welo

Just came back from a visa run to Phnom Penh for a Tourist Visa.

Hard facts first, details follow tomorrow:

• Applied and was granted Single Entry Tourist Visa on Wednesday 1 July 2009, double still not available (according to agent). This is my 2nd tourist visa en suite from PP.
  
• No fee for Tourist Visa (single entry) 'from 25 June 2009 to 4 March 2010'
  
• Agencies offer Thai Visa services for 10$/=340B (2 days = standard) and 15$/=510B (1 day = same day). 1-day actually means agent collects passport in the morning (or evening before) and returns it afternoon/evening the same day. No need to go to the embassy yourself.
  I did not know about it and went to the embassy myself and got the same day service for 10$ with an agent in front of the embassy.
  
• Announcement (dated 1 May 2009) requires every Visa Application to provide:
  o Proposed address in Thailand (Hotel, House with full address, Tel No)
  o Date of Arrival in Thailand
  o Mean of Travelling (flights, car, etc)
  I did provide everything but Tel No and got my visa. No idea how strict they are when applying at the official counter without agent.
  
• Did not see an announcement about Visa pickup two days later instead of next day but was told so by agent outside the embassy - but did not thoroughly check all the embassy (thought it was bogus anyway until I read on the board someone had to mention his flight to get the standard next day service!?)
  

welo

Just came back from a Visa Run to Phnom Penh. An announcement at the embassy said:

According to the Thai National Holiday, the Royal Thai Embassy will be closed between 6 - 7 July 2009.

Got a single Tourist Visa without problems, more detailed report will follow soon.

welo

Why would they bother to chase you, just radio your plate number ahead and a nice BiB further down the highway will spring you....

Makes sense. This one obviously did not though. Lucky me.

I have a Thai DL

Of course they have the right to take IDP off you as well as the Driving license which goes with it, these are documents you are using which prove you have the right to drive, Do you only carry your IDP, cos hope you know its not valid, unless you have your drivers license with it ??

Of course I have IDP plus my national driving license. Thanks for the reminder though.

My experience is that many times a cop stops me in my car at a checkpoint and asks for my license as soon as I show my IDP + national driving license they don't even bother to look at it, and wave me through. That's why I asked.

Btw at those times I noticed that they usually go after pickups (I am talking about the province here not Bangkok) and mostly ignore sedan cars, maybe this is the reason and not whether IDP or not.

welo

Welo, please report back to us about your experience in Phnom Penh. We don't get too many reports from there.

Sure. I did report the last time and I will do again.

welo

thx a lot for your replies! I just need a tourist visa (single), so there should be no problem in PP. I still hope to save one night in PP to cut down costs (and time wasted).

welo

Btw the Bangkok Highway Police tried to stop me too when I took off the tollway ticket booth (can't remember where though). But I first did not realize it was police since they yelled from 5 meters away where they had been busy 'harvesting' another car. only after looking into the review mirror I saw the uniform. I assumed he would not bother going after me and so it was. Let's see whether he took my license plate, but I assume it's just not worth the troubles for him. What happens in Thailand if you pretend to not hear/see a cop and he happens to have a motorbike and come after you?

welo

Hey guys, do you have a Thai Driving License or an International Driving Permit (IDP)? I wonder whether Thai police is allowed to collect the IDP as well or just the Thai license? Or rather: do they bring the IDP to the office for an official ticket as well?

I was stopped at checkpoints more than 5 times in the past month (that was in the province though) and they never bothered me after seeing my IDP. I just got my Thai license this week and I wonder whether I better still show my IDP (which is still valid) and mime as a short-term expat.

welo

Hi all!

Does anybody know about a 1-day service (same day pickup) in Phnom Penh for a (single-entry) tourist visa? Do the touts in front of the embassy offer such?

Did anybody ever try to cross the border in the early morning after opening (7:00am) and try to catch the bus to Phnom Penh at 8:00? I guess there might be a lot going on in the morning with all the locals crossing to deliver goods. Will this affect me as a 'tourist' - from what I remember there is separate queues for foreigners on the Thai side, not sure about the entry stamp counter for Cambodia.

I appreciate any hint whatsoever!

welo

Thanks for everybody contributing to this thread! I am sure this information is very valuable to not only the OP but to many others too (such as me ).

welo

Looks like talarod.com has the most private party sales.

Guys, the name of the website is taladrod.com (like the OP spelled it), NOT talarod.com (which is just a collection of sponsored links - don't bother to go there).

welo

Hey, why go private! This is a very interesting topic, not only for the OP. Why not share your wisdom with all of us!

welo

I know my post comes a bit late, but maybe it still helps.

The 3MBit offer at 590 Baht is the so-called 'Indy' package which will give you good speed (3MBit is pretty nice) to websites located within Thailand (or maybe South East Asia), but will perform poor for connections going to US or Europe.

This is a common problem in Thailand since international bandwith is expensive and providers in Thailand usually overbook the link to the international gateway. In other (more non-technical) words the 'line' that will connect you to websites located outside of Thailand is a lot 'smaller' than that to local websites. So wheras the speed within Thailand will come very close to the promised 3 MBit you will most likely have only a fraction of that internationally. How fast (or slow) exactly depends on various factors like time of day and region and is hard to foretell, but might at many times be as slow as 0.5 MBit - just to give you an idea.

