Thread: Visa Run to Aranyaprathet, Poipet

I have nothing but dreadful memories of the two times that I went because of the idiots I got stuck with on the return bus trips.

The first tme it was an ancient yank in shorts and pulled up white sports socks. For some reason he had decided that orange was a preferable hair colour to grey. He sat opposite and started going on, in great detail, about the night of sin he had just spent over the border....He then started on about how women from Nong Khai had the biggest bamboozas - he actually used that word. In the end I had to deal with him a la Arnie in Commando...the one where Arnie pretends to be asleep.

The second time there was a German English teacher. This git would not shut up. I was reading a book and he kept interupting me to talk in excruciatingly bad English about his job and his colleagues.....There was a magic moment when I looked at his wife with a glance that said, 'Please, help me', and she returned a glance that said, 'You think you've got it bad. I've got to live with the tosser'.

I love buses because....well because they're buses, but you do sometimes get stuck with some real idiots.

Actually AO, I don't mind doing the monthly runs. After 17 years of doing mostly tri-monthly runs, along with trips to Penang or somewhere else nearby for visas, monthly border hops suits me just fine.

Once a month it gives me a little break away from the wife and kids. I always take my time getting to whatever border I've chosen and stay overnight somewhere and cruise slowly back the next day or two. Most times I'll go on the bike and take different routes and stop at different places each time if possible. Ocassionally I'll even go by bus or train just for a change too.

Three month visas were ok for me when I first came here and was living in Nakhon Phanom because the only border open at the time was the Malaysian one. They used to be four day round trips just to do a hop-over, with an extra day or two added for a bit of non-village type fun in Pattaya or BKK.

So monthly runs with a girlfriend to Aranya which is only 3 hours away anyway gives me a nice 2 or 3 day 'dirty breakaway'. It gives me a temporary period of freedom and that 'being single again' feeling.

Honestly, I'm never so eager to get back home from doing a visa run just to get back to the wife and kids only to end up sitting in front of a pc or tv.

Originally Posted by dirtydog

This place is awful,

Amen to that! I've been to my fair share of border towns all over and this place is at the bottom of the heap.

Friends of the wife down from CM wanted to do a little shopping and some casino action here in Poipet so I was talked into driving down today - took 6 hours from where we live. Parking on the Thai side wasn't too bad (hope the truck is still there when we head home tomorrow) but the Cambodian Visa which filled up another one of the few pages I have left in the passport took almost an hour to process and that's after haggling with the touts that take care of us farangs - wife and friends did the haggling and they ain't slouches at that sort of thing. Some real bad actors hanging around the Visa station plus your everyday garden variety backpackers who didn't use the touts and were promptly turned around by Thai Immigration when they tried to clear.

The border area is like previous posters have mentioned with really badly torn up 'sidewalks' and nasty smells. It's a shithole. Anyhow, the wife and her friends said let's get to the hotel (inveterate gamblers the lot of them) nevermind shopping; it's too hot right now so off we went to this Star Vegas 2 star hotel (probably one of the better here) which ain't too bad for 1500 baht a night - clean anyway.

One positive thing coming out of this trip (other than a large win if they know Texas Hold 'em - cruised thru the casino and didn't recognize many of the table games) will be satisfying the 90 day reporting thing. Don't know how y'all have put up with doing this trip in the past like every 90 days or so...

Originally Posted by handygolfer1945

I live neat Ransit road/ Future Park area...how would I get to the immigration office to extend my visa ? And how much does it cost ?

Take a taxi and tell him Immigration :-)
Extend for 30 days for 1,900 baht;

than u need leave and get a new visa

Next trip take the train up north and go to Laos and get a double entry and ur good for 6 months in Thailand. ( 2 visas @60 days each and 2 extensions @ 30 days each)