My Visa Run To Penang

[bluecheesefan]

I just finished a Visa run to Penang. I thought I would share my trip with the rest of you that are looking for alternatives for the Visa run experience. Prior to leaving I checked the different transportation types, routes and pricing. I found the flight to Penang on Air Asia to be too expensive. The best prices were over 6,000 TB and closer to 7,000 TB. I guess you could book earlier and maybe see a lower price. If you found a price for 4,000 TB I think that would be the best/fastest way to get there. I then checked flights to Hat Yai the Thai border town closest to Penang. I found several flights on various airlines including Nok Air one-way for a ticket of 2,022 TB. I also considered taking the train. Based on the most current information I could find on the train, it would cost in the neighborhood of 1,200 TB for a 2^nd class sleeper to Penang and of course nearly 24 hours of travel time. In the end, I opted for the flight and decided to do a one-way trip so that I could figure out the return later.

My flight left on the 15^th of June at 11 a.m. from Don Muang and I live near Onnut BTS. I was running late so I chose to take a taxi via expressway to the airport. That set me back 300 TB. My other option would have been taking BTS from Onnut to Mochit and taking a taxi from there to the airport. I doubt it would of saved me much money in the long run. The flight got into Hat Yai at 12:20 and I walked out of the small airport into a crowd of people asking me if I needed a taxi. Hat Yai has no metered taxis that I could see and you basically just ask for what it will cost to take you to Hat Yai for a mini-van to Penang. The taxi I found was 250 TB. The ride into Hat Yai was about 10-15 minutes tops. The driver took me downtown near the bus station to a tour booking place called CHAWPHYA and I went inside. I was told the mini-van would leave at 12:30 (it was 12:35 already). The woman was on her phone immediately trying to track down the driver to see if I could catch it. She informed me that I could a few minutes later than told me the price was 500 TB. I knew this was too much, but she assured me it was normal. Given that I would need to wait another 3 hours and I was probably only being taken for 150 TB, I said okay and took the deal. About 10 minutes later I was on the way to Penang in last open seat of the mini-van. You may want to check out other places in Hat Yai for booking. Obviously, she ran up the amount on me. I heard Cathay is fair and charges 350 TB (heard from another mini-van passenger). Avoid CHAWPHYA for booking if possible.

The trip to the border from Hat Yai is about 45 minutes and has a quick (and I do mean quick) Customs diversion that involves the mini-van driving into and out of a Customs parking lot. Literally. Very funny. The Thai side of the border took under 30 minutes and then we got back into our mini-van and drove about 2 minutes down the road to the Malaysian Immigration. The lines looked pretty long, but things here move a bit more quickly and before long I was in front of an Immigration agent. My exchange with her was short and sweet with the exception that she asked me something like, “you have Thai Visa?” Now I thought she was meaning I had come from Thailand on a Thai Visa, so I said yes. The next thing I know she wrote in my passport underneath the stamp, “to obtain Thai Visa.” With that I was on my way and wondering if that was going to have any impact on anything at anytime in the future… After approximately 15 minutes processing at the Malaysian border, we re-loaded the mini-van and continued the rest of the way to Penang. It took about another 3 hours from there or about 4.5 hours total.

The mini-van drops off at Chulia Street. I picked a direction and started walking and found a few “Money Exchange” signs down the street. I decided to change 3,000 TB and I received exactly 300 RM. I walked down a little further and found NJ Books Centre at No. 425 Chulia Street. I had read about them in previous Thaivisa.com posts and all of those said good things. I asked about the tourist visa process and they said I would pay them 20 RM (200 TB) and they would facilitate the process. I completed the visa application and gave them 2 photos. They needed a copy of my passport, but I didn’t have it and they said no worries. I was told to show up the next day at 10 a.m. (it was already 5ish in the evening) and they would take me to the Thai embassy. This left me wondering as I had been under the belief that they took care of everything and I had no need to go to the embassy myself. I guess this is not how they do it. I saw many signs around saying that the service involved them doing everything for you. Anyway, I was told that I would then come back to NJ at 3 p.m. and return to the embassy to pick up the visa. For tourist visas it all happens in one day. When I asked the man at NJ if there were any problems lately with getting tourist visas he said that there was no problem and he is a personal friend of the Consulate. I personally believe that it wouldn’t matter friend or not… if you have too many visas issued, they will cut you off eventually. The other guy at NJ confirmed that and seemed to make it sound like 3 was the maximum. A letter from a prior customer on the wall also confirms it as it states that they got refused at Penang, but were told by NJ to go to KL and they were approved at the embassy there.

I looked for a room and decided I didn’t like the rooms at NJ. They are truly backpacker type rooms with no private facilities and wireless is not free. Across the street is a hotel called Stardust at 370 Chulia Street (stardustguesthouse.com). The Stardust is backpackerish, but they have a room on the bottom floor with A/C and shower/sink. The toilet is down the hall, but with free wifi I was sold. The price was 35 RM (350 TB). The hotel closes down the front at 10 p.m. and gives you a key to a lock on the backdoor. So you can go in and out as you wish. Food there is so so (fish and chips 10 RM and Brit style breakfast 9 RM), but just down the street a little further is a great Italian place called Ecco Café at 402 Chulia Street. I had a pizza for 18 RM. I turned in my passport at 10-11 a.m. and walked around the city the rest of the day until 3 p.m. I’m not a big fan of Penang, but that is another posting topic. Near Chulia is a mall/shopping centre that you can roam around in to kill time. Starbucks iced latte was 9.5 RM (95 TB).

