Visa Run Pedang Besar

[Khun Bob]

Hi

In the near future I'll be doing a visa run to Pedang Besar - Malaysian border town on the railway.

Just wondered if anyone knew if there are any hotels or reasonable guest houses there ?

If you do then could you let me know :

* Name

* Approx price you paid/heard

* What you thought/know about the accomodation

Also if anyone has any other comment about Pedang Besar, would be interested to hear.

Oh is there a post office there ?

When I came down to malaysia, PB seemed to be bigger than i thought it would be.

Cheers

PS I have posted this in the Thai Travel frum but not had a response - I thought that some visa runners may have the info i'm looking for.

[PhuketRealEstate.com]

I usually stay in Hadyai overnight as its close by. (45 minutes?, I actually forget now). Pedang Besar is nothing much, just a small border town. In Hadyai you can stay in a nice hotel for under 1000 baht and enjoy the best food in Thailand. The Malaysian border areas have all types of Asian cuisine, great shopping and a post office.

1 tip: when going over the Malaysian side, tell them you doing a u turn immediately and then they wont inspect your car. It will save you a little bit of time and they will move the cones to let you turn.

[dannishgung]

Most visa runners stay in Hat Yai. Mini bus to Hat Yai 50 bahts 40 min. If you like to stay in Padang, there are lots of hotels about 400-500 areas. Padang is basically a monger town for Malaysians. There are hundreds of karaokes for lady booking from early morning. The scene is same as Dannok but on a smaller scale.

If finding night companion is on your schedule, Padang and Dannok is worth a visit.

Padang Hotel:

JJ Hotel--400 bahts

Berlin Hotel --400 bahts

Satid Hotel--400 bahts

Light House--500 bahts

Padang Central--600-1000 bahts

[Khun Bob]

Gee thanks for your replies - bit of a surprise dannishgung - but i should of expected that. Mmh - going to make staying there for a couple of days interesting... Actually - i was hopng to have a look around perlis from there. Pulled up some malaysian government site on perlis and the taxi fares from padang besar to other main towns in perlis seem very reasonable - but could be the site has not been updated for a few years. I guess there is some sort of a bus service from padang to other main towns in perlis - kanga, alor setar and kuala perlis.

Just out of curiosity - does the mini bus from hat yai do a u turn at the thai-malaysian border for visa runners ?

What i figued in future is that i could just get the train down from bkk to padang and catch the returning train, and this was i dont need a hotel as i will spend 2 nights on the train and 3 days in total doing the trip. Seems like quite a long time - but i certainly enjoyed the journey down to malaysia - drinking beers on the buffet car and being well looked after by the waiting staff. The only thing that got to me was all the thai men with big gold rings - who seemed to be going to had yai wanting to make conversation with me (read this as take the p1ss out of a farang) - ignoring them seemed to work ok... well i'm still alive to tell the tale and didnt lose alot of money !

[Khun Bob]

Hi dannishgung

From the hotels you have mentioned in padang can you make a recommendation, also which ones to avoid ?

Cheers

Most visa runners stay in Hat Yai. Mini bus to Hat Yai 50 bahts 40 min. If you like to stay in Padang, there are lots of hotels about 400-500 areas. Padang is basically a monger town for Malaysians. There are hundreds of karaokes for lady booking from early morning. The scene is same as Dannok but on a smaller scale.

If finding night companion is on your schedule, Padang and Dannok is worth a visit.

Padang Hotel:

JJ Hotel--400 bahts

Berlin Hotel --400 bahts

Satid Hotel--400 bahts

Light House--500 bahts

Padang Central--600-1000 bahts

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Khun Bob]

Back in bkk now -

well there are 2 side to padang basar - the malaysian side and the thai side - for reasons i wont go into i stayed on the malaysian side - an interesting experience - there is only 1 hotel which is basis and charges alot but they are prepared to negotiate.

The local market is nice and even the local muslim girls say nice things to you in thai !

Some of the street restaruants are very cheap if you aviod the chinese places - they have a farang price policy. The muslims tend to be more honest and trusting but all are curious none the less !

If you want to get some cheap thai music there is a cd shop close to maybank and they sell replica thai music for 3.50 RM (about 35 baht) and will give a discount. This includes mp3 cd's as well. Some thing I have not found in panthip plaza !

Also be careful in internet cafes there - the locals are too curious !

All in all some beautiful countryside - unusual shaped hills and lots of greenery - but not a place to stay for too long ! Nice to see the fusion of thailand and malaysia as well. There is a very heavy police prescence too.

[fox]

Quote:

Just out of curiosity - does the mini bus from hat yai do a u turn at the thai-malaysian border for visa runners ?

The mini air-con van (11 pasengers/Bht50 per passenger) would do a U turn

at the Thai side........ never crossing over to the Malaysian side. Not allowed.

Get down at Danok, just nearby the Thai Immigration. Have your passport done,

then walk back to 7 Eleven (about 100yards from the Immigration). The mini air-

con vans are being station right in front of this shop. It leaves for Hatyai very often, about 15 minutes, more or less.

