Easy to get multiple "o" in penang

[fester]

I just back from doing my first visa run to Penang, Malaysia in a long time. I normally go to the Thai Embassy in Cambodia, but of course that is no longer an option for the time being. I haven't written a trip report like this in a long time, but I think some of this infomation may be useful to some of you out there. So if I leave any important info out or if you have any questions, please let me know.

On Tuesday night, I took the sprinter train to Had Yai at 10:50pm from Hualumpong Station in BKK. (*Note: there are no sleeper cars and dining cars on this train at all. All cars contain only 2nd class seats. The fare was abourt 570 baht one way.) I arrived in Hat Yai at about 12:30pm. As soon as I was off the train, I got approached by a dozen or so touts telling me about minibus service to Penang. I

followed one just out of curiosity to see how much they are

overcharging us farang these days. At the office the guy took me to (the one farthest to the left side across from the train station) told me it would cost 500 baht one way. I laughed in the guy's face and walked away to another office where I saw no touts leading farangs to.

The woman there told me 350 baht, and I purchased a seat. Meanwhile 3 touts from the first place had followed me and started mouthing off to me in Thai, not realizing that I am pretty fluent in Thai. When I politely told them to "go to hel_l" in Thai, they left.

The minibus was supposed to leave at 3pm, but they picked me up at 3:15 and took me to another travel agency first. I was told to get off there, fill out the immigration forms, and that we'd be leaving in "5 minutes". 45 minutes later, we're still there. Everyone had their forms filled out, but our driver was busy eating and watching TV. I guess it would have been too much to ask for the driver to eat before

the scheduled departure time. Anyways, the minibus ride to the border took about an hour. We all hopped out of the minibus and walked up to the Thai immigration officer. He quickly stamped our passports and we hopped back in the truck and we continued down the road to the

Malaysian Immigration post. (*Note: my minibus driver on the way down to Malaysia did not ask for an extra fee there at the border, but one of my guidebooks did warn about reports of some minibus drivers asking the passengers to pay 10-50 baht each as an extra fee for immigration at the border, and in fact I did get asked for one on my trip back.

But, my advice is - do not pay! The drivers just pocket the money for themselves. 50 baht *12 people in a minibus adds up quickly. There is no fee necessary here. If you are asked to pay one, you are being scammed!) Again we got out of the truck, and this time took all our baggage with us inside the building. There was a longer line there, but it went pretty quickly. We had to put our baggage through an x-ray

machine there, but that was pretty pointless, as the lone security guard there was more interested in reading the sports section of the newspaper than actually looking at the x-ray machine. Citizens from most countries are able to get into Malaysia free without a visa. I just showed him my passport and the immigration officer gave me a one

month "social/business pass". Then I went out the other side of the building and got back in the minibus. The ride down to Penang from the border is about 150 kms, but the minibus driver was much slower than your average Thai driver, so it took about 2.5 hours. The first thing I noticed was the lack of chaos on the roads there in Malaysia compared to the roads in Thailand. The roads were very well kept - no

potholes, no craters, undulating waves of asphalt, no undriveable left lanes that you find on all highways heading in and out of Bangkok, and even the grass and shrubbery all along the sides of the road were perfectly manicured. Everything just seemed a lot cleaner, more orderly, user-friendly, and more efficient.

Malaysia is an hour ahead of Thailand, so we arrived in Georgetown (the main city on Penang island) at about 8:30pm. We got dropped off at KOMTAR (the tallest skyscraper in the city), and I took the #93 bus up north from there to Batu Ferringhi, a beach resort area about 30

minutes from Georgetown. It was very busy up there, as lots of Malaysians were still enjoying their Chinese New Year holidays.

(Penang in particular has a large Chinese population, in addition to the large Malay and Indian populations). There are many nice hotels in Batu Ferringhi, and if you have the bucks, I would highly recommend the Shangri-la. It looks amazing. I didn't have the bucks, unfortunately, so I booked a room online for the Ferringhi Beach Hotel for 118 Malaysian Ringgits a night. That's roughly about 1,300 Thai Baht a night. It was a very nice hotel, probably in the 3-4 star range. But, if you don't have your own transportation, it's kind of a

pain, as it's isolated from the main area of Batu Feringhi by about 3 kms and you can't walk there to the main area of Batu Ferringhi because the road there is very narrow, windy, dangerous, and has no sidewalks. I spent lots of money on taxis going back and forth from the hotel to the main Batu Ferringhi area (10 Ringgit one way). From the hotel back to Georgetown costs about (18-20 Ringgit one way). The

