Poipet trip report: Construction and urban development in Cambodia’s wild-west casino city

Poipet has plans to transform this border town associated with casinos and scam compounds into an enthralling civilized city to attract national and international tourists. I spent a night in Poipet to see what it was like.

Border cities in Southeast Asia have a reputation for being dodgy, and Poipet in Cambodia is no exception. Poipet is best known for casinos and the border-crossing gauntlet for travellers overlanding to Siem Reap.

There is nothing here for the traveller who is not a gambler, and after spending a night in Poipet there doesn’t appear to be a plan to make it a more appealing city for residents and visitors alike.

Any time I see Poipet in the news, it has to do with gambling crime or scam compounds. It sounds like Sihanoukville, but at least Sihanoukville has a beach and access to islands.

One thing that Poipet has going for it is a railway connection to Phnom Penh, and a direct train to Bangkok is also planned by Thailand. Surely a city in between two of the great capital cities of Southeast Asia could leverage this geographical advantage.

In 2024 the train service from Phnom Penh to Poipet was restored, so I made a plan to get the train from Bangkok to Phnom Penh. The train service was then suspended from Battambang to Poipet, so it is not currently possible to do this trip by rail.

I had already made a plan to travel, so this interruption turned out to be a good excuse to stay in Poipet for a night before getting a van to Battambang the next day.

Poipet Night Market

I’ve been reading news about special economic zones and real estate growth in Poipet, so it was time to make the border crossing and visit Poipet for a Future Southeast Asia subscriber report.

Border crossing from Thailand to Cambodia

Getting to Poipet from Thailand has gotten easier now that the train goes all the way to the border. Previously the Bangkok train stopped at Aranyaprathet, and then you had to travel another 6 km to the border. It was here when the hassles would begin with over-charging tuk-tuks and touts offering to help with visa processing.

Aranyaprathet Station.

I had heard so many stories of aggressive touts at the border that it put me off ever doing a land border crossing. If you Google “Poipet border crossing” you will find enough horror stories to make you want to fly.

Having the station next to the border has made the crossing much easier. I had a few touts approach me on the Thailand side, but I just walked through the crowd.

Walking from Ban Klong Luk Border Station to the border crossing.

I have also heard accounts of aggressive touts in the no-mans-land between the two frontier crossings, but I had no problem here.

After clearing Cambodia immigration the first thing you see upon exiting the building is a Starbucks. I was not expecting this, and the sight of this familiar global chain took the edge off Poipet’s border reputation.

Starbucks at the Poipet border gate

There are still opportunist tuk-tuk drivers here who will charge 5 times the going rate for a ride, which I discovered when my internet roaming didn’t kick in. I couldn’t book a Grab taxi so I ended up overpaying for the ride to my hotel.

This is the worst part of the crossing because the onward buses to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh are not next to the border crossing. If you are travelling onwards you can’t just get on your next bus here.

Poipet border train

While getting the train to the border is useful, there was supposed to be a cross-border passenger train service by now. It was announced in 2019 that there would be a service of some kind, but it hasn’t materialised yet.

Cambodia has prepared international facilities at Poipet station so that immigration can be processed for both countries (similar to how Padang Besar in Malaysia processes Thailand and Malaysia immigration). It is now up to Thailand to announce their plan to introduce an international service.

It’s about 800 metres from the border to Poipet Station, and the train line goes through the city centre. There is a rail bridge that crosses the small stream that marks the border. The bridge entrance was being used as tuk-tuk parking when I visited.

Tuk-tuk parking at rail bridge

The railway then passes in front of a casino and a cafe.

The railway then travels across the road via a roundabout.

Rail roundabout in Poipet

I visited Poipet Station, but it was closed to visitors.

Poipet Station

The section from Poipet to Battambang wasn’t operating when I visited, so I will probably end up back here again when it is running. It has been years since I have been to Siem Reap, so I might get the train from Poipet to Sisophon and then a bus to Siem Reap.

If/when Thailand launch their international service, I would like to go back just to see the train going through the city.

Baht Town in Dollar Country

The US dollar is the unofficial currency of Cambodia, but the Thai baht reigns supreme in Poipet. The city is built for gamblers from Thailand, and most shops near the border advertise prices in baht.

I left my stash of Thai baht at the hotel, thinking I wouldn’t need it. I went to a 7/Eleven and they couldn’t break a $10 note, and they wanted Thai baht. I didn’t have any Cambodian riel on me, so I had to go to a nearby currency exchange to get local currency.

Construction notes

Construction workers in Poipet

Walking around Poipet felt like being in a boom town. There was a lot of construction going on in the old area and beyond in the new urban areas.

I couldn’t find any information about major projects online, so I walked towards any area with a construction crane.

Most of the construction sites didn’t have any advertising showing what was being built.

I walked to what appeared to be the tallest building in Poipet, and the construction site had a generic Chinese construction name that made it impossible to find a source online. Sometimes the project name is listed on Google Maps, but the satellite view of Google Maps has not kept up with the pace of construction.

Possibly the new tallest building in Poipet

Building a better city

Poipet is a typical Cambodian city where there is one main road instead of a grid with multiple ways of crossing the city.

Also typical of Cambodia is how dusty the roads are. I plan my urban explorations of Cambodian cities for the dry season, otherwise the streets are too muddy.

The lack of walkable sidewalks and the lack of shade from trees makes walking in Poipet difficult.

The cities of Cambodia are not designed with pedestrians in mind. While there was a lack of urban planning for cities in the past, there is no excuse for new urban areas to make the same mistakes. It is so frustrating to walk in a completely new area with new roads and not have any space for sidewalks or trees.

A new street with unwalkable sidewalks and no trees

The most depressing urban planning fail I saw was the sight of people running laps around a giant slab of concrete. Seeing people exercising on the only sliver of public space made me realise that there isn’t any public space.

Walkers and runners on a makeshift public space

This made me sad. It didn’t help that it was at the end of the day, and I was dusty and worn out from walking around on city roads. Residents of Poipet deserve better.

I saw one new building under construction that was of architectural interest. I tried to imagine what Poipet would look like if it had appealing apartment blocks with tree-lined streets.

I didn’t see any casinos that were of architectural merit. While Las Vegas and Macau have landmark buildings, the buildings here are forgettable blocks with little regard for safety.

Generic casino building with a generic casino name

I follow most of the news sites covering Cambodia, and one article I found from June 2023 has the translated title:

Poipet’s Transformation: Government Invests US$78 Million in Enthralling City Project

The first paragraph (translated) reads:

“The Poipet City Administration is implementing a $78 million city-wide project to turn Poipet into a civilized city and attract national and international tourists.”

This is good news, though they should start with the basics of making the streets walkable. Sidewalks are the secret sauce to simulating Singapore’s success in becoming a civilised city.

Cleaning up the streets will be meaningless without cleaning up crime as well. The city is infamous for transnational crime, where bodies turn up in suitcases and reservoirs, and foreign nationals are held captive in scam centres.

Crime related to gambling debts doesn’t affect the safety of the average visitor, but seeing advertisements everywhere like this doesn’t make it feel like a civilised city.

I will report on any updates for this $78 million city-wide project, and I will keep a list of other projects on the Future Poipet page.

Hopefully, the next time I find myself in Poipet, the city will be more “enthralling”.