BCMike

I'm trying to book a flight in October, one way from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh and as far as I can tell the only airline flying this route is Vietnam Airlines. Unless I missed something, Vietnam airlines doesn't currently let you book a flight online. I am able to book this flight on expedia.com , but they want an extra $36 to mail paper tickets to Bangkok plus a $10 booking fee.

Can anyone recommend another way to book this flight online, or do I need to see a travel agent in Bangkok?

AFAIK Vietnam Airlines have an office in Bangkok.

Why don't you try there ?

onzestan

Vietnam Airlines

10th Floor, Wave Place Building

55 Wireless Road

Lumpini-Patumwan

Bangkok 10330

tel.: 02.6554137-40

email : [email protected]

cheers

onzestan

Thanks for the info, I'll give them a try

I'm trying to book a flight in October, one way from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh and as far as I can tell the only airline flying this route is Vietnam Airlines. Unless I missed something, Vietnam airlines doesn't currently let you book a flight online. I am able to book this flight on expedia.com , but they want an extra $36 to mail paper tickets to Bangkok plus a $10 booking fee.

Can anyone recommend another way to book this flight online, or do I need to see a travel agent in Bangkok?

That's why we let the customer build their taco or burrito. Some like just meat on a tortilla. Others want everything except the kitchen sink. That's why I get a kick out of it when someone says " Why does Sunrise Tacos put cheese on a taco?" It's the customer choice... some love it that way, others don't. We leave it up to the people...http://www.sunrisetacos.com

In my mind, that's the best thing about Sunrise - letting the customer decide what they want on each taco/burrito. I'm not partial to bean burritos, so I'm grateful for the 'fajita' option. Of course this works best when the orders are put together correctly, which could maybe still use some improvement. I visited Soi 12 again with my girlfriend a couple weeks ago and I'm pretty sure it was you who personally took my order and filled out the form, which was slightly complicated with a burrito plus 3 tacos with different ingredients. I confirmed that the form was filled out correctly but again our order was slightly mixed up, with some of the requested burrito ingredients appearing in the tacos that did not request those same ingredients - not really a big deal, we just removed the unwanted items. We also tried your margaritas for the first time which we both agreed were excellent. Then it came time to pay the bill and again there seemed to be some confusion entering our order into the till, and we were overcharged by about 200 baht. I'm sure it was an honest mistake and the clearly labeled receipt made it easy to see what the extra charges were (the original worker had entered a more expensive meat than we had ordered and hit the button an extra time for a double charge). I showed the receipt to another girl behind the till to confirm and she was very appologetic, corrected the mistake and refunded us the difference. In the end we had a satisfying meal and will continue to return in the future.

Good to hear you are expanding and working on improving with your staff. I have been to the Soi 14 location a few times and am happy with the quality of food. Last time I was there (early July) I ordered 1 borrito and 3 tacos (of the same type) on a single order form (using one column for the burrito and one for the 3 tacos). The worker who made the tacos seemed a little confused when reading the order form, and when I opened the order up at home discovered I had 3 differently prepaired tacos: one correct as ordered, one made with the burrito toppings in the first column, and one without any meat! The borrito was made correctly but was prepaired by a different worker - delicious. Anyway, the food still satisified our craving but I would suggest providing an order form at the restaurant more like the fax form on your website which I think is much more clear as it uses rows rather than columns for each item ordered and has a clear list of all the topping options.

...That means probably tomorrow or firday my documents will be mailed to the consulate for applying the 2 x tourist 60+30 and later will do the visa runs, even maybe I could just go to the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok and ask for a new 2 x tourist 60+30 . that would be very easy that way .. probably too easy to be real . . But it will give us many options for some lovers "weekend" trips going to Laos, Cambodia .

Maybe too late if you've already mailed your docs in, but why don't you try for a 3x tourist 60 day visa? Unless things have changed recently, I had no trouble obtaining a 3 x tourist visa in Vancouver in April 2007. This would give you up to 9 months with extensions. This has worked fine for me so far, I am living with my Canadian girlfriend who is working in Bangkok and has a work visa.

Hi all,

Is anyone aware of a pizza restaurant located on Sukhumvit Soi 23? I think it starts with an "m".

