Bubblefunk

I've just got back from a Penang border trip and felt obliged to share my experience of the past few days regarding this topic, so hopefully it'll help people. I've highlighted bits in bold for those who don't want to read the whole thing:

What I thought was going to be a standard border run, ended up being an absolute nightmare, however the story does have a happy ending. I was trying to activate the second half of a double entry visa, however I also have 3 back to back tourist visas from the same embassy in Vientiane, plus the dreaded red stamp. I was working legally in Bangkok from 2010-2013 and have saved my money for time out in Thailand for 2014. Later this year I'll be off to Jakarta & Manila for work. So yes I am a tourist and yes I do also work.

I flew to Hat Yai & took a mini bus to the Pedang Baser border crossing. Once there (over the border and back) the immigration officer said I could not enter the country and I had to spend two nights in Malaysia. I pointed out to him that if I spent two nights in Malaysia I would not be able to activate the visa in time, he then said 'ok one night is ok then'. So after a lot of hassle (with the invaluable help of my Thai girlfriend) we managed to find a minibus that would take us to Penang (minibus takes 4hrs at least - more like 6 in reality). I had to pass back to the Thai side to do this as there was no way to get to Penang on the Malaysia side, unless you wanted to take an old taxi to somewhere in the sticks on the Malaysia side which is probably not that advisable.

Having stayed one night in Penang and taken the minibus back to the border again (another 4 hrs on a bumpy minibus at 200kmph) the driver half way through the journey says he is going to a different border crossing: Pra-Kob, which is a brand new, (which may have a different name I'm not sure) which he said was more strict (oh great, I thought). He said he had to go this way as at the Pedang Baser they were not letting Thai minibus drivers back in as the Malay taxi drivers thought they were taking their money.

Anyway, this border was even worse. The immigration officer was in his early twenties and completely refused me entry, even though I had a vaild double entry visa. He said 'you no tourist' with a big smile. So there we were stuck at the border again, in the baking sun, this time with no where to go as there are no minibuses, only local taxis that want to charge 500 baht even to go to a cashpoint... Again my Thai girlfriend called the minibus company and we arranged to go back to Penang again on the next bus through, and decided to fly back to Bangkok.

Having arrived back again in Penang (another 6 hrs on a bouncy minibus) and booked another hotel, we booked two flights back to Bangkok. On arrival at Bangkok I really thought: sheet, this it man, now I'm going to get a grilling from bkk immigration as to why I've tried to cross the border so many times, why I have so many tourist visas, and maybe even end up being deported with no warning if I cannot show them 20,000 baht in cash etc?? But no, nothing, they gave me a 30 day stamp no questions, not even an eyebrow raised (30 day stamp as by this time I had missed the visa re-entry date).

So now I'm thinking: Is this what you now have to do? Just leave the country by whichever way but always fly back in?? Am I ALWAYS going to get grief each time I enter thailand from now on just because I have so many visas??

A trip that was going to cost me a few thousand baht plus a few days chilling with my girlfriend, ended up costing me nearly 15000 baht all in, plus a huge amount of stress and nearly 4 days of my time. IF I had known it was going to be like this I would have just booked a flight in and out, SO much more simple.

Anyway, this is just to hopefully help a few people that are maybe thinking to do a border run any time soon.

Best of Luck to people!