Report: Visa Run To Poipet On Casino Bus - June 25

[BCMike]

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

[Fred Sanford]

Good report Mike

[Thanyaburi Mac]

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

Mike

How about writing up your Poipet-Siem Reap-Poipet story, perhaps for the travel forum on TV.  I'd like to hear how the road is these days, especially since it's raining a bit in the territory.

Mac

[tropo]

Mike

How about writing up your Poipet-Siem Reap-Poipet story, perhaps for the travel forum on TV.  I'd like to hear how the road is these days, especially since it's raining a bit in the territory.

Mac

Great report Mike. It seems if a person is willing to stick to their guns, getting a $20 visa is still possible. Well done!

How did you travel from Poipet to Siem Riap? Would you be able to give a few details here?

What would be the best way to get to Aranyaprathet from Pattaya? Would I need to go to Bangkok first?

[sgthai]

Mike

How about writing up your Poipet-Siem Reap-Poipet story, perhaps for the travel forum on TV. I'd like to hear how the road is these days, especially since it's raining a bit in the territory.

Mac

Great report Mike. It seems if a person is willing to stick to their guns, getting a $20 visa is still possible. Well done!

How did you travel from Poipet to Siem Riap? Would you be able to give a few details here?

What would be the best way to get to Aranyaprathet from Pattaya? Would I need to go to Bangkok first?

Dear Tropo,

There are also casino buses plying from Pattaya to Aranyaprathet.

You'll just need to asked around from the locals there.

No need to tell them you want to do a visa run...just say you want to gamble at the casino.

Hope this help

[sgthai]

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

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.

[BCMike]

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.

[lennya12threh]

Can I drive my motorbike to the border at Poipet? I have a Non- Imm B Visa that is good until March 2010. Will I need proof of onward travel with this visa?

I'd like to do the trip via my own motorcycle.

[Mario2008]

With a visa you do not need proof of onward travel to enter Thailand.

I presume you have a multiple non-B. Each time you enter Thailand you get 90 days. Leave and re-enter Thailand just before the visa expires and you will get a new 90 day's, giving you almost 15 months.

[lennya12threh]

With a visa you do not need proof of onward travel to enter Thailand.

I presume you have a multiple non-B. Each time you enter Thailand you get 90 days. Leave and re-enter Thailand just before the visa expires and you will get a new 90 day's, giving you almost 15 months.

I thought that was probably the case. My main concern was being able to drive a motorbike there, go through the process, and leave back to Bangkok with it. Is highway 33 a motorway or could a motorbike take that route? I never saw one post relating to motorbikes and visa runs. It must be very rare? Why?