bus only costs about 1 Ringit to the main Batu Ferringhi area and 1.7 Ringgit to Georgetown, but they don't come around so often. Next time I go there, I will stay in a hotel right in the central area of Batu Feringghi or perhaps right in Georgetown. I had some delicious Indian food there and did some shopping. There are lots of street vendors

selling all kinds of things. You can find DVDs there for 8 Ringgit each and audio CDs for 5 Ringgit!(much cheaper than in Thailand) But I wouldn't buy any new release DVDs there. Just like in Thailand, they're going to be the ones shot with a camcorder in a movie theater and really suck.

The next morning I woke up early, had my free buffet breakfast at the hotel (*Note: don't expect any real ham, pork, or bacon there - it's a Muslim country. I had some eggs and turkey bacon, which wasn't that bad.) I took a taxi to the Thai Embassy in Georgetown (about 25 Ringgit) when it opened at 9am. There were several other farangs

there doing their visa runs, too. What happened next really surprised me, though. I went there hoping only to get a 3 month non-immigrant visa. I am married to a Thai woman, so I brought a copy of my Thai wedding certificate down with me to show the consulate staff. The last time I had been down to Penang (about 6 years ago) I had to bribe some Indian guy outside the consular office to set it up so I could

get a double-entry visa. Well this time I didn't see that Indian guy there again, so I figured I would only be able to get the single entry visa. And, sure enough I overheard the consular officer giving out mostly single entry visas and just one or two double entry visas to the farangs ahead of me in the line. One guy in front of me even asked the consular officer "what's the maximum amount of entries I can

get here." The consular officer said "two". THat's why I was really surprised when it was my turn and the consular officer asked me how many entries I would like and if I'd like a one year, multiple entry visa. I, of course, said yes!! This is the first time I have ever been offered a one year multiple entry visa in a Thai consulate/embassy here in SEA. I have only been granted them before in the Thai consulates back home in the USA. And, I have heard from many other expats living in Thailand that getting a one year, multiple entry visa for Thailand here in SEA is basically impossible. But, he gave one to me, and I didn't even ask for it! He offered it to me first! I don't know why he gave it to me and not the others. When I

asked the other farangs on my minibus back to Thailand, none of them got multiple entry visas. They all got single entry visas. It may be because of my marriage to a Thai woman, but I used that same marriage certificate before at the consulate in Penang 6 years ago and had to bribe someone to get the double entry visa. And, when in Phom Phen, I was actually denied even a single entry non-immigrant visa with my marriage certificate. I had to request a special meeting with the head consular officer there and plead my case to her before she finally gave in and gave me one. So anyways, I was really psyched that I was able to get a one year, multiple entry visa this time in Penang. If

anyone else goes down there for a visa run, please let us know if you are offered the multiple entry visa, too. It's so much better to have a multiple entry visa, since you can just make a quick run to the border every 3 months, instead of having to request a new visa in a Thai embassy or consulate every time.

I did have one small complaint about the visa application process there, though. You can only request the visa between 9am-12pm in the morning. Then you have to wait to pick it up between 2pm-4:30pm the next day. I asked and pleaded to be able to pick it up faster, but unfortunately I wasn't lucky with this one. It particularly sucks for

those who are on a quick visa run and need to catch the train back to Thailand that same day. The train leaves Butterworth (the city on mainland Malaysia directly across from Penang island) at 2:25pm. It's impossible to get there in time. It takes about 40 minutes to drive to the Butterworth train station, due to traffic. So, the next day when I picked up my passport and visa from the Thai consulate, I took

a taxi down to the Chinatown area of Georgetown and found a travel agency that arranges minibuses back to Had Yai. It cost 35 Ringgit (nearly the same as what it cost for the trip down to Penang). It left Georgetown at 3:30pm, and we got to the border at about 6pm.

Again, it was very quick and easy leaving Malaysia. But this time when we got to the Thai border, there was a lot of traffic. It was a Friday night, and I guess there were lots of Malaysian guys heading up to Hat Yai for some fun they can't have in their own country. When we finally got to the immigration post, our minibus driver asked us to pass all of our passports up to him and give him a 10 baht fee each.

