champken

When i did a similar trip, i jumped on one of the many waiting minibuses straight to Mukdahan and spent the night there in a cheap hotel rather than stay in Nakhon Phanom, then it was a simple 30b tuk tuk ride to the bus station in the morning.

I also am about to change from non o's based on marriage obtained in Savanakhet to a retirement extension. The older i am getting has made the three monthly visa runs or trips out of Thailand a bit of a chore, i also reasoned that it would be quite sensible to have 800k readily available here just in case even though it's only earning me about 1.2% in interest

Thanks guys, just the info i wanted, and yes i currently have a multi entry. 

I currently have a non o visa which expires shortly, but before it does i intend to do a border run and hopefully get another 90 day entry and 60 days or so into that (seasoning period for the about to be transfered top up funds ) apply for a yearly retirement extension.

My question is, is that possible being that my non o will actually have expired when i apply for the retirement extension even though i will hopefully still be legally in Thailand with my last 90 day entry?

1. That border has been like that for years and years. The only way it will ever be stopped is for people to quite literally boycott all Cambodian borders, but unfortunately that will never happen. The gravy train on this scam goes very nearly to the top so there is no interest in stopping it, they would make those prices for visas official if they thought they could get away with it but $50 for a visa to Cambodia might put a few off so they charge it unofficially when you are trapped and already exited Thailand so the thieves win.  Imagine getting in or being accused any sort of real trouble in Cambodia and being at the mercy of those c..ts in uniform

I recently did a similar trip to the one you are planning and in my opinion you would be better off staying the night in Ubon (Ratchatani hotel, 490 a night is good value) and then getting an early (say 6 am) bus from Ubon to Mukdahan bus station and then hop on the Laos bus to Savanakhet bus station where it is a 10 minute walk to the Thai consulate or if at that point you are tight for time you could use a Tuk Tuk to take you straight to the consulate where you will need to be before 11am if you want to be able to collect your passport the next day.

Taxis in Ubon are dirt cheap, 50-60baht will get you almost anywhere within Ubon, oh and i dont think you would get a bus that late at night from Ubon to Mukdahan so i think you will have to spend the night in Ubon. Have a good trip

I said on another thread that you should show no politeness to others when doing the crossings or you will miss getting back on the bus and either have to wait an hour for another one going to Mukdahan or be forced to use a tuk tuk going into Savannakhet.

Sit as near to the front of the bus as possible, failing that then stand near to the front ready to be one of the first off, gently nudge anybody smaller (most Asians) out of your way, have all your paperwork filled in ready and coming back to Mukdahan, buy your bus ticket and get on the bus at Savannakhet bus station, its a ten minute walk from the consulate so no need to use a tuk tuk which if you do then you still have to wait for the bus and purchase a ticket at the border.

any recommendations for travelling from Bangkok to there?

How long does it take to do the visa? 2 nights?

Cheap?

Medium?

Expansive? Flights are rare...

Overland the bus journey is around 9 hours. You could go by train to Ubon and then a bus from there or fly to Ubon and bus from there if you don't want to spend all night on a bus.

I have just done that. I managed to get a return from Don Mueang to Ubon for about 1200 all in which I was very pleased with. I just couldn't face that long bus journey although you do still have about 3 hours from Ubon to Mukdahan. If you time it right (I did not) then you need only spend I night in Savannakhet but as has already been stated, your visa application must be in by 11am.

Having just come back from my first ever trip to obtain a non o from Savannakhet, there were a couple of things that stood out for me about the journey. Firstly, once you are on the bus that takes you between Savannakhet and Mukdahan, you must lose all your politeness and manners...be brutal, push in, barge people out of your way and give way to no 5 foot tall Asians..in order to not have to wait for another hour for the next bus because the driver will leave you behind if you are not through immigration quickly enough...so try to sit as near to the front of the bus as possible and try to have a downloaded visa on arrival form for Laos already filled in with your $35 to hand over.

If you are a good walker then the Bus station is no more than a 15 minute walk to the Thai consulate, so there is absolutely no need to use a tuk tuk driver either coming into Savannakhet or going out, in fact going out you will still need to purchase a bus ticket and wait for the bus to come anyway, so why not just walk down to the bus station and get straight on the bus.

You should have at least a year remaining on your passport to apply for the visa. The rules state 18 months is required.but that is not often enforced.

If your passport expires before the visa expires you can use both passports to use the visa in the old one after getting a new one.

If as in my case your passport has only a few empty pages left and so not enough to utilise a 1 year non o visa, can I then use a new passport along with the one I got the visa in to do say three monthly border runs or three monthly trips in? Or when the passport which has the visa in is full, do I need to go to immigration to have the visa transferred to my new passport?

Could somebody please advise on the current situation at the Had Lek border. I havent been there for years but it was always a battle with the scammers and overcharging nonsense in the past.

The reason I am asking is that despite all the hassles there, I quite liked the trip and even a night or two in Koh Kong and may decide to go again when I am due a visa run next. What are they now charging for a Cambodian visa for instance?

I always thought that Thai guys dont do "licking" or have i got the story completely upside down

If you've been living here for the past six years then surely your son's English can't be that bad?! I know plenty of luk krueng kids and they speak both Thai and the other language that their foreign father/mother speaks.

