Quote:
Originally Posted by peterpan  The fact that the consulate must be a veritable cash cow for Thailand doesn't seem to provide any incentive to upgrade the comfort facilities, not even a Toilet or a drink dispenser, how much money would a small cafe and sit down area make for them? but No fcker cares a scrap for the comfort of the people throwing the cash at them.
I went over the border yesterday, got there early to have to wait while the bus accumulated enough passengers, sadly in the meantime 3 tour buses arrived, two full of back packers.
I swear not one of these cvnts had the forthought to get the payment ready before they reached the window, so I stood in line behind 30 of the fvckwits scrabbling around between them to get the cash ready,
"Can some one lend me 5 Dollars?
I will provided you buy me banana pancakes for the next week"
fvckers. |
In all fairness to the Thai Consulate they do have ladies and mens restrooms. Men's on the ground floor and ladies on the 2nd floor. Although there was not enough seating, there was seating available. Albeit, plastic hard chairs. The Thai Consul spoke with my wife and apologized for the conditions. He stated that they just built and moved into this building, and that he was trying his best to organize the processing to make it quicker and smoother. The real problem, that I could see, was the lack of pertinent information available so that one could at least get all of the documents filled in and gathered together. I noticed that most people did not have a clue what paperwork or copies of documents they required, which of course added to the confusion and uncomfortable situation.
I myself had problems with the documentation. Had downloaded the Visa application form from the Thai Embassy website. There were 5 of us together and I had made sure that each one of us had our packages completed and ready to go. Well, who was to know that the Thai consulate in Vientiene only accepts the Visa application from the Thai Consulate in Vientiane. Why do they even bother to put forms up on their website? You would think that they would have a standard Visa application which would be good for all Thai Consulates worldwide. So, all 5 of us, one of us being a 4 year old with an American Passport, had to re-due the applications. Of course there was nowhere to write and we had to share a couple of pens that we had. Then there was the gluing of the two photos to the new application form. That was tricky considering there were only about three bottles of glue with no applicators attached for hundreds of people.
The only good thing that came out of all this, besides getting to spend some quality time touring around Vientiane, was that we did not have to pay for the 60 day Thai visas. Something about a three month moritorium. However, we did have to pay $35 per person for a visa to spend 1 night in Laos. You wonder about the brainpower (that's an oximoron) of the Laos government. Nobody wants to go to their Marxist paradise anyway and then they make it expensive to try and go there to boot. Also, their immigration officers were something to beholden. At least the Thai officials were halfway civilized. Especially a living doll of a lady officer.
Needless to say I will never cross the "friendship bridge" ? again in pusuit of a visa. If I want to visit Vientiane, another time, I will fly in.