Well everyone did so, except for me. I got out of the minibus and got my passport stamped on my own - without the ten baht fee. The Thai immigration officer never asked me for 10 baht, so obviously the minibus driver was just pocketing the cash. I don't particularly care about 10 baht. I can survive without it, but I don't like feeling scammed, especially knowingly being scammed and not putting up a

fight. Nor do I like giving the scam artists the satisfaction of

thinking all of us farang tourists are stupid and that they can cheat us at will. You may think I am being harsh, but I can speak Thai. I don't usually tell them at first that I can, because I want to hear what kinds of things they are saying about us and what they are truly thinking. I am often amazed at the unpleasant Thai words coming out of their mouths, all the while at the same time flashing us their famed

"yim Siam" (Thai smile) to us and later saying something so sweet in English. Yes, Thailand is the "land of smiles", but you never know what truly lurks behind them...

Well, it took another hour to get back to Hat Yai. Because of the time difference, we arrived at the train station in Hat Yai at about 6:15pm. (Thai time) The train leaving for Bangkok was scheduled to leave at 6:25pm, but I decided not to take it. I decided to take an 8pm bus instead.

The bus is much quicker than the train. The train

was due to arrive at 9:55am in Bangkok. I arrived in Bangkok at 6:30am. The bus fare was around 550 baht (one way).

Well I guess that's it. Let me know if you have any comments or questions.

Dan

soc.culture.thai

[george]

Great article. This is regarding the "O" visa only.

For NON-B Multiple it seems to be best to travel to Australia

[chambersjohn]

Thank you for a first class posting.   The way you have described the trip to Penang is in such detail a child could go there.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

While your luck holds out, buy a lottery ticket heheheh

[snap]

some remarks on that great run report,starting in Hat Yai.

Minibusses to Penang are available from 250,-B , take a "Song Thaeuw" or Tuk Tuk for not more than 20,-B to New Chawang or Chaowang Tour, last time I even had a bus with a high roof!

At the border I was never asked for more than 10,-B by the driver, and didn't care about it.

In Penang the driver to 99% stops at the Swiss Hotel, in Lebhu Chulia, which is the travellers aerea with budget accomodation(not to find at Bathu Ferrengi Beach, same it will be hard to find at Ko Samui's famous  Chaweng Beach).

Usually I just walk 5 minutes to the end of Lebhu Chulia, walk a wee bit to the right along Oriental Hotel(69,-MR), cross the big road with the help of a tiny traffic island, look right again and see Town House Hotel for 60,-MR. It has probably no stars, but not to much cockroaches also.

The Thai embassy is quite at the outskirts of Georgetown, so the taxi will charge 10,-RM one way, and keep in mind, Malysia is 1 hour in advance, the embassy closes when its 11 am in Thailand!!

There is a great number of agencys/book centers that provide a visa service, I personally can recommend the N.J.Books Centre next Swiss Hotel [email protected] .The 1 year non-immigrant B multiple entry they charge 150,-RM. For an express servivce,you got to be there 10am latest and at 4pm you have your visa on the same day for an extra 70,-RM on top.Cause I always by the bus ticket back to Hat Yai with them for 20,-RM, I get my passport and sit in the bus , while saving another night in Penang.

Since 5 years I didn't experience any problems in getting the 1 year non-imm. B multiple in Penang, even when I went to the embassy(110,-RM) myself.

The most important is that you have all the necessary papers with you, the office that does the tax stuff for me provides me with that.

[jay666]

he claims that he is super smart and will not let people rip him off (well i guess i should be too hard on him in particular as i am sure many are aware that there are quite a lot of ex-pats here who are truly not living in the real world that is why they washed to shore in thailand in the first place). well that 350 bath he paid for the hat yai - penang mini bus he just put his foot in his mouth.

every time i go there i never pay even the 250 baht but the actual real price which is 200 baht. but that is only possible at chana tours located on i think the name is lamai songkrow. i(sorry at the present i do not have the business card name with me for the exact spelling of the name and street) the reason the last poster paid 250 was because he either paid to much at the main place or he went to a different travel agency which takes 50 baht commision. and i further agree with the last poster he said that he has never been charged more than 10 baht for imigration crossings. if you take the time to read the great big sign as you cross you can see that there is a charge per person of i think 7 baht but there are conditions upon it. i also further agree with the last poster that there is no need at all to go to the embassy yourself as that njbookstore people will do it for you at small cost. but everybody with a brain uses these services rather than go themselves. i actually quite like the people at njbookcenter and they are experts on all the types of visas for thailand and can advice.

what further makes me angry is that people read what the original poster had to say and take this is as if they just read from an expert and will copy his igonorant ways of doing things. why cant this site have a peer review board before these people are allowed to publish information that is not verfied.

