#  >  > Travellers Tales in Thailand and Asia >  >  > Cambodia Forum >  >  Visa Run to Aranyaprathet, Poipet

## dirtydog

This place is awful, the only good thing you can say about it is that it is close to Bangkok if you live there and need a re-entry stamp, I have been quite lucky in that I haven't been there in a few years.

The Thai side is a market full of junk that nobody in their right mind would buy, actually one time I was there I had a tiny little scratch on my ankle which got infected, I then had to have an operation and spend 3 days in hospital, yep that is how dirty and horrid the place is, it is full of beggars and landmine victims and deformed people, 100s of kids will follow you begging for money etc, if you take your car half a dozen of these horrid little kids will offer to look after it, so do you tell them to fok off and take the chance they don't damage your car or do you pay them?

Also you will be hassled by _agents_ who will speed up your rentry process, sometimes this does work on the Cambodian side, sometimes all they will do is fill out your arrival departure card, and yep they do want a tip for some reason.

Last time I went they had the old 50baht SARS form scam going, just tell erm you aint got SARS and walk away.

Anyway on parking up walk towards this thingy.





On your left is the building to depart Thailand and on your right is the arrivals for Thailand, get into the departure building and all the scumbags will leave you alone, once that is sorted it's back out into the wilds again and dealing with the street scum, anyway a couple of hundred meters up the road is the visa on entry place, give them 1,000baht plus another 300baht if you aint staying the night, over on the left is Cambodias departure point, sort that out then back over again to get back into Thailand, I should mention that for the Cambodia visa you do need 1 passport photo.

Even the kids get work oppurtunities here in Poipot.

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## dirtydog

The main Street on the Cambodian side is concrete and pretty dirty, I think the high end casinos try to keep it clean but it's a losing battle when they have that many scummy people begging etc.







Here is the place to get your Cambodian visa.

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## dirtydog

They got places called Grand Diamond City Hotel and Palace Hotel, nice names shame about the location, these all have casinos and the Thais flock to them like mossies to a farang, the staff in these casinos seem to all be Thai so I suppose they just get a border pass, the slot machines for some unknown reason takes 10baht coins.

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## dirtydog

The rich and the poor and never the twain shall meet nor mingle.

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## mrsquirrel

Nope that is where I went on Thursday

The market is good if you are a THai market sstall owner

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## dirtydog

All the power tools are fake and last about 10 minutes and all the clothes are second hand.






> The market is good if you are a THai market sstall owner


Next time your down there could you mention teakdoor to them so we can hear their side of things, the thing that impressed me most of course was all the dead animal carcasess hung up and being sold by the kilo that were covered in flies, yep lovely place to spend a week or two  :Smile:

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## mrsquirrel

My missus blew 10k there on bags and clothes.

She says she will make 7k on the clothes and bags.

I think she is going back next week to spend another 15 or 20 so she covers her costs ( I paid for the gas last week)

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## danbo

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.

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## Gazza

A few days ago I came back from Aranya where I've been doing my monthly border hops for about a year now, sometimes going to Pong NR for a change of scenery.

At Aranya, first they wanted 1100b for the Cambo visa and 100b for doing a quick turn around. But now I apply for the visa myself and they haven't asked me for anything for doing a quick turnaround for the last 6-7 months. So in total, I only pay 1000b for the visa.

Usually, only have a couple of visa touts approach me and on the last run only had the one kid offer the umbrella service.

Every month it seems like it's getting better and quicker getting all the 'in and out' stamps.

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## aging one

Damn you really have to do that shit once a month??  Thailand really has to do something about this visa crap.  People have to love the LOS alot to put up with monthly visa runs.  I used to have to do them about every 3 months or so. But monthly?! Damn.

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## Gazza

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. :Smile:  

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.  :Smile:

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## Professorfart

I agree with Gazza. I was there a couple of months ago and its a damm sight better than in used to be.

A kid came up to me and said that for 100B he would get me through the lot and back into Thailand in 20 minutes. Any longer and he wouldn't take my money. So just to avoid all the chaos and hassle of wandering around (it was late March and 'kin hot) I let this lad take me. True to his word I was in and out in 20 mins but even without this kid I reckon I would have been no more than 30 mins tops.

Thankfully now border runs are a thing of the past.............. :Smile:

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## Marmite the Dog

One thing worth noting is DO NOT GET IN THE QUEUE BEHIND PAKIS OR FLIPPAS unless you like watching the other queues move along quickly while yours goes nowhere,

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## Boon Mee

> 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...

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## genghis61

The Sa Kaeo Immigration Office in Aranyaprathet township (5-6km from border with PoiPet) is OK, 90km and the nearest office for us, was there on Tuesday needed a residence letter to renew my drivers licence (back to SK town for that); tv, Thai newspapers, free tea/coffee/chilled water and have not had a problem in the year or so I've been dealing with them. 

Yet a neighbour manages to get upset/upset them every time and has no end of trouble. They always find 'one more thing' he doesn't have resulting in a return trip. 

Maybe a separate thread, but are all Dublin Irish the most argumentive ****s on the plenet; I make a social call and within minutes find he is on attack about . . . anything!

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## Boon Mee

Poipet will not be on my list of places to re-visit for sure.  Aside from the heavy sewer fumes everywhere you walk, I didn't find the local folks all that friendly.  As DD has mentioned, it is poor:



The boys pushing/pulling the water carts seemed to be putting their backs into it for small money, I'm sure.



The obligatory street shot.



In terms of 'cheap stuff' to pick up, other than cigarettes at 95 baht per carton, there wasn't much else.

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## handygolfer1945

I have a 60-day tourist visa...and need to renew or extend.  Any suggestions ?

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## 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 ?

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## handygolfer1945

Wow...sounds like renewing a visa is really hard going the Cambodia route...any other way to renew ?

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## gusG

> I have a 60-day tourist visa...and need to renew or extend.  Any suggestions ?





> 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 ?





> Wow...sounds like renewing a visa is really hard going the Cambodia route...any other way to renew ?


Here you go mate.
Pathum Thani Immigration office seems to be up your way.
They will give you a 30 day extension on your tourist visa.
After that it all depends on how long you want to stay.

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004...08_imm_map.jpg

Immigration Bureau Website

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## Phuketrichard

> 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)

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