Another Visa Run Question (to Mae Sai)

[neema]

Hi All,

Sorry, I'm a newbie! I must do my first visa run next week and I plan to go to Mae Sai. Can you go on Saturdays or must you go on weekdays only? Also, has anyone gone there recently (within the last month) and had any unusual experience or problem? I just want to make sure that I go prepared and that I have a fair understanding of what to expect. One more thing - Myanmar immigration is still accepting 500 Baht notes these days, right? I can pay that instead of USD?

Thanks for your help!

[mcgriffith]

neema, check out this pinned thread on the Chiang Rai forum.

Go to the last posts to see current info on people who have gone recently. Or post there to ask for the latest info.

BTW, it behooves you to pay $10 USD- equal to 350 THB. Go buy a crisp clean unmarked $10 USD note at any bank. Why pay 500 B?

Hope this helps!

[photojourn]

I was up there two weeks ago. You can cross over any day and come back. Pay is USD as advised - either change it here or at the money changer before the border crossing. The GreenBus Company from Arcade has a bus that goes direct to Mai Sai every morning. Stops at the Mai Sai bus depot and from there you get a saotey to the border for Bt15. Gets you to the border about 2.30pm. 45 minutes inside Tachilek and then come back over.

Catch a Saotey back to the bus depot in Mai Sai grab a local bus back to Chiang Rai (BT39) and from there you can get a 5.45pm GreenBus Company bus back to Chiang Mai.

Easy. Up and back in about 12 hours total time.

[DustyRhodes]

I'm also new at this but I can offer a little advice from my experiences of the last couple months.

Buy your bus tickets a couple days in advance or take a commercial 'visa-run', -I can't recommend one but I'm sure they're out there. I got to the station last weekend and found the ticket lines to be 45 minutes long. When I got to the window I was told that Mae Sai tickets were sold out. I ended up going to Chiang Rai the following day and switching busses. Same was true for the return. Last bus is often full. Two out of two recent runs I've had to take the local from Mae Sai to Chiang Rai and spend the night. Didn't get back 'til late the following day, around 6 pm, as the Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai morning busses were full.

Maybe week-ends are very busy for the bus companies??? No problem at the border 7 days. Closing time, I believe they said, is 5pm.

[Sathip2008]

Another solution, if you don't have your own vehicle, is to take a mini-van (many travel agencies organize it daily). More expensive than the bus, but faster and more comfortable + they drop you just in front of the bridge.

And, if it's your first trip there, why rush and do the visa run the same day ? Stay there one or two nights, there are many nice things to see around Mae Sai

[ChiangMaiFurnishedApts]

I did the visa run a few weeks ago and hopefully the following helps.

I got the Green Bus up, the 8 am one. They have now changed their buses so that they offer 2 class of seats on each bus. The front of the bus in VIP and the back is 1st class. Same bus, same movie, same air con but a big difference in the price. Book early and dont get railroaded into the expemsive front seats unless you are tall and XXX large.

Bring 10 USD with you as advised, it works out alot cheaper than if you use THB. Make sure that the bill is new and that it does not have a seriel number starting with CB. I saw the looking closely at every note they got this time.

This bus goes back at 3.30 giving you plenty of time to do some shopping on the Burma side and pick up some dodgy porno dvd, fake viagra and stale cigetettes. Expect to be followed around all of the time you are there by these nice vendors.

Dont get too many ciggs as the bus gets stopped at least 4 times on the way back and I saw the police going through some Koreans bags and hassling him about his ciggs. There is a limit.

[neema]

Oh - so it is possible to go on a Sunday as well? I don't know why, but I just assumed that Sunday would be totally out of the question. In that case, then perhaps I will plan for November 2. That's not a holiday for Thailand or Burma, right?

Thanks for all of the information, everyone! I really appreciate your responses!

Cheers.

[whiterussian]

Pretty sure its open on Sundays. If you need any concrete advice you can go to the Immigration office next to CM airport, just after Central Airport Plaza. They have loads of staff to give you fast answers.

Best way to do it is on a motorbike. make a short holiday out of it!

Be very aware that you should utterly IGNORE anybody selling from a tray on the Burmese side of the border- cigarettes, viagra etc,. Dont even look at them, otherwise you will be pestered for hours. It you feel you must give to the beggars, do it on the way out!

If you dont want to go into the Burmese market - and you should really on your first time, you can just tell the Burmese immigration you are not shopping, and the process only takes a few minutes as they save your webcam picture to file.

Edited October 28, 2008 by UKWEBPRO