Recent Visa Run Experience

[jaywalker]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's that other forum about visa's, just thought I'd spread the info here at Teakdoor as well.

Had never tried one of the visa run companies & was looking for recent info on them here & there. None to be found (easily), so here ya go.

=========================

Have done tons of visa runs to Cambo, but normally drive myself.

I decided to give the visa run companies a go this time. These days I go thru around 3,000 THB in fuel, plus the 1500 baht or so for visa fees, plus the touts bugging me to death, plus the strain of driving 7-8 hours in one day, plus I usually get at least one 200 baht ticket from the BIB for God knows what, so almost 5,000 baht if I do it myself.

Waiting till the last minute, I called up 1st Class Visa Runs (Soi 6/Queen Vic hotel) at 6:00 PM last night. I needed to checkout of LOS no later than 17 Sept.

Nice lady said they were full, but would check with her "friend" & call me back. 3 minutes later she calls me back & yes, they have a seat open for today (16th). Same departure time (arrive between 0600-departure at 0645....we got back at 1500 hrs), same price, which was 2500 baht. Included were all visa fees, breakfast, lunch, a couple jugs of water, & 1 free beer in the pub upon return.

She had me booked with 5 Star Visa Runs (Soi 13/Sportsmans Pub). We met up with another van at our first stop (1st Class Visa van I think), and it was a 6 seater, but had 3 seats in a row, with 3 seats in a row right behind it. Ours was 2 by 2 by 2 seats. Far more roomy. Also there were only 3 passengers on our van.

Nice 17-19 inch or so screen for the DVD player & a good selection of movies was played (we finished 3.9 total).

3.5 hours drive time each way & around an hour at the border, 30 minutes of which was standing in the Thai arrivals line. Several Khmer tried to jump the line, and were politely informed that the line starts at the f***king back of said line.

The driver was about 60. Spoke a smidgin of English, very careful, kept his speed to a max of about 110 kph. Nice guy and the van was super roomy and comfortable with great air-con so 5 Stars on that front.

Breakfast was a cultural thing. Set menu that was totally British. Nothing against Brits, but would prefer fried grasshoppers (almost) as opposed to sunny side eggs & baked beans & raw bacon at 0600 hrs. I wasn't hungry so no biggie. I had a bottle of water and a coffee.

Lunch was OK I suppose, but a ham & cheese sandwich could always benefit from a bit of mayonnaise at least. These were dry as a bone. Nice potato salad, a chunk of banana bread & boiled egg????? Baked beans for breakfast & a boiled egg with lunch??????????????????????????

So, if you enjoy English food, like flatulence & hate mayo, then it's great!

My food whining is minor. Completely relaxed the whole way & I'll most assuredly use this service again as it costs half the price of doing it myself at 1/10th the level of driving stress. Oh yeah they did all the paperwork as well.

Best,
Jay

[royston p]

will take a look at this,thanks jay.

[joepattaya]

Jay, you can do even better: If you visit the 5star visa run website and book (and pay) at least 20 days in advance, you'll get THB 200 discount. So for THB 2300 a nice day out. You only may need a bit of Kraft Mayonaise to complete your lunch.

Five Star Visa Runs

[nidhogg]

You only may need a bit of Kraft Mayonaise to complete your lunch.

Or pack his own. Sheesh. That not rocket science, and I am sure the food provided is not compulsory.

[Fondles]

These days I go thru around 3,000 THB in fuel,

Fuck me what do you drive ??

I did a run to the Ban Laem border last week (ciggie run) and my 3.0 auto Colorado used 1200b and I drive it like I stole it.

[keekwai]

^ So you can get cheap ciggies on the Thai side of the border? .... Or is that a side benefit of a border hop over to Cambo?

If so .. I'm close to the Ban Laem / Daun Lem crossing. Wonder if there are any there?

[jaywalker]

Ahhhh, gotta love these forums.

Post some useful info & slagging match starts over the price of ciggies & fuel.

Hint - hint guys. This thread is not about ciggies nor what I drive & it's fuel mileage. I also neglected to mention the dog that was about the size of a goat that ran in front of my 2005 Nissan Frontier 2 wheel drive truck last March & cost no end of insurance head-aches.

(Fondles it's a 5 speed manual /2.5 liter diesel that screams at 3500 RPM at 120 KPH..It's a workhorse not a cruiser).

Worry-free was this trip.

This visa run cost (roughly) half of what I'd normally pay if I did it myself. That'd be my point.