I arrived 5 minutes late for the 10 a.m.on the 16^th embassy trip and missed the van trip. I had to wait around until 11 a.m. for the guy to return and he made a special trip for me via motorbike. That was very cool given it was my fault I was late. They did not ever complain. I left my bag with the front-desk guy and he kept it for the entire day while I went out exploring. I had no issues turning in the passport. There are a number of signs all over the place providing guidance with visas, but right in front on an engraved plate it states that as of 2008 tourist visas will be processed on the same day. So, if you go somewhere and they try to sell you that they are doing something special by processing in one day… they aren’t. NJ never used that as a selling tool btw. The line was 2 deep so it took all of 10 minutes and back on the motorbike for a 10 minute ride to Chulia Street. At 3 p.m. there was some confusion going on at NJ. It was not clear man A knew what man B was doing. At about 3:45 p.m., I was suddenly told to grab my bag and go to a small van outside. With about 6 of us in tow, we proceeded to the embassy. At the embassy was waiting a mini-van for my return trip to Hat Yai. I booked the return through NJ earlier and was charged 35 RM (350 TB). Thankfully, I kept my receipt. It was my ticket as it turns out. No one told me that at NJ when I booked it. The line at the embassy was short again and the man was much happier giving out visa’s than taking in passports. He handed mine over no problem and away I went to the mini-van. One more stop before leaving Penang when the driver received a call and evidently we had two more riders joining us. Sure enough, two monks joined the group heading north. This is just to point out that you need to be open to schedule changes and not stress out with this mini-van situation. We were scheduled to leave in the van at 4 p.m., but it was 4:45 before it was really on the road.

Going back is pretty low key. There is a customs location that you have to stop at just before the border. You actually get out and wait for the driver to do the processing (taking your passport with him). When he comes back he has pre-printed Thai immigration forms. Please note, most of the information is on there EXCEPT your visa # that the Thai embassy issued. Don’t forget to write that in and sign it. I got yelled at when I got to Thai immigration. You can exchange your left over RMs at the customs location too and buy duty free and take advantage of a toilet stop. Immigration to leave Malaysia literally took all of us in the van a total of 4 minutes. The Thai border line was small and it went very quick. Other than getting yelled at by the immigration agent, it was painless. About 30 minutes later, we were on our way to Hat Yai (and yes we had the silly customs drive-thru on the Thai side).

I had intended to stay the night in Hat Yai and then look for a flight back on Nok Air or take the train on the following day. It was still the 16^th at about 6:45 pm when we got to the town. Others in the mini-van were heading straight to the bus station and taking buses to their home destinations. I had not checked out buses, but the mini-van driver told me to do a bus to Bangkok is 800 TB. That sounded better than staying the night and spending more money on flights or taking a 20 hour long train trip. I bought a bus ticket for the 7 p.m. bus. It is a double decker with seats that lay back and plenty of leg room. You get one free meal at one of the bus stop locations and a bottle of water and other goodies – all included. The ride is 12 hours long. There is really only one stop that allows for you to get out and stretch your legs. Other stops are momentary and for picking up or dropping off a passenger. There is a toilet onboard the bus. The drop off is at the Southern Bus station. It arrived on time and I was just left to figure out how to get back to Onnut. I eventually got a taxi that was trustworthy and took me to Victory Monument BTS. I took the BTS from there to Onnut arriving around 10 a.m. due to terrible Bangkok traffic. The taxi cost about 200 TB btw.

So that is my experience… I could not find anything this detailed out there before when I was looking. I would have found it very helpful… I hope this helps someone else that is doing this trip for the first time. My total cost was 6,000 TB (the tourist visa’s are free right now). You could do cheaper I am sure… I spent money on food, junk food and things that were un-necessary to exist. If you can handle the bus ride both ways, that would really cut the cost.

[lopburi3]

Normally you would not have to go to Consulate to apply for or obtain the visa. But currently only one visa agent seems to be provided that ability and all the others can do is provide you transportation and accompany you (which for the price is fair but is not what the service normally is).

Thanks for the detailed report - it should prove helpful to many.

[karTER]

Nice write up and it seems we are both here in Georgetown to collect our visas and we are also from the same part of Sukhumvit.

Regards to getting to the airport, this may be of interest to you: Tesco-lotus At Sukhumvit 50 - Thailand Forum

THB 30 from On Nut BTS direct to Arrivals takes some beating.

You may also consider staying at the Tune Hotel in G'town which is modern, clean and good VFM at < MYR 50.

[karTER]

Sorry, forgot to add that we flew direct to Penang from BKK with AA for THB 8 500 but that is for a return and for two tickets, which is entirely acceptable.

