brahmburgers Posted December 22, 2007 Share Posted December 22, 2007 $10 or 500 baht visa fee on the Burmese side of the bridge. Obviously, paying $10 saves money for the farang - roughly 170 baht. However, Burmese uniformed guys at their little office will turn down all but the most perfect dollar bills. I used to think they were incredibly picky - and once got them to accept one of my bills they had dissed, by being annoyingly insistant. More recently, a friend went with two crisp $10 bills and the guards wouldn't accept either one. You'd almost need a microscope to see the flaws - a persiod-sized ink spot on the edge of one, and a tiny tear in the side of another. It seems clear that, although the official policy is in place (of accepting us$10), the guards know 500 baht has more value and won't accept US dollars - unless perhaps they're brand new bills. Also, banks and money changers in Chiang Rai most often say they don't have dollars to exchange (when in fact they do) - though Thai Military bank (corner of Sanpanad, near Wiang Inn Hotel) is ok. The downside is TMB (said they) only had those two $10 bills - and though they looked very clean to me, the bills didn't do the job. This all happened on the 20th Dec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naam Posted December 22, 2007 Share Posted December 22, 2007 This all happened on the 20th Dec. terrible! after all it's Christmas time. how could they be so cruel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISPY Posted December 22, 2007 Share Posted December 22, 2007 This all happened on the 20th Dec. terrible! after all it's Christmas time. how could they be so cruel? Why act so difficult....everybody knows that the customs overthere accept THB 500 better than USD. So...? Just be prepaired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Barlow Posted December 22, 2007 Share Posted December 22, 2007 Don't you understand? they've been accused of money laundering, and so don't want any money they might need to clean up! Once I was going to visit Keng Tung, and bought $150 at BKK Bank. They stapled the two bills necessary together! So they weren't perfect, weren't accepted (nevermind, the Burmese said, just buy FEC with baht, then we'll buy it back from you for 3/4 of what you paid for it...) I was pretty impressed with the thread on how nice the border officials at Mae Sai are. Everybody's on the make (Farang too - for those who haven't noticed...)... - still haven't made it to Keng Tung - :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISPY Posted December 22, 2007 Share Posted December 22, 2007 Don't you understand? they've been accused of money laundering, and so don't want any money they might need to clean up!Once I was going to visit Keng Tung, and bought $150 at BKK Bank. They stapled the two bills necessary together! So they weren't perfect, weren't accepted (nevermind, the Burmese said, just buy FEC with baht, then we'll buy it back from you for 3/4 of what you paid for it...) I was pretty impressed with the thread on how nice the border officials at Mae Sai are. Everybody's on the make (Farang too - for those who haven't noticed...)... - still haven't made it to Keng Tung - sabai sabai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahmburgers Posted December 23, 2007 Author Share Posted December 23, 2007 If they post a sign saying they accept us dollars, they should accept dollars. If they won't accept dollars, they should amend their policy. that's all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISPY Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 If they post a sign saying they accept us dollars, they should accept dollars.If they won't accept dollars, they should amend their policy. that's all. This is Thailand...not the western world. Therefore I said: sabai sabai and accept this beautiful country as it is. We are guest....and things are different from the western world....we have to accept this. (I don't mind, do you?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kash Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 ....well in this case it AIN'T Thailand, so we don't need to accept it my friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISPY Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 ....well in this case it AIN'T Thailand, so we don't need to accept it my friend. Okay, than do'nt accept this, but don't complain when you cannot enter.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big A Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 This all happened on the 20th Dec. terrible! after all it's Christmas time. how could they be so cruel? The monk-killing, crowd-shooting, raping, murdering, sadistic Junta cruel? Never!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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