Visa Run Next Week

[UKJASE]

hey guys..... i have to do a visa run in the next few days, and wondered if anyone wanted to share the costs of a drive down

i have a car and would be prepared to drive, or i would also be prepared to sleep on the back seat whilst we drove in your car

i was going to go to the andaman sea club, and do the trip in one day......

does anyone fancy sharing a ride? or does anyone know of a good value mini van company that will be running this route over the next few days?

PS i will bring sandwiches (maybe even with some mayonaise)

[UKJASE]

hey guys - i didnt find anyone to share a ride to burma for my visa run, so i decided to go on the bus to save cash...... i managed to do it quite cheap, so i thought people may be interested if they too have to do a run soon, and are new to it like me

- bus from hua hin bus station to ranong - VIP1, left 11pm, comfortable and able to sleep, 420B.... (i think there is one from clock tower too at 11pm for 225B, but i was unsure where you can buy the tickets for this)

- arrived 5am, shared taxi car to the pier, 100B (although songthaews are about 20B)

- shared longtail boat with 15 burmese, 200b return, tho i should have bargained this down as burmese were paying 20B (boat ran out of petrol and floated around for a bit halfway through the trip, but someone lent us some of their fuel luckily)

- visa in burma 500B, tho it should have been $10, but my 2 * $5 bills were creased and the immigration guys wouldnt accept them

- took my return leg with the same boat, then checked back into thailand and got new visa (free - thank you thailand).... beware here tho all hippies, there was a sign saying no hippies will be allowed past that checkpoint... poor hippies, it seems no one likes them

- songthaew from petrol station outside the pier - 15B

- A/C bus back to hua hin 225 B

so total cost was 1460B, tho it would have been 960B + $10 if my dollar bills had been in perfect condition

busses back run at 10.30am, 1.00pm, 3.30 pm, so you can be back in hua hin for tea time

was an enjoyable trip, scenary between chumphon and ranong was great, and ranong is a very friendly town.... the thai people here were great..... didnt get hassled by touts much

[josephinebloggs]

- visa in burma 500B, tho it should have been $10, but my 2 * $5 bills were creased and the immigration guys wouldnt accept them

Thanks for sharing, next time i'm due one i'll send you a message and we can share the driving and demolish your Sandwiches..

[true blue]

phew,some trip that,rember many years ago,i did visa run from patong,to ranong,and it was very very uncomfortable mini bus packed,retired now so okay no runs needed,but used to do the mai sai run from cnx many times and that was easy..

[roly]

If you go to the Andaman club resort for the visa run, which is just outside Ranong, the fee is about 800 baht which includes the return boat trip across to the Burmese island and the immigration fee. Furthermore, the immigration on the Thai side is very efficient and practically empty, the boat is modern, and the Andaman club is amazing - a lovely hotel, grounds, excellent food, a casino, plus a proper duty free shop with cheap prices (and not Burmese copies of everything). So for an extra 100 baht (if your visa + longtail was 700B) you can save a lot of time and hassle and do it in style, but then again it's out of town so might cost a bit more to get there unless you have your own transport.

Anyway just thought I'd mention in case you weren't aware, as I've done that trip both routes and much preferred the Andaman Club one. The longtail option I did was 6 years ago though and I think they've moved the immigration office in town since then - back then you had to check out of immigration on the Thai side, then take a taxi/tuk-tuk etc to another part of town to get to the piers (all the while still being in Thailand even though you've officially stamped out!). Fun.