My 3 and a half year old certainly understands alot of what i say to him in English, but definately needs encouragement to speak any English.

OP, i wish you good luck if indeed you end up going back to the UK, but by all accounts the UK is on its arse right now and with very little opportunity to find employment, so unless you have an in demand trade or skill then you might find that you end up living on benefits which will not be easy.

Your son should not have any problems picking up English or adapting into the change of culture. If i were you i would carefully select the area that you would prefer him to grow up in, i mean Brixton or Toxteth wouldnt be ideal would they?

If you are at the DLT in Pattaya to do two or more acts/activities at the same time/on the same day-- get both a car and a motorcycle license or buy/sell a vehicle and get a licence, they will accept one original and copies of the same document for others. So, you need only ONE Residence Certificate to obtain both a car amd motorcycle license if done at the same time. The Residence Certificate is B200 at the Immigration office in Jomtien. The same is true for the medical certificate -- one original and one copy are acceptable. They will make you take the written test twice, once for each license (same test, except for a random change to a few questions), but the color blindness test and the reaction test are only taken once for both licenses. Some day they will figure out that taking the written test twice doesn't make a lot of sense, but it hasn't happened yet. Obviously, if you need to take the driving tests to get your new license, you will need to take a driving test for each vehilce.

I am due to renew both my car and motorbike license which i intend to do on the same day and had wondered why i should need two residence certificates and the only reason i could think of was because it would enable immigration to make a few extra baht out of me, so i am glad that you are confirming that in fact one certificate is enough. Thanks

Ive just booked a one way to London for 14045b for the end of this month but there is a catch...its with Air India LoL

I had previously booked a return from the UK with Air Egypt for £483 which i will be flying back on

^{But the jet ski scammers can carry on as normal !!!}

_{They should start off with going after every prison and police officer that has been found out to have been involved in this and round them up, put them on display in prison uniforms and have them sentenced to 20 years jail time..then launch a nationwide clampdown on corrupt officials with regular arrests and harsh sentences handed out, they should even think about offering incentives to the not corrupt few to anonomously point fingers at the guilty.}

For anybody that may have been interested, i did actually find a £258 return flight that returned back to London on a day that suited me which would have made for a really cheap one way flight for me with a good airline...BUT!!..i was informed through ebookers message service that if i did not show up for any of the flight legs then the airline would cancel the remainder of my ticket, so it is a no go.

Good find OP and i and i am sure most others appreciate people like you who take time to post this sort of thing.

The cheapest i am getting is £350 which is still slightly cheaper than any one way i have found from here, i dont suppose it would be a problem to book the return and just not go on the outbound flight or would it??

The slight downside to it for me is the fairly long stopover in the middle east and the departure time from Bangkok but i would put up with those inconveniences if i could get the £258

Yeah its a better deal the other way...but I thought it worth posting anyway. Qatar are a decent airline.

Yeah, the very reason im going back one way this time and booking my future tickets from the UK....if the exchange rate ever gets back to somewhere near where it was (dream on, i know) then it might then be worthwhile booking from here again

EVA air thb 29,900 if you pay cash

2% on top if paying by credit card

quite similar price to what ubonoz posted (difference of a 100 baht or so I think..)

That's a good price for direct flight. How about a link please?

Yes that is an interesting price which for me wanting a one way is coming out at 17800b inclusive.

I might risk hanging on for a couple of weeks and see if something else comes up but i am a bit worried with it being the olympics this year that deals may be harder to get, still kicking myself that i didnt book with srilankan for 15400b which was on offer about a week ago

Not so long ago a friend of mine got a few quotes to have his beaten up old cars bodywork completely repaired and resprayed, that included having many dents and scratches taken out, which would have needed panel beating and filler work...Total cost approx 20,000b, so my guess is that even for 7,000b those guys were still ripped off big time and that's even assuming that they did any damage in the first place which as we all know is highly unlikely.

I don't know really what else can be said about this scum and their helpers or accomplices that hasn't already been said other than to once again say that an order from very high up needs to be given to jump on those responsible, the big question for me is how high up the power tree does that order need to come from without he or she who gives that order running the risk of somebody suddenly pulling rank if you get my meaning

Great warning post OP that should be taken very seriously by all of us that do or have in the past drunk and drove/rode.

I had a lucky escape a year or more ago where i was fortunate enough to be able to bribe my way out of the situation, but it taught me a lesson and i now do not drink and ride

There never seems to a cut off point with some of these people, upset one or make him lose face in any way and a quick slap or punch is never enough, a clubbing with a piece of wood or being knifed is what can be expected.

Not wanting to hijack but has anyone ever flown Air China? Are they as bad as I think they are?

Hijacking aside..could be relevant to the OP as someone has already pointed out why save a few bob when the 'experience' can be terrible.

I used air china once many yrs ago & the experience was sooo bad I threw my return ticket away and re-booked with a decent airline.

I feel the same. Saving a couple of thousand Baht only to spend 15 hours sitting on the floor of an airport is not my idea of a good deal.

Anyone can confirm there is a hotel offered in Columbo by SriLankan Airways?

Go onto their website, click "flying with us" and then "night stop" and that should confirm that provided your stopover is between 8-24 hours and that you dont hold two separate tickets, then with the compliments of the airline you will indeed be put up and fed in a hotel.