[george]

Jay,

Please remember that this is just someones opinion. We accept yours.

Anybody else that have saved 20 Baht on the Penang bus?

BTW, this is a web board hosted and operated outside Thailand, so we don't feel the need to censur the postings in here. We will only delete posts that are against the Terms of Use (the one that you OK'ed at sign-up.)

[Songpong]

Well, I will add my 2 cents worth as I have done the trip 4 times. I have never paid more than 250 bhat for the mini-van trip from Hatyai to Chullia St. Penang, and I have tried unsuccessfully to bargain the price down. I have paid 20 RM for the trip back to Hatyai every time. I always take the VIP bus down to Hatyai from Bangkok. If you are lucky, you can get a VIP 24 type with the air cushion seats for 960 bhat from Southern bus terminal number 1. (Note: Be wary of the various agents outside of the main bus terminals and try to by your tickets in the main terminal if possible.) The VIP busses leave at 7pm and 8pm approximately and arrive in Hatyai about 11 hours latter. This leaves time to actually make it to the Thai Consulate that morning, but there are no mini-vans until 9 a.m. and the trip usually takes 4hrs. If you want to make it there the same morning you need to take a taxi.

There is a shared taxi that leaves from in front of a major hotel (for Hatyai) in what appeared to be about the centre of town. This costs 350. (I should have written down the exact info.) You will have of course have to get there from the bus station. A 50 baht motorcycle ride should do it. Ask at the travel agents near the bus station. These travel agents tried to charge me 450 bhat, but when I arrived at the hotel I saw the sign clearly stating 350 bhat. (But they did not charge me anything for the ride to the hotel.) However, there where no other passengers at that hour of the morning so the driver agreed to take me strait the Thai Consulate in Penang for 600 baht. (He  was eager to make it in time to get passengers arriving at noon at the airport in Butterworth and wishing to go to Hatyai.)

I strongly recommend staying on Chullia St - cheap guest houses (17-25RM), no real need to spend money on taxis (But you can easily wait an over an hour for the bus.), and lots of good cheap Indian food nearby, lots of places to choose form if you want to drink in the evening (Although much more subdued that Thailand and a bit more expensive.) and with in walking distance from the main city bus terminal and a huge shopping complex. Hotels in Penang are not nearly as good a value as in Thailand. Prepared food is also more expensive, but consumer goods are often cheaper. 1 RM = 11 baht is a good ratio to keep in mind.

As for getting the bus back to Bangkok from Hatyai there are no VIP 24 in the evening. You have to make do with the VIP 36 style and the cost is 640 baht.

The first time I went I got a 1 Year Non-B Multiple Entry. I did mention that I was married to a Thai and I might have shown him the certificate briefly. I know I took it with me. Not a Thai certificate but one from Canada. Since then I have not mentioned that I am/was married to a Thai and I have asked every time for a 1 Year Non-B and every time I have been given a 3 Month Single Entry and told to get a work permit.

Batu Ferringhi is an alright beach but far from great. You should definitely take the tram up to the Penang Hill Summit, and visit the Botanical Gardens during your stay there. Ask the locals about how to get to these places. Enjoy your trip and hope you catch some shuteye on the bus.

[ovenman]

I have never paid more than 250 bhat for the mini-van trip from Hatyai to Chullia St. Penang, and I have tried unsuccessfully to bargain the price down.

My experience in Malaysia is that there is generally not as much bargaining room in quoted prices as there tends to be in Thailand.  The first time I went to Malaysia with Thai friends, they were surprised to find that an initial RM 20 price did not mean that the vendor would ultimately be happy with RM 10.

[Axel]

I just back from doing my first visa run to Penang, Malaysia in a long time.

Nice reading and thanks for the efforts. Batu Ferringhi is too far outside, if you want to go downtown. If you can stay around +MYR 100 the City Bayview has very big rooms after the last renovation.

What first puzzled me was your remark to Chinese New Year, when I checked the posting date. I never saw this before and landed here after seing the "last posting Sep 24"...

