Overland border crossings

worldwide – since 2018

When you cross an overland border in Europe, many times you only notice your arrival in the new country by the change of the language on the road signs. Even if there is border control, more often than not you only reduce your speed to 30km/h, smile at the guard and continue your journey. So crossing overland borders in Latin America was something I couldn’t really imagine what it would be like. Since my first crossing from Costa Rica to Panamá, I’ve done quite a few more in Latin America and Southeast Asia. And the experiences differ drastically!

Let’s start with a pleasant example. To make a border crossing as easy as possible, it’s usually recommendable, to buy a direct bus ticket from one country’s major city to another city in the next one. Even better, if you can opt for a night bus if the distances are far. This is what I did to travel from Singapore to Penang in the north of Malaysia. (Read this article if you want to know how I travelled to Singapore on a backpacker’s budget). I boarded the bus at 10pm and after a half-hour drive to the border, followed the bus driver’s instructions to get my Singapore exit stamp. Once all the passengers were back on the bus, we continued the trip across the bridge to the Malaysian side. Same procedure, everyone walked into the empty border control building, quickly got our stamp and all of us were back on the bus before the driver even could finish his cigarette. 8 hours later, I arrived in Butterworth just in time to board the ferry to Georgetown.

Now, unfortunately, this recipe for a relaxed overland border crossing is not always bulletproof. I also took a night bus to travel from Cuenca in Ecuador to Trujillo in Perú. The first sign of a bad trip was, when the crazy-looking, old Indian man whom everyone avoided at the bus stop was assigned the seat next to me. We ended up having a nice chat tho and so this problem was solved. However, the next one occurred when I was queueing in the Perú immigration office for my entry stamp. I was the last in line and already a bit worried, that the bus would be leaving without me. And then once it was my turn, the lady at the counter just glances at my passport to ask me with a straight face: “What is this?” I responded that this is my Swiss passport, to which she said: “Switzerland? This country doesn’t exist.” She then went on to her colleague’s desk, with my passport in hand, while the last other passenger left the building. I could only hope that the second lady would acknowledge the existence of Switzerland, because if not, I’d be stranded in the middle of nowhere. Eventually, I did get my stamp and was allowed to enter Perú. But with all the adrenaline, I was unable to sleep for the rest of the journey.

Another very stressful trip was the crossing from Don Det in Laos to Cambodia. The highly overpriced ticket I was sold on the otherwise paradise-like islands in the Mekong, set the tone for this journey from hell. The boarding of the boat to the mainland was way more confusing than it had to be. And for the first time in Southeast Asia, on the other side, the Tuktuk drivers did not seem too interested in giving us a ride. After asking around, my fellow travellers and I were told to just walk down the street. We showed our tickets at different shops, and each time, some of us were accepted, while others were turned away. After a good half-hour wait, all of us ended up back together in the same minivan. The old car took us all the way to the border, where we spilled out to get our Laos exit stamp. However, it wasn’t as easy to get the precious ink in our passport as you might think. They wanted 2 USD per person for their service, which most of the European backpackers didn’t want to pay. After a 1-hour showdown, we accepted our fate, paid and went on to the Cambodian side. Here, we were told, by a not very official-looking man, to “not ask so many questions” and that “this is the border, so just do what I say”. He wanted 37 USD for the visa on arrival instead of the advertised 30 USD. And so we emptied our wallets once again. With fresh stamps, and a very bad first impression of Cambodia, we continued our respective journeys in more old minivans. The good thing about this horrible trip was that I met some nice people with interesting stories along the way though.

Honorable mentions: crossing the border from Panamá to Colombia by sailing boat (click here to learn more about this epic sailing trip). A 14-hour journey with 1 filthy bus ticket with a phone number scribbled on the back, in 4 different vehicles from Cambodia to Thailand. And finally travelling by car from the UAE to Musandam, Oman. Here the Omani guards were a bit too friendly to my friends and me. Read more about this experience here.