This is a speed test I did today from my TOT 2MBit line: [sorry, not allowed to post an URL]

Don't make the mistake to get a bigger package (like 5 MBit), the international bandwith will hardly improve. Better you go with one of the 'Premium' packages. Maxnet uses different network routing for those users and your international bandwith will be considerably faster. The 2MBit Premium package (at 1090 Baht) will give you better international speed than the 3MBit 'Indy' package. That said ifyou only want to use email and browse the web even the Indy package might work for you. The good thing about maxnet is that they actually can offer you something better with their 'Premium' package and you might be able to upgrade if the slow 'Indy' speeds drive you nuts. Just be sure you arrange beforehand that you can switch from 3MBit Indy to 2MBit Premium since you will start with a 1-year contract. Checkout the price table here: [sorry, not allowed to post an URL].

Btw what I heard about the qualities of providers (especially in regards to international bandwith) is:

* CAT is best but hard to get in most areas (CAT is *not* TOT, CAT runs the National Internat Exchange and other services used by TOT and other providers, and CAT even used to show up on some of the TOT bills since TOT was founded as a affiliated company of CAT, well don't nail me on that). They run a dedicated line to your house (they don't offer phone services) and are said to give good international speed since they operate their own international gateway in Thailand. CHeckout their prices here: [sorry, not allowed to post an URL]. But you will have to contact them whether they already have a line in your area.

* true is pretty good where available (Bangkok only I think)

* TTnT/Maxnet is good because they differentiate between Indy and Premium which gives you better value (for a bit more money).

* TOT has nothing like a 'Premium' package so when your international speed sucks you are usually stuck with it.

* There are other providers that will operate on either a TTnt or a TOT phone line, but from the 2-3 stories I heard it seems they are mostly small and prognosis about expected speeds are difficult.

There used to be a good website at internet-thailand.com with good informationo on that topic and a forum. The information I have I mostly picked up there. The guy running the website knew a big deal about internet in thailand and has been here for a couple of years when ADSL was not available yet. But he obviously sold the domain (or did not renew it), now there's only commercials. Don't bother go there. Anybody knows the guy that was running the website and why he closed it down?

welo

P.S. sorry, I planned to post a couple of links but the forum rules don't allow (me?) to do that.

EDIT: removed the post since the board software played a trick on me and I didn't see the other posts.

After my Visa Run last week I thought about how to 'improve' the experience (in terms of convenience and costs):

• Anybody knows how to get 'express service' in Phnom Penh, meaning apply in the morning and pick up the same day? It might be worth some extra money to spare one day if you have been to PP before and don't want to hang around there.
  
• Is it possible to cross the border in Poipet in the morning right after it opens at 7:00am and catch the bus to PP from the bus station - the buses all leave in the morning, the last one at 8:00am afaik. How many people are there usually when the border opens? There are seperate queues for foreigners at the Thai side so that should not be a problem. What about the Cambodian exit stamp? I don't remember seperate queues there. (I live not too far from the border so I could be there that early easily.) Anybody has experience being at the border that early? Anybody ever took the direct bus to PP in the morning?
  Btw: There is a lot of bus companies going PP to Poipet directly for just about 8 $. The bus goes via Battambang and the trip takes about 7-8 hrs. You can leave at 8:00 and still catch one of the buses going to BKK (or book the whole trip to BKK from PP with Paramount Express leaving at 6:30, costs unknown). The problem with going the other direction (Poipet - PP) is that the last bus leaves at 8:00am. During the day you have to take a shared taxi to Siem Reap or Battambang and catch an onward bus from there (the last ones leaving at about 14:00pm from either cities), which is not only more troublesome since you have to deal with the taxi mafia in Poipet but also at least twice the price of the direct bus ticket.
  

Thanks for any help/advice.

welo

Since it was not explicitly mentioned before (or I missed it): Single Tourist Visa in Phnom Penh is free of charge at the moment - a sign inside the embassy says this is until 4th of june (if I remember correctly) and applies to single entry only (Phnom Penh doesn't give doubles at the moment anyway).

Short report on my visa run from April 2nd/3rd 2009 (no agency involved): I arrived at the embassy on Thursday at about 9:30, got my application form from outside at the booth, filled everything in (no sponsor; tried 2x tourist and 60 days x2), got my ticket from the same booth, went inside and was called immediately, handed in my form, passport and photos, 'you may apply for single entry only', 'ok, thank you', got my receipt that says pickup at '3-4 p.m.' next day. No fee paid!

Next day I arrived a bit late at 4 p.m., went to the counter with my receipt (no queue) and was handed out the passport with the visa which says 'fee 0 . Done.

Btw

Staff was not overly helpful but in no way unfriendly.

If you come with your own motorbike you can park outside the embassy for 1000 riel ($ 0.25), second time I insisted paying only 500 since I was inside the embassy for only 5 minutes. Embassy is easy to find since it is on Norodom Blvd., one of the main roads in PP.

welo