Yeah. It didn't go well.
Me and my passport were rejected. Why? I don't know, but I have speculations.
Fortunately the guy whose helping me speaks Malay (Malay tribe-Cambodian), after took a pic of my passport the Cambo side decided to reject my passport. I even ask "how much do I have to pay?" to them as a lot of stories of giving tea money right? But he said it's not the case, it was ME and MY PASSPORT. Malay and Indo cannot enter Cambo and nobody on site knows why.
My speculations is Indo and Cambo is not in a good relationship due to human t**ficking related gambling and casinos in Thai-Cambo borders and the rejection is already happening for quite some time for Indonesians.
Wow. I didn't expect this to happen to you.
I guess it's not only Thailand that has a reputation for refusing entry at the land borders (especially at the notorious Aranyaprathet border crossing next to Poipet) but Cambodia does too, if you're of the "wrong" nationality.
I have been aware of the large number of Indonesians involved in the casino and scam industry in Cambodia for some years now. Has always struck me as odd; of all nationalities, why are Indonesians there? In recent years, one hears more and more about Thai nationals as well, often using Cambodia as a base to scam their own citizens, but Chinese and Indonesian nationals are overrepresented, with sizeable numbers of Vietnamese as well. Chinese don't seem to face any issues crossing in/out of Cambodia by land from Thailand or Vietnam, unless they happen to have an unsavory immigration history that the country they're crossing into picks up on. A genuine Chinese tourist won't be rejected though.
Anyway, sad to hear that you, as an innocent traveler, were caught up in this mess. I guess you either have to cross into Laos (and Laos to Cambodia directly) or fly into the country.
Another option might be to try a smaller border crossing such as O'Smach or Chong Sa-ngam. They're much friendlier. While Hat Lek-Koh Kong is quite friendly and straightforward, especially on the Thai side, Cambodian officials are a little more uptight there. Although they're a lot more relaxed than they used to be, when I departed from there last month back into Thailand (with my car) the immigration guy stamping me out kept telling me not to peek inside the cubicle, which I found strange. He told me 3 times. Like, dude, what's your problem?
Absolutely zero issues with customs or Thai immigration, which was professional, though not chatty, as is typical for that border. Unless you ask them a question, they're not going to engage in a conversation with you, unlike at some of the quieter border crossings.
For Malays, there is no issue entering Cambodia (or shouldn't be, anyway) - I saw 2 Malaysian motorcyclists re-enter Thailand through the Ban Khao Din border crossing the first time I passed through there in July. I was exiting Thailand (by car), they were re-entering. The weirdest part is how every time I cross the border that way (have exited there twice and re-entered once), never using that border in both directions on the same trip, I keep getting told to ask the other side if my vehicle can pass through. The first time I did that, I went to the other side to check. The guy filled out the form, then I went back to the Thai side to get my outbound customs form. There was an issue, because apparently, I didn't return the form to the correct window on my last re-entry to Thailand through a different Cambodian border, but once I drove down there to sort it out, I was able to get processed out.
On my subsequent trip, I told the official on duty on the Thai side of course I can pass through, following him querying me as to whether I have asked the Cambodian side for permission; I made a successful crossing just over a month earlier. The printer had problems (seems like they get so few vehicles passing that way they rarely use the printer) but after 20 minutes of waiting and me offering to troubleshoot, in the end, the printer finally spat out the form and I was through. Each time I go to Ban Khao Din, there's always a different customs official (or sometimes 2 or 3) on duty, whereas on the Cambodian side, it's always the same guy. As a result, I usually have to explain things to the Thai officials I encounter as if I had never been there before or they were new to the job.
On my first re-entry that way just recently in fact, Thai customs wanted to send me back through Aranyaprathet because on the form it said i would re-enter that way, but I explained that has never been an issue and I usually re-enter through a different border despite what it says on the customs form and have never had any problems. After nearly half an hour of him going back and forth over the phone with Aranyaprathet, he changed the entry in his system and I was through. I also reminded him about the Malay motorcycles from back in July. I told him that a Thai vehicle has an automatic right to re-entry and they allowed Malaysian bikes to enter, so of course my vehicle needs to be allowed back in. Otherwise, they need to explain to me how they permitted entry to Malaysian bikes at a border that is so unknown, even Thais don't use it and customs officials on both sides don't even know the other sides' entry rules.
Speaking of Koh Kong, before Covid, Malaysian vehicles were regularly refused entry there, because they used to have a Koh Kong province restriction. This has since been removed, but it could be that some borders still refuse them (Malaysian vehicles; not Malaysian citizens who cross on foot, in a Thai or Cambodian vehicle or by bus). Thai vehicles on the other hand can enter and exit through any Thai-Cambodian crossing and I was also successful in crossing the Lao-Cambodian border from Laos to Cambodia as well. I've now crossed every Thai-Cambodian international border, all 7 of them with my vehicle, either in one direction or both, depending on the border.
There are also rumors that some Thai-Cambodian borders don't allow Thai vehicles registered in the names of Cambodian citizens to pass into Cambodia; this applies in particular, to Ban Laem and Ban Pakkard. Cambodians can bring their Cambodian registered vehicles into Thailand through these checkpoints, though in practice, it's very rare to see one go beyond the border market. You mostly see Thai vehicles head into Cambodia through those two checkpoints, despite needing a "bai wo" or military document to pass through (easy and free to apply for, but a waste of time as the military post is 30km from the Ban Pakkard border crossing).