[JonnieB]

fester,

nice report.  i did a run to penang a little over a month ago and comparing your experience with mine was interesting.  one maddening frustrating thing your experiences getting visas illustrates how inconsistent and random the whole process is...varying from one counselate/embassy to another.  you can never count on getting the same response twice.  like in cambo, you not getting the requested non-imm visas without making a fuss (and being married to a thai no less) and you getting lucky in penang when others were not.  okok, my vent is over.

my main question for you (and seeming all the others responding) is why don't you take the train all the way down to butterworth?  i took the train all the way and it seems easier than transfereing and waiting for taxis/minibusses and stuff.  the cost is also seems to be the same or even cheaper when you add it all up.  i took a 2nd class sleeper (international express) from bkk-butterworth and it cost about B2400 return (if memory serves me).  you stay on the same train all the way to butterworth with a stop at the border where you exit and walk into the station building, which serves as both the thai and malay immigration checkpoint.  you walk through a line exiting thailand (get stamped) and continue to the next station where you are stamped into malay.  you don't even have to take your luggage out of the train if you don't want to.  the train stops for about an hour for all this to take place and then continues on to butterworth.  no bs, fees, etc., just in and out and get back in your seat and on the train goes on its way.  on arrival in butterworth, the train station is adjacent to the ferry terminal and it is about a 10 min walk to the ferry (which leaves every 10-15 mins or so 24 hours a day) and the fare is 60 sen (about $.25).  at the penang side of the ferry, taxis will take you to the lebue chelia/downtown area for R5-6 ($1.50 or so).  

on the return, like you said, the timing for picking up the visa makes it impracticable to take the train the same day so you would have to spend another $10-20 for another nights rest.  the hotels on the beach area where you stayed are far from the embassy so the taxi ride would be expensive at about R35-40.  if you are in the downtown area, it's R10 ($2.50 or so) to the embassy and another $10 back.

i find the train a little more confortable and relaxing for such a long journey than busses.  of course, if time is of the essence, busses are faster and a little cheaper.

[pschef]

Hi Guys I have done the Penang visa 1 year multiple non O many times, I have always been treated courteously. I was never refused my visa, I am married to a Thai and have one child. The officer in the Thai embassy is quite happy with only copies of Marriage Cert and Birth Cert. Travel down depends on time available, I have been by road and by air, never by train after they blew up Hatyai station.

I always stay in Georgetown, hotels are reasonable and the restaurants are good, time for a drink some very nice pubs etc. Brings us back too a more recent posting, Malay ladies???

Good post from Fester mostly correct, forget all the know it all's

[keestha]

. As soon as I was off the train, I got approached by a dozen or so touts telling me about minibus service to Penang. I

followed one just out of curiosity to see how much they are

overcharging us farang these days. At the office the guy took me to (the one farthest to the left side across from the train station) told me it would cost 500 baht one way. I laughed in the guy's face and walked away to another office where I saw no touts leading farangs to.

The woman there told me 350 baht, and I purchased a seat. Meanwhile 3 touts from the first place had followed me and started mouthing off to me in Thai, not realizing that I am pretty fluent in Thai. When I politely told them to "go to ####" in Thai, they left.

Exactly this type of arrogant behaviour, laughing in the face of a tout or somebody else who tries to overcharge, doesnt help to make us farangs popular in Thailand.

They tried to grossly overcharge me countless times, but every time I was aware of this, I just said mai au kap (I dont wont it), and walked away. Maybe that's why I was never followed or badmouthed by angry touts or other vendors when I politely declined their offers. Sometimes walking away I heard them saying in Thai somehing in the sense of " that guy knows the story",bur never anything unpleasant.

Most important is to be aware that you as a farang were fortunate enough to be born in a rich country, whilst the tout was born in a poor country, and lacking a social security system he has to make a living somehow. Who knows, if Thailand would be rich and your country would be poor,  maybe you would be stalking Thai tourists at a railway station in your country:)

[pschef]

Yes keestha they are maybe trying to blow you up too, sorry but I think Fester was only saying. First of all, he don’t want some guy bothering him. I really don’t like that it too, I don’t like those guys who stand around waiting for tourists. If they are in someway polite? I just say no thanks Mye Ow Krap, or just no thanks.

If they are rude, I tell them same as Fester. Mostly they are rude and arrogant, I prefer to make my own way. Facts, most tourists who end up in the morgue are met by these kinds of guys. OH YES we can show you anything, but in the end they take you to a rip off merchant. Think about it?