Cheers.

Pizza Mania

http://www.pizzamania.co.th/

Great wood fired oven pizzas. Delivery only, their shop is in a small alley off Soi 23. I live just a coulple buildings away from them and because their thin-crust pizzas take little time to cook, I've had them at my door within 10 minutes of ordering.

Hi Mike,

Next time round when you are departing from the aranyanprathet market where all the casino buses are station,just hop on to the buses and say you just came from the casino.

Normally they won't stop you.

Sometimes the reason they rejects you is because they want to give the privileges to the gambler first.

But if they are about to about leave and their buses is not full they will gladly let you hop on board for the extra 200 baht.

Thanks for the tip. It probably didn't help that I was with a group of 4 travellers with largish backpacks. Next time I'll probably be on my own and I'll try for the return trip on a casino bus.

As for my trip to Siem Reap, I'm currently sorting through my 600+ photos. I will weed out the bad ones (which is most of them) and then post a writeup of the trip on my blog site. As soon as this is done (next day or 2) I'll post a link in this thread and the travel forum.

To summerize the road conditions, I thought it wasn't too bad. For an unpaved road I didn't think it could be much better actually. There were a few short sections with a high concentration of small pot-holes, but most of it was relatively smooth and there were no giant pot-holes that I have heard are commonly a barrier. Going to Siem Reap by taxi it took less than 3 hours on a dry day with little traffic. Returning we hit a wet section after some rain which slowed us down due to lack of traction in the mud plus we had a flat tire on the way. I think the return trip was 4+ hours for these reasons, as well as a slower taxi driver.

On June 25 the first of my tripple-entry 60-day Tourist Visas expired, so I did a trip from Bangkok to Poipet and then kept going to Siem Reap for 6 days before returning to Thailand on the 2nd-entry of my Tourist Visa. I thought I'd post my exprience getting to/from the Poipet border and getting my Cambodian visa, which might be helpful to other visa-runners. Living in the Sukhumvit area in Bangkok, I opted to take one of the casino buses to the border at Aranyaprathet since they leave from Lumphini Park which is pretty close by. I took a taxi from my apartment and arrived in front of the HSBC building on Rama IV road across from Lumphini Park at 4am. There was a double-decker bus across the street and I verified that it was going to Poipet, then hopped on. The bus left at 4:20am and made a couple quick stops in Bangkok, then went straight to the Market at the Aranyaprathet/Poipet border getting there around 7:20am. I was asked to pay 200 baht for a one-way journey (or 300 baht return).

I followed the crowd of eager Thai gamblers, some them were literally jogging to the immigration building from the bus to be at the head of the line. I appeared to be the only Farang around and went to the foreigner line where I was quickly stamped out of Thailand. I soon found myself at the Cambodia Visa booth and was the only one there; it was now around 7:30am. I filled out a form and handed it to the official at the window with a photo and $20. As expected, he told me the fee is now 1000 baht. I pointed out the sign above the window that clearly says $20 and asked where it says 1000 baht? He replied that the rates have changed and if I insist on paying in US dollars it will be an extra 200 baht. I asked what the extra 200 baht was for and again told him that I think the fee should be only $20 as indicated on the sign. After some more back-and-fourth questioning I was surprised when he eventually admitted that he needed the extra baht for himself! He proceeded to give me a long sob story about how difficult it is to survive in Cambodia where he earns only $30 per month, and how this isn't enough to pay his expenses, which he started listing off… food, housing, kids, wife, motorcycle, fuel, etc. He then suggested that I could afford at least an extra 100 baht to help him out, and that in return he would make sure my visa was processed very quickly. I told him sorry, I'm only paying $20. He warned me that if I did it could take a very long time to process my visa. I was pretty frustrated by now, and told him I had lots of time and I can wait, so I left the application and $20 at the window and sat down in the waiting area. A short time later a young American couple arrived and applied for their Cambodian visas, then sat down behind me. I learned that they had taken the 3:30am bus from the Mo Chit terminal in Bangkok, so their journey had taken an extra 40 minutes or so and involved an extra tuk-tuk ride from the bus depot. They told me they had just paid $25 each to the same official for their visa applications, obviously they were not happy about this. A couple minutes later another official came up to the three of us and handed back our passports with new Cambodian visas to each of us at the same time. Next the three of us went through Cambodian immigration and got our entry stamps without any hassles.

