Like many farangs living in Pattaya I've had to travel to the Cambodia on visa run. The frontiers are roughly demarcated, although both Thais and Cambodians have admitted to me that the borders aren't what they used to be before the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975. Drivers have pointed out streams several miles from the customs control and proudly smiled, "Before this Cambodia. Now Thailand."
The dispute over the Preah Vihear temple has heated up with the incursion of three Thai trespassers followed by an unconfirmed number of Thai troops seeking to protect the former prime minister parking lot from being handed over to Cambodian authorities.
"Confrontation is occurring between Thai troops and our Cambodian troops, but there is no shooting yet," Hang Soth, the Cambodian director general of the national authority for Preah Vihear temple said. "Our troops have been ordered to be on alert but not to fire first."
The Thai military denied any knowledge of this invasion of the World Heritage site and remind reports that any unwarranted operations are particularly dangerous due to the large numbers of landmines strewn between the two countries.
I had seen the detonation of these mines on several visa runs.
Their limbless victims line the Poipet bridge.
Cambodians have closed the temple to Thais and suggested that the former PM develop a new parking lot. He has yet to comment of the tense situation, but promises to maintain the price of the parking in keeping with supply and demand.
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