hi all,

i have had three continuous visa exemptions stamped into my passport (altogether ninety days) and will now have to get a proper tourist visa again. could not go to a thai embassy last month as i had still been waiting for my new passport to be issued by my embassy (should get it this week) and did not have a full page left for the visa sticker; for the same reason, however, i could not do a visarun to cambodia either (needs minimum of a full page for the cambodian visa), so i took the train to butterworth, spent 48 hours on the train in three days and got thirty days when i re-entered thailand. great journey.

having heard about the requirement of an airticket to prove that you will leave thailand again within thirty days in order to get the visa exemption stamp i got myself a cheap oneway ticket to phnom phen and initially planned to go there next month for a new tourist visa. (by the way, at the pedang basar border nobody asked me to show an onward ticket, that was about two weeks ago, however, might have changed in the meanwhile?!)

question: is it worth the effort to knock on the thai embassy's door in phnom phen (no, i am not a cambodian national or resident) and apply for a tourist visa? having stayed in thailand for ninety days on visa exemption already i could alternatively not get another thirty days when trying to get back into thailand (probably only seven useless days or so?)

would it be wiser to postpone my flight say for three months (if possible; otherwise throw the ticket away?) and go to vientiane instead (have had only good experiences there, takes only one working day to get your visa, no stupid questions)?

OR could it make a difference that i will be using a brandnew passport with no other stamps in it than my last entry stamp (transferred into it by local immigration in advance)???

having heard only BAD stories about the thai embassy in phnom phen i guess i should go to vientiane instead and try it in cambodia in another three months??

I would go to Laos. New passport I do not believe would help that much in Cambodia. They just do not want the workload of foreign visa applicants from all appearances.

Fly to Penang with Air Asia and visit the consulate there, very quick and painless

to get a Tourist Visa.

They may ask about the new passport. Just say the old one is full and you did not bring it with you,

why should you?

Make sure you get your old visa transferred to your new passport before travelling.

oops! sorry i sent the same topic in twice but the 2nd one was actually the 1st one but it somehow would not work initially and did not appear on the forum. should change my user's name to big buffalo i guess?

looks very much like i should cancel or postpone my flight to phnom phen and go to vientiane instead? have never been to phnom phen or travelled through cambodia before so i thought it might be nice for a change, maybe next time then?