Then I spent 6 wonderful days in Siem Reap touring the temples of Angkor and other sights, but I'll skip those details and get to my return to Thailand at the Poipet border...

Since I had a triple-entry tourist Visa, I had no problems at Thai immigration (not a word from the official, he just gave me a new 60-day stamp). I was worried he might request to see that I had 20,000 baht as was suggested on this forum, which would have caused me a bit of an inconvience to get, but like I said, no questions at all. I was travelling back with some new friends who I had met in Siem Reap so I will share their experiences as well. 2 girls from the US were each getting their second VOI of the month and had no problems as they had an e-ticket for an international flight leaving Bangkok in a couple weeks. An Austrialian gentleman was also with us and getting his second VOI of the month for Thailand. He was hastled since he didn't have an onward ticket, but after a minute or so of reasoning with the official and promising that he would definately buy a return flight to Australia once back in Bangkok, the official eventually granted him his VOI, warning him that next time he must show an onward ticket. I wouldn't count on this tatic working, especially if you are with a group of same-day visa runners. I also saw another lady in a different line who I think was argueing with the official about having to show an onward ticket, and I'm not sure if she was allowed a VOI. There were also signs posted at each desk that said onward travel documents for travel in the next 30 days are required to get a VOI.

Once across the border, we tried to find a casino bus going back to Bangkok but none of them would let us on and all pointed us towards the visa-run or Khao San Road buses which looked a little sketchy. We also looked for a taxi which we heard should cost around 1000 baht, but they all insisted on 1800 baht + tolls. So we settled for a tuk-tuk to the bus depot in Aranyaprathet and a first-class bus back to Bangkok.

I'll need to re-enter Thailand a third and final time in a couple months, and I'll likely take a Casino "Gambler's express" bus from Lumphini Park to Poipet once again, but next time I'll do it as a single day trip.

Costs:

Taxi to Lumphini park: 50 baht

Casino bus to Poipet: 200 baht

Cambodian visa: $20 usd

Tuk-tuk from border to Aranyaprathet: 25 baht (100 baht split 4-ways)

1st class bus from Aran-Bangkok (Mo Chit): 207 baht

Return Taxi: 100 baht

Total: 582 baht + $20usd

1. 60 days start the day you enter Thailand.

2. Yes you will lose a day with entry/exit the same day. Also it is advisable to plan to leave the day before the permitted to stay until date just to be safe.

3. Same answer as one - entry date is day one of visa entry.

4. You should not require tickets or photos but you do require 20,000 baht on every entry. It may not be checked but it is required. You can enter at all normal border checkpoints that process foreigners.

We are assuming your visa will remain valid for the time until your last entry into Thailand. Normal is six months but you need to check that.

Thanks for the answers. I've decided to do a trip to Siem Reap later this week, and return on June 30th or so (anyone want to join me?). That would mean my second visa will expire Aug 27th, at which point I'll do a single day visa run, then my 3rd visa will last till October 26th which is one day more than I need - perfect .

... I'd rather put the 1900 baht into a cheap short trip to Cambodia or Laos or ?

That's a splendid idea.

When calculating your dates, simply remember that for the 60-day entries both the date of arrival and the date of departure are counted, but you probably already know this, not least from the first entry stamp you already have.

--

Maestro

Thanks again, that's really the main thing that I wanted to verify (I guess I should have figured it out myself from the first stamp ). Now I just have to figure out where I should go.

You have not mentioned that date except to say that the visa was issued shortly before your departure for Thailand, and we know that it is valid for 6 months. So let's say it was issued on 20 April and expires 19 October.

Right, I meant to mention the expiration date of the visa. Your guess was very close . It was issued April 17 and expires Oct. 16. This shouldn't be a problem since I will be leaving only 9 days after the expiration date, and my last entry into Thailand will be well before this.

This is one example how you can work it:

Entry 1: 27 April

Admitted until: 25 June

Extend until: 25 July (Cost 1,900 Baht)

[...]

