Cyrillic is weak) and it closes a long time before the train leaves; if you arrive only 10 minutes before the train leaves, you will be refused customs control and access to the train. Customs may also be carried out at the border while on the train. It adds over an hour to the trip, but other than that, the officials are efficient and friendly.
On a local train between two border towns, chances are high that you will be accompanied/befriended by women trading underpants, soap powder, strawberries, cigarettes etc across the border. They may be friendly and casual or (leaving Belarus) they might put pressure on you to help them in their trade by carrying cigarettes over the border for them - the idea is that you buy it cheap in Belarus and that you resell it to them once you're in Poland. Chances are also good that their friendly mafia boss is with them and you'll all travel together in the same train carriage, so chances of you getting away and reselling the cigarettes independently are probably weak. Instead, just smile, use your common sense and probably best not to provoke them. If you take their cigarettes, make sure not to take more than a legal allowance and return them to the women in Poland. Don't expect to be paid for it. Don't look to the border guards for help. They know the women traders and seem to have some informal deal with them (e.g. not being strict about visas, etc) - the Belarus border guards are worried only about political subversives; they have higher priorities than defending you against women trading underpants and cigarettes.
By car
At the Terespol/Brest crossing, there are about six different controls. As of August 2009, the Polish side seems to work quite slowly. Being on the outer border of the European Union, they check whether one isn't exporting a stolen car, isn't wanted by European authorities etc.
After crossing the bridge over river Bug and getting on the Belarusian side, one has to show