Joepattaya, thanks for that tip Mate!

[dirtydog]

I'm close to the Ban Laem / Daun Lem crossing. Wonder if there are any there?

They have a duty free shack on the Cambodian side.

[jaywalker]

Yeah Dirty Dog,

I oft wondered how the bothersome morons on Walking Street trying to sell cut-rate cigarettes got their stock of Cambodian fakes.

Now I know. Our driver asked each of us to smuggle a carton in for him.

Most any smoker (on a visa run) will know the ciggies there are fake & will shun them.

Non-smokers of course have no interest in them either.

Driver will kow-tow to you & talk you into bringing a carton per person back into LOS.

That has to be the Walking Street source of cheap ciggies......Just a guess.

Jay

[dirtydog]

The fake cigarettes are pretty crap, but Texas, I think they are either Cambodian or Lao are alright, about 15baht for 20 in Laos and 20baht a pack in Cambodia.

[jaywalker]

You only may need a bit of Kraft Mayonaise to complete your lunch.

Or pack his own. Sheesh. That not rocket science, and I am sure the food provided is not compulsory.

Hey Joepattaya, you pretty muchly nailed it on the head. Now you know!!!!

Bring some mayo or...........

For sure I'll bring my own lunch fare in a small cooler next time. I can spend that 200 baht discount you mentioned on a right royally large pack of ham at Makro. !90 baht pack of ham keeps me happy at lunchtime for 2 weeks

I do love Thai spicy food, but it's not the best food for travelling.

I once made the mistake of chowing down on Sai Krog Isaan (Isaan sausage) whilst nibbling on no less than 4 of those raw nuclear peppers........had to fly to Tokyo to Chicago that night.

BAD IDEA on the dietary front. I was the jerk that never left the toilet on that flight.

[buycondojomtien]

But don't you have to sit with all the retarded usually met in PATTAYA when doing this kind of visa run with other westerners ?

So many hours with the guy i would have killed in another life might be too much :-)

[the dogcatcher]

Laosy bought some LM in Cambodia, in fact she bought about 4000 which we got nicked for but that's another story.
On the cartons the health warning read.
"Smooking can damage your health".
Definately not fake.

[keekwai]

OK.. So Fondles does a border hop just to buy cheap ciggies. At least that's how the post reads. Doesn't seem economically sound to me.

[sabang]

It's been just over 4 years since I did a Visa run, the cost then was 1700 bht 'on special', usually 2000 bht. Lunch was a crappy buffet at a shoddy casino, but no brekkie or free pint. Same border point. I would think with a bit of checking around you can spend a bit less than 2500 /2300, bht but it certainly saves money and is less hassle than doing it solo.

[keekwai]

but it certainly saves money and is less hassle than doing it solo.

.. and you get to be scowled at by the "solos" when your van driver jumps the queue with a dozen passports clutched in his hand.

[cdnski12]

Jay:
Did you get a 15 day or 30 day extension ... or longer for resident fareng?

[Fondles]

I don't cross the border, I have lunch in Thailand whilst a girl I know there grabs the ciggies for me.

20 cartons [at] 180b per carton is a hell of a lot cheaper than 20 cartons [at] 560b per carton.

Minus fuel and food thats a clear saving of 6000b.

[keekwai]

^ I thought it may be something like that. So now I need to make some acquaintances on the border.

I'm only a 45 minute bike ride away from the border .. so it would be worth my while.

[sabang]

20 cartons [at] 180b per carton is a hell of a lot cheaper than 20 cartons [at] 560b per carton.

Teehee, but it's still a lot more expensive than the 75bht a carton I pay for Dalat ciggies (pretty good) bought from Laos, no Duty Free limits 'cus you're not actually passing thru' customs and immigration. Dunno how long this particular lurk will last, but the longer the better.

[keekwai]

bought from Laos

If you bought them from Laos .. how do you manage not to pass through customs? .. Or do you live in Laos?

[sabang]

A considerable amount of traffic crosses the Mekhong every day, in places were there are no customs and immigration 'formalities'. Living close to a porous border certainly has it's benefits.

[keekwai]

Oh "Dalat" ciggies. Got it. You get them from those markets around Nong Khai?

[joepattaya]

IMHO you don't have to cross a border or pass customs in order to get caught with Laos or Cambodian ciggies, booze or whatever.
If you are in possession of these goods with no Thai banderol, you'll hang. A regular police check will do.

[sabang]

^^ I'm from Ubon actually. But it could be just about any Laos border Province. Allegedly.