Burma

[willyeckerslike]

Thinking of going to Burma from ranong but i want to stay in burma for a couple of days just to have a look around , i've heard you can only stay 1 day for the visa run.

Anybody know about this .

Thanks

[seabear]

I went to Kaw Thaung (Ko song, Victoria Point) on May, 24th,2012.

The Myanmar Immigration stamp says admitted until 1st of June,2012

I have stayed in the Honey Bear Hotel several times. Payed 800 Baht. (Worth about 200 Baht).

[quadrant]

me and my travelling buddy were in khaw thong in april. we also wanted to look around the place but unfortunately, we were not allowed to move beyond a radius of 5km only from town. so there was not really much we could do there - the town is not very large. since it is also rainy season a lot of the holiday resorts are also closed until october.

the only thing worthwile is going to the andaman club. this is a casino with hotel and they also have a nice swimming pool and a duty free shop. i don't really remember how much we had to pay for the hotel, but it must have been above US$ 50.-, maybe closer to 100.-

the honeybear hotel at the harbor is not really good and expensive for what you get. plus, they cut electricity from 9 a.m. until about 6 p.m. there is another hotel higher up the hill, it's called garden hotel and cost about 1'000 baht per night and has electricty 24 hours.

one good thing is that as long as you stay in town, you can pay everything with thai baht, so no need to exchange burmese currency.

hope it helps and cheers

[NomadJoe]

It is not an international port of entry, that is to say it is a bi-national border i.e. only locals from Thailand or Burma can cross and enter Burma for longer than the day (not overnight). Not wanting to lose all the money from foreign visa runners they stamp you in and out at the same moment, at the same visit to Burmese immigration at the pier. Regardless what your passport says you are only admitted for the day. For example when I did my visa run on 24 July, my passport stamp showed me admitted to Burma until 6 August but it was also stamped "Departed Myanmar 25 July." The strange thing is you are allowed to spend the day touring the town and surrounding areas for the day and some tour companies are even operating near immigration now. It is a bit strange to spend the day in a country when your passport says you have already left, but that is how they do it. At the Burmese immigration there is a sign which states you are not allowed to travel more than 5km from the town.

EDIT: Just reading the post that was made just before mine...perhaps you can stay in the town overnight. If I recall our tout said you cannot but in retrospect I think that is because he didn't want to lose commission on the headcount on the return ferry ride. He was spouting a lot of misinformation to the other visa runners and a couple of backpackers that wanted to either enter Burma or stay the day. He twice yelled at me for correctly informing people of things which screwed up his scams. He stopped though when a French guy suddenly went crazy on the ferry ride back yelling at everyone and no one about the end of the world. I used TVR, same company that just had a crash.The driver was a special brand of insane, and no seatbelts. A memorable day in Thailand that was. Will save for a flight next time.

Edited August 27, 2012 by NomadJoe

[simon43]

When you arrive in Kawthaung you can stay for up to 2 weeks, but are restricted to travel within 5km of the ferry port. If you opt to stay overnight or longer, then immigration will rtain your passport and issue you an entry card. You can only stay at the Honey Bear hotel or the Penguin Hotel (nearby) or the Chinese Hotel atop the hill in the town, and all other hotels in Kawthaung will refuse to accept you if you are not Burmese.

I've stayed for up to 1 week in Kawthaung - but if you are a 'tourist' then a single night or day is enough to visit the city temples

Simon

[taninthai]

Do you still have to pay when you visit the temple there ,went with the wife about 2 years ago after she had to pay to go to the temple it kind of put her of burma

[simon43]

Do you still have to pay when you visit the temple there ,went with the wife about 2 years ago after she had to pay to go to the temple it kind of put her of burma

No, never asked to pay.

Perhaps only Thai people have to pay

Simon