Why does my list not give your subsequent entries on the last day of your permitted stay? You don't need to squeeze every last day out of your visa, and to allow for any emergency (via bus breaks down, etc) it is best not to leave the visa run to the last day. In fact, you have so many days to spare that you can make your runs even earlier.

You can choose which of the three entries you prefer to extend. With your itinerary, you need to extend only once. You can apply for your 30-day extension up to three weeks before your permitted stay expires. Again, best no leave it until the last day. Regardless of the application date, the 30 days are added on to the existing permission to stay.

--

Thanks for the example. Like I said above though, I would like to do a short side trip outside Thailand anyway so why not stretch out my 180 allowed days on my current Visa and avoid paying extra for an extension? Maybe I'll spend 4 or 5 days outside thailand to allow an extra day or 2 for any emergency (good suggestion).

u can get a 30 extension for 1900 baht at an immigration office on each of those TV... Why not do that and plan your trip next month plus ud get an extra 3 months out of thos TV??? Just a thought

Thanks for the suggestion. I thought about doing that but I'd like to see another bordering country anyway so I figure why pay extra for an extention that I don't really need (my return date to Canada is definate and fixed so I don't need any extra months on top of the 180 days I should be able to get with my triple entry TV). So I'd rather put the 1900 baht into a cheap short trip to Cambodia or Laos or ?

I am 30 years old, and have a triple entry tourist visa that I obtained from my home country of Canada shortly before arriving here in Bangkok at the end of April. My first 60 days expires next week on June 25. My return ticket back to Canada is October 25, or 182 days after my arrival date (according to the calculator on the main page). I have spent the last couple hours reading this forum trying to find out as much info as I can but still have a few questions that I hope someone could answer...

1. If I cross a border and re-enter for my 2nd of 3 entries before June 25 (say tomorrow), do my next 60 days start from that same day (tomorrow) or do they start after my first 60 day 'admitted until' stamp date of June 25? (I suspect it's the former). Since I would like to be in LOS a full 180 days total, I want to stretch my 3 tourist visa entries as long as possible so am I correct in my assumption that to maximize my number of days allowed I need to wait till the 'admitted until' date each time I leave and re-enter?
   
2. If I were to leave LOS on the 25th and re-enter the same day, do the next 60 days count from the 25th as well? If so, would this not effectively make my first 2 visas add up to 119 days instead of 120 days? If this is the case I suspose I need to stay overnight on the other side of the border to get 120 days from 2 consecutive TV visa entries?
   
3. I am also planning to stay at least a couple nights in another boardering country which will be necessary anyway to legally be here 182 days after my arrival with my three 60 day visas (I would rather not have to pay extra to get a tourist visa extension since I only need an extra couple days). I assume if I do this then this will work to delay the effective start date of the following 60-day entry visa?
   
4. Finally I just want to verify a few things about a multiple entry tourist visa: I Don't need any onward travel docs, don't need 20,000 baht, and don't need any additional photos to re-enter Thailand (but do to enter other countries with visa requirements like Cambodia), and I can re-enter at any international border - correct?
   

I haven't decided where to stay and if I will stay somewhere this time or the next time I need to re-enter. Any suggestions for someone on a backpackers budget (maybe this part should be another post)? I was thinking it might simplify things if I took a visa run service from Bangkok to Ban Laem, stay in Cambodia for a couple nights, then come back to Bangkok with another bus from the same company. Do you know of any of the visa run companies that would be able to accomodate an itenerary like this, and more importantly, would it be worthwhile to stay in that part of Cambodia? I also see there is an option with Jack's golf to see Angkor Wat for 2 nights/3 days - any experiences with that trip or other options/suggestions for someone new to Southeast Asia and would like to spend a few days outside Thailand?

I like looking at Apple products, they look really nice, but would never pay money to own their products.

I don't like their proprietary attitude toward hardware and software

I prefer open or near open systems

Proprietary attitude? OS X has an open-source UNIX foundation, and all mac hardware now has built-in support Windows and Linux, as well as OSX. I'd say apple has less of a proprietary attitude than most other big computer companies. One exception is that they only allow thier iTunes DRM-protected music to only playback on iPods, but now that they have DRM-free music as well this isn't as big an issue.