O SMACH TAXI

O Smach Taxi offering daily private mini VIP transport for sightseeing tour (DAY TOURS / MULTI-DAY & EXTENDED TOURS), and Long Distance (PICK UP DROP OFF) by the good condition of  (A/C SUV, Minivan, Van and Minibus) comfortable and convenient ride, for the most popular routes to/from O Smach – Bavet – Kep – Sihanoukville – Phnom Penh – Siem Reap – Battambang – Mondulkiri – Ratanakiri – Kratie – Kampot – Koh Kong and other provinces, cities and the border of Thailand – Laos – Vietnam. We all speak English and fully licensed drivers.

Over 10 years of experience in doing this job, we knew the road conditions quite well and have brought our guests to their destinations comfortably and safely.

Book our private taxi to around the country with 25 provinces cities and borders, would save a lot of time and money and see a lot of things along the way, and enable for the stop for foods, rest-room, or photo shooting opportunity.

O Smach in Khmer: អូរស្មាច់, Or Smăch, pronounced (ʔou.smac), also spelled O’Smach or Ou Smach, is a small Cambodian town on the Thai border in Samraong Municipality of Oddar Meanchey Province. Until 1999, there were intermittent battles, and the area was unsafe as the last remaining Khmer Rouge still had control of nearby Anlong Veng. In 2003, an international border crossing was opened between O Smach and the adjacent town of Chong Chom in Thailand’s Surin Province. There has since opened a strip of casinos between the Cambodian and Thai passport control counters, enabling Thais to gamble in Cambodia without needing to go through Cambodian immigration. Gambling is illegal in Thailand and gambling in Cambodia is legal only for foreign passport holders. O Smach is at the northern terminus of Road 68 which turns north off National Highway 6 at Kravanh in Siem Reap Province.

Border crossing

Most of Cambodia’s northern border with Thailand is formed by the escarpment of the Dângrêk Mountains. A natural pass cuts through the mountains between O Smach and Chong Chom. This pass has been used since ancient times to travel between the plains of lower Cambodia and the Khorat Plateau. Beginning with the Cambodian Civil War and lasting until the surrender of the last remaining Khmer Rouge who had taken refuge in Anlong Veng, the Khmer Rouge controlled the area and generated income by illegally trading Cambodian timber across the border in Thailand. After the final surrender of the Khmer Rouge in 1999, the region surrounding the O Smach pass once again became stable and safe for travelers and, in 2003, the Cambodian and Thai governments opened an international border crossing. The border crossing suffered intermittent closures again between 2008 and 2011 during the Cambodian–Thai border dispute.

The Thai government agreed to fund the extension of Cambodian National Road 68 from the provincial capital of Samraong to O Smach with an unspecified loan amount. Immediately, two casino hotels and a market were built in a strip between the Cambodian border control checkpoint and the Thai border crossing checkpoint at Chong Chom in Kap Choeng District, Surin Province to cater to Thai nationals coming to Cambodia to gamble. Gambling in Thailand is illegal but in Cambodia it is legal, although only for holders of foreign passports. This arrangement ensures Thai citizens can leave Thailand to gamble in O Smach and then return home without having to pass through Cambodian immigration. Thais living close to Chong Chom are responsible for the bulk of cross border activities. The O Smach border crossing is the least used among the Thai/Cambodian checkpoints. Most tourists en route to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, cross the border at Poipet which is also the more popular gambling destination due to its relative ease of access from Bangkok.

O Smach benefits more from international trade. As of 2012, O Smach and its Thai counterpart, Chong Chom, had all the necessary customs facilities except for an agricultural quarantine officer. The main product exported from Cambodia through O Smach is cassava. There is also a large market for second-hand bicycles which are imported to Cambodia from Japan, taken to O Smach and sold across the border to Thais at the Chong Chom market. The primary imports at O Smach is used farm equipment, mostly tractors and trucks. Construction materials and petroleum products are also imported to Cambodia through O Smach.