My Idc Misadventure

[stef24]

Here's a write up of a little incident i had a few yrs ago. At the time I posted this to the thorntree and george asked me to mention it here aswel, this was back in 2003. so its not new, only the write up is much better.

http://www.roadjunky.com/article/1233/immi...angkok-thailand

[kratindaeng]

Here's a write up of a little incident i had a few yrs ago. At the time I posted this to the thorntree and george asked me to mention it here aswel, this was back in 2003. so its not new, only the write up is much better.

http://www.roadjunky.com/article/1233/immi...angkok-thailand

Quoting your words 'The Thai police are not the same people that serve you food'

thanks for the observation.

KD

[jetjock]

Thanks for the very informative article as it must have been the esperience of a lifetime for you. A friend of mine just overstayed in Thailand and got into a slight verbal tussel with immigration before paying his 500 Baht per day fine. I will forward this article to him as I am sure it will make him think again before thinking an overstay can never be a major problem. I think the non confrontational approach and understanding what saving face means to a Thai is excellent advice to any farang when dealing with the Thai authorities.

[Crossy]

Good reading and hopefully a warning to those who wish to 'bend' the immigration laws.

I'm interested in how you managed to get out of Thailand and then in to Laos without passing through an immigration point, most people know that you go through passport control at borders and would be concerned if they didn't (the Schengen Region is VERY special having no border controls, really confused the missus that we could go from Brussels to Paris on the train with no pissing about at the border).

[sarpesius]

I'm interested in how you managed to get out of Thailand and then in to Laos without passing through an immigration point, most people know that you go through passport control at borders and would be concerned if they didn't (the Schengen Region is VERY special having no border controls, really confused the missus that we could go from Brussels to Paris on the train with no pissing about at the border).

At the Padang Besar, Malaysia, border crossing on the train from Bangkok, this happened to me.

All train passengers must get off, then go to one immigration window, then after the stamp from one country, they must go to the window for the other country. I forgot the Thai exit stamp.

After sleeping on a train all night, you hit Padang Besar sleepy, so it is easy to forget these things.

It was not discovered until I made the return trip from Butterworth, Malaysia back up to Bangkok on the same train a few days later. The Malaysian immigration cops made more fuss about my not having a Thai chop than the Thais. The Malays tried to shake me down, but I would not bribe them, so eventually they just passed me through. The Malaysian officer made sure to tell the Thai officer about my missing chop but the thai officer did not care.

Knowing that you have to go to both immigration offices can be confusing at these jungle border stations, since they are often not well marked.

sarpesius

Edited March 9, 2007 by sarpesius

[sarpesius]

Here's a write up of a little incident i had a few yrs ago. At the time I posted this to the thorntree and george asked me to mention it here aswel, this was back in 2003. so its not new, only the write up is much better.

http://www.roadjunky.com/article/1233/immi...angkok-thailand

There is one part of the writer's opinion, I might take issue with:

"I began to notice a common thread in our stories and things started to make sense – we had all pissed off the immigration officials. In Thailand, there is nothing more important than 'keeping a cool heart'. You should never show strong emotion in public but I had done just that when I created a scene at the airport. Right there and then they must have decided to throw the book at me for making them lose face."

I have been spoken to with great rudeness by both Thais and Thai-Chinese. Both Thais and Thai-Chinese have on occasion shown very foul emotions to me in public.

Thai's and Chinese are constantly trying to make other people "lose face." The Thais do it by laughing at foreigners. The Chinese do it by trying to irritate them.

Westerners may be misunderstanding the Asian notion of "face."

It might just mean a combination of racism, revenge, maliciousness, and status-seeking.

sarpesius

Edited March 9, 2007 by sarpesius