return the following October (2013).
October came and we were back in Phnom Penh. Just over a week after that we headed for the Thai border at Phsar Prom .. where it all got a little awkward with the Cambo Customs officials down there.
The bike, apparently, had spent its six months' hibernation in Cambodia illegally! They wanted to see a stamped-in carnet. I argued, and even pointed to the back (yellow) cover of my new carnet - just acquired for Nepal, India etc - that Cambodia was not part of the International CPD Network. That didn't matter; they insisted that I should have followed the CPD protocol back at the Stung Treng border six months previously. I was apologetic, played the innocent card ..
![Innocent](https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/images/smilies/innocent.gif)
.. and went on a charm offensive. I mean, I was ten times more charming than that Arnold feller on Green Acres!!
In the end the Customs bloke, poking fingers at me, telephoned his superior, who eventually gave instructions to let us pass through to Thailand, despite the lack of paperwork. BUT it was a bit touch and go for about 20-30 minutes!
My advise is to get your carnet stamped-in and out of Cambodia (if you are carrying a carnet)
even though Cambodia is not part of the CPD Network.
Incidentally, the same goes for Timor-Leste (East Timor), which also doesn’t officially recognise the carnet system .. but nevertheless seems to want to stamp your carnet on entry and exit in any case!
.