Since you are there, you can do some shopping at the Malaysian Duty Free Shop.

No problem......... the Malaysian Immigration is about 1km away from the Duty

Free Shop.

Pleasant trip.

[Beachcomber]

If you travel by train to Hat Yai arriving in the morning you can get the mini-bus to Padang Besar for about 50Bt (may change for fuel price increase) The mini-bus will take you to the border which is just outside Padang Besar the driver knows you are there for a visa run and drops you off.

At the border there are motorcycle taxis for the sole purpose of visa runs and I would suggest taking one of them. For 50bt (maybe more now) he will help you stamp out of Thailand drive you to the Malay border to get stamped in, round the roundabout stamped out of Malay back to the Thai border to stamp back in again and then take you into town to the mini-bus office for your return to Hat Yai.

You can get back in plenty of time to Hat Yai for lots of shopping and catch the night train back without having any hotel expenses.

If you want more details I can scan and post a map of Hat Yai with mini-bus office and some reasonable hotels.

As a side note Hat Yai has a higher percentage of beautiful girls than any place I’ve been.

Hope this helps.

[Khun Bob]

Thanks for the great info.

I have just done my run with a stay in malaysia and I wouldnt recomend in staying in padang basar malaysia. Too many men - the girls are all kept away - this is not a good situation. There seems to be an aura similar to friday night in the UK at abount 11pm, late at night. Didnt like this and it felt slightly threatening.

Next time it will be hat yai and mini bus to padang basar, costs this way are also low - but it does involve more time than a trip to cambodia.

Beachcomber, If you could post a map of hat yai that would be great ! Interesting comments too !

On the way back there was quite a few thai blocked with big gold rings and a big jem. Seems to be a common theme in the buffet car of the train and i suspect they got on at hat yai too !

[Beachcomber]

Sorry Posted twice

Beachcomber

Edited September 20, 2005 by Beachcomber

[Beachcomber]

KHUN BOB - Hope the map is OK I used the lowest resolution still keeping the detail to keep the size down. Shows well in Paint.

Most of the interesting area is round the grey shaded streets on the left up from the railway station.

The minibus office for Padang Besar on the street second on the right up from the station past Cathy Guesthouse on the right. Its not so much an office as an empty shop with desk and few chairs. There is a sign outside and usually a couple

of waiting minibuses so you cant really miss it.

As for places to stay there is the Cathy Guest house for the really budget conscious, backpackers mostly, at about 190bt for room with shower and fan. The Montien and Kings Hotel are right next to each other, first right up from the station, are not bad, hot water, fridge, AC and cable TV about 400bt. The Sakol, forth on the right up from the station, better than the Montien and Kings at about 650bt. Lots of Malay business men with their Thai girlfriends but nice friendly place.

For those seeking “entertainment” there is the Pink Lady (www.pinkladyhotel.com) which is hotel, massage, sauna, relax karaoke bar all in one, all in the best possible taste! There are plenty of places Pubs, live bands so take a look around.

In the same area there are several department stores and a maze of small streets selling mostly cloths and electrical goodies anything from vibrators to Tazers.

Beachcomber

Edited September 20, 2005 by Beachcomber

[Khun Bob]

Hi beachcomber - thanks for the really good info and the map - i think next time i'll be headed to hat yai - i was tempted to stop over there last time but just wanted to get back to bkk as i had quite alot to sort out.

If you have the time then travelling to hat yai by train and getting the minibus to malaysia must work out as being one of the cheapest visa run options - so long as you dont stop over in hat yai ! This being based on having a passport that malaysia doesnt charge for a visa (which i have)

Cheers

I wonder if anyone else has any hat yai visa run stories or padand besar stories - is it worth getting duty free there ? I allways think that they hike up the prices anyway...

[Firefan]

How much is the train to Hat Yai? (1st/2nd class/sleeper Etc.?). Cheers!

[lopburi3]

How much is the train to Hat Yai? (1st/2nd class/sleeper Etc.?). Cheers!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

http://www.railway.co.th/

[Firefan]

Thanks Lopburi3. On the English page I can see that the train goes all the way to Padang Basar - would that not make more sense then?

Let's see; 3rd class(auch my bum!) train return to Padan Basar: 312 B,

certainly sounds like a cheap visa run to me!

2nd class about double that.

Cheers!

[Khun Bob]

Hi Firefan - I'm not sure if there are any 3rd class trains that go to padang besar from bkk ? but it cetainly is a cheap option - it seems like going to hat yai then getting a mini bus could be cheaper still and quicker !

i got on a train from don muang to bang khen and think it was third class - had wooden seats and remined me of travelling on some of the really old early 50's trains the UK had running around till about a year ago (slammers) and now they got to get rid of them - makes me think why not sell them to thailand - then again thailand would lose face over this and i think their tracks are a bit narrower than the uk - even thoush the king at the time got some british geezer to do their trains ! (i think i read this somewhere...)

If your travelling third take a cushion with you...