We stay at the Bayview Hotel which while pricey at standard rates, offers us big discounts as we are long term guests and come back regularly. Last year we stayed for over two months and so they offer us an upgraded room and a host of other extras but still at discounted prices.

[bluecheesefan]

Nice write up and it seems we are both here in Georgetown to collect our visas and we are also from the same part of Sukhumvit.

Regards to getting to the airport, this may be of interest to you: Tesco-lotus At Sukhumvit 50 - Thailand Forum

THB 30 from On Nut BTS direct to Arrivals takes some beating.

You may also consider staying at the Tune Hotel in G'town which is modern, clean and good VFM at < MYR 50.

This looks like it goes to the "new" airport. Do they also go to the old airport Don Muang? Thanks for the info.

[bluecheesefan]

Sorry, forgot to add that we flew direct to Penang from BKK with AA for THB 8 500 but that is for a return and for two tickets, which is entirely acceptable.

We stay at the Bayview Hotel which while pricey at standard rates, offers us big discounts as we are long term guests and come back regularly. Last year we stayed for over two months and so they offer us an upgraded room and a host of other extras but still at discounted prices.

I did not try booking in advance, but if I could get a r/t ticket for 4,500 TB or less I would probably opt for that over the mini-van experience. My goal was to try and stay under 6,000 total for the trip and I just made it this time around.

[bluecheesefan]

Nice write up and it seems we are both here in Georgetown to collect our visas and we are also from the same part of Sukhumvit.

Regards to getting to the airport, this may be of interest to you: Tesco-lotus At Sukhumvit 50 - Thailand Forum

THB 30 from On Nut BTS direct to Arrivals takes some beating.

You may also consider staying at the Tune Hotel in G'town which is modern, clean and good VFM at < MYR 50.

Also, I meant to say I asked about the Tune hotel at NJ and the guy told me that if you book via the internet you could get a price like 50 RM, but not if you just show up. That was the main reason I opted for not staying there. Do you book/pay in advance when you stay there or just show up?

[My Friend Same]

This is an awesome report and I greatly appreciate the OP for posting it. There is some interesting and shocking new news in that NJ Books needs to accompany customers to the consulate now. Jeez, thank god my visa run days to Penang ended early this year. I did that trip for 8 years so know it well and the OP is accurate on NJ Books accomodations. I wonder if all agents have to follow this rule of going with agents to the consulate. I imagine that they do and would not be surprised if the reason for this is because of that red shirt on stage jackass who is now behind bars where he belongs. Look what he did for all of us. What a fukking fool

Edited June 17, 2010 by My Friend Same

[Joolz63]

Hi All'

Just went to Penang on 29th June to re-new 12 month multi entry B Visa, all paper work was in order as I own 2 Million Thai Baht company and I am a Work Permit holder valid for 12 months. Flew via AA and booked AA Tune hotel which was an awesome deal, was clean, helpful staff and close to center of town. Problem is that once again the Thai Consul staff seem to be A LAW TO THEMSELVES! I presented all paper work with original copies and was told that my company was to small to warrant 12 months and was promptly given a 3 month B visa single entry. No arguments. Just a word of warning, I did this with an agent re-known for his reliability, this guy as obtained O visas for farang spouses of Farang work permit & B visa holders.

Good Luck to all Visa runners, Remember its Amazin' Thailand

Cheers

[PoorSucker]

Hi All'

Just went to Penang on 29th June to re-new 12 month multi entry B Visa, all paper work was in order as I own 2 Million Thai Baht company and I am a Work Permit holder valid for 12 months. Flew via AA and booked AA Tune hotel which was an awesome deal, was clean, helpful staff and close to center of town. Problem is that once again the Thai Consul staff seem to be A LAW TO THEMSELVES! I presented all paper work with original copies and was told that my company was to small to warrant 12 months and was promptly given a 3 month B visa single entry. No arguments. Just a word of warning, I did this with an agent re-known for his reliability, this guy as obtained O visas for farang spouses of Farang work permit & B visa holders.

Good Luck to all Visa runners, Remember its Amazin' Thailand

Cheers

You should have gone to KL.

Penang has not given multiple non-B for a couple of years unless you have 8 million baht registered company.

A simple search on this forum would have told you that.

[Joolz63]

Went to Penang on advice from a friend who had renewed his multi B visa there 2 months prior, his business is only 2 million Baht, so goes to show its who you get on the day. Used same agent also!

[phuketrichard]

hello;

Interesting posts and thanks as i just asked about tourist visas in Penanag,

BTW flights on Firefly from Phuket to Penanag are 3,848 baht

while flights Phuket to KL via Airasia are 3,795 baht

Airasia Phuket to Singapore 3,830 baht

I need a new tourist visa for my Cambodia GF who is with me here in Phuket.

of the three, which would u suggest to go and get a visa for her> She usually returns home to Cambodia and last trip was there 10 weeks and she currently has had 3 tourist visas over the past 10 months. Stays of only 2 months each.

Thanks,

Richard

Edited July 19, 2010 by phuketrichard