Visa Run With My Dual Citizen Daughter To Andaman Club

[steelepulse]

With flights being so expensive, I've decided to drive up to Ranong for a visa run and will be going to andaman club casino for this. My daughter (9 yo) wants to go with me. Is there anything in particular besides our passports that we'll need so we don't get hassled. My wife will not be going with us as she's working. Daugter will be exiting entering on her Thai passport.

[Mario2008]

A birthcertificate, as they might want to check if she really is your daughter. This is more important if your daughter has a different last name.

[steelepulse]

Thanks, same last name.

[tombkk]

I'm no expert in this, but I'd ask the mother to write a letter permitting you to take the daughter across borders. Even though you are the father.

[Phronesis]

I have done this run a on a number of occassions.

At the Andaman Club Pier they have a nice airconditioned departure lounge, their own little immigration window, and secure undercover parking outside. It beats huddling with the proletariat masses (Burmese workers) at the other main immigration office and pier hands down.

Ranong itself is a nice Thai style town with some good things to do. There is no visible bar scene there so it is a good place to spend some time with your daughter.

With regard to special requirements, Thais do not need to do immigration from the Andaman Club Pier. All that is required is a copy of their ID card.

You may want to have a letter from her mum...with a signed copy of her mum's ID card also to be sure...but I would be suprised if this was even an issue. Does your daughter have a Thai ID card or only a passport?

From Phuket I suggest the following itinerary:

1. Leave Phuket at around 9am after the peak hour traffic has subsided
   
2. Stop at Khao Lak for a coffee at the Khao Lak Seafood Family Restaurant. It is on the right at the top end of the main street: http://www.khaolakseafood.com/
   
3. Stop at Thai Muang and eat lunch at one of the great Thai shop house restaurants in the main street. Amazingly cheap compared with Phuket prices
   
4. Continue on to Ranong to arrive mid afternoon. Check in to the Apple Hip Hotel. Nice brand new clean rooms at a good price: http://www.theappleh...el.com/demo.php
   
5. Ask the hotel to provide you with a map and some directions how to get the the Andaman Club Pier. TAKE NOTE that it is not the same pier where the main immigration is. It is located about 10 minutes drive north of town. Take a drive out to the Pier to make sure you know the route and check with the very friendly staff in the depature lounge regarding any special requirements for your daughter for the following morning. Also check the departure time for the Andaman powercat. I think the first boat leaves the Pier at 8am and then there are ones about every 45 minutes thereafter. The schedule does change from time to time, but it is usually displayed on a small A4 sized stand on the main counter of the office.
   
6. Head back into Ranong and in to the main street for dinner. Again there are some great new restaurants popping up with an upmarket feel, but at a fraction of the price of Phuket.
   
7. After dinner when it has cooled down a bit. Grab a couple of towels, your swimmers, and some cool drinks and head up to the Hot Springs (Nam Ron). The springs are lovely, a soak in the hot water is magical, and it is entirely free (not many things left in Thailand that fall into that category). You can lay back in the bathing pool with your daughter, sip on your cool drink, stare at the stars, and listen to the waterfall and sounds of the mountain forest in the background. Doesn't get any better than that for a working class man.
   
8. Head home for bed and ask the reception staff at the hotel to give you a wake up call for 6.30am.
   
9. Wake up and check out, head to the coffee shops on the main street for breakfast, and then on to the Pier. At the Pier make sure you park in one of the many undercover spots so the your car will be nice and cool when you get back.
   
10. The staff at the pier do everything for you. All the copies of your passport etc. The price is 850THB all inclusive...visa fee...boat ticket...etc. The staff at the main counter will give you your paperwork back and then you just walk a few steps over to the immigration window and you will be stamped out of Thailand. If you daughter has a Thai ID card you can present that to the staff at the main counter and they will also make a some copies. They will then give those back you and then there is another window (next to the immigration window) were Thais go to check out. I forget the all inclusive fee that Thais pay, but it is a fraction of what Farangs pay...somewhere around 70THB I think.
    
11. You then walk out along the pier and board the powercat. It is airconditioned but smells a bit of diesel fumes inside. The trip accross to the Club only takes a few minutes. There is no swell but it can be choppy if the wind gets up.
    
12. Once at the Club pier your will get out of the boat and walk through Myanmar immigration. TAKE NOTE that they will hang on to your passport.
    
13. If you want to wait at the pier and get the same boat back (without going up to the Casino) you can
    
14. However, I would suggest that you head up to the Casino and spend some time in the complex with your daughter. There is a free minibus from the pier up the mountain to the resort. The actual gambling rooms are only a small part of the resort. It has very open architecture and you can sit and looks at a 360 degree view of the surroundings from the island. There is also a cracking big swimming pool (make sure your daughter has her togs and a towel as I am sure she will want to swim).
    
15. There are a couple of restaurant choice...the food tries to be upmarket but often fails to reach the bar. It is a little pricey but not too bad.
    
16. There are lots of staff in the Resort so no doubt you could have some take care of the daughter for a few hours (there might even be a crache) so you can head upstairs for a punt
    
17. There is a poker machine (slot machine) room downstairs but avoid it like the plague as the non payout screws on the machines are wound up tighter than a ducks bum
    
18. There used to be a fee to enter the upstair gambling room, however that is no longer the case. The lovely girls at the entrace will give you a visitors badge, don't put it on, just put it in your pocket. You will have to walk through a metal detector...and as you do have a look and a chuckle and the "no hand guns inside" sign. Inside the gambling room there are a number of card games...black jack, pock deng, etc as well as roulette tables. You go to the change counter and buy some chips.
    
19. I always play black jack and the minimum bet is 100THB. The croupiers are all from PI and speak good English. You will be ofterred free whiskey or fruit juice while you play. As with all casinos, there are no visible clocks or outside windows...so take care you don't lose track of the time (exactly what the casino wants you to do)
    
20. They have staff member ring a gong in the main foyer of the resort when the minibus down to the pier is departing. REMEMBER to collect your passport before you get on the Powercat.
    
21. If you head back to the Thai pier after lunch you can then drive slowly back to Phuket to arrive in the early evening after the peak hour traffic madness has subsided.
    

The road north of Tukuapa is lovely and there is forest covered mountains on your right and several big waterfalls (Nam Tok) that you can see as you drive along. You will want to wind down your windows to sample what clean Thai air smells like. An opportunity that is no longer available on Phuket.

Good luck and enjoy your precious time with your daughter.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Phronesis

[ALFREDO]

1. Continue on to Ranong to arrive mid afternoon. Check in to the Apple Hip Hotel. Nice brand new clean rooms at a good price: http://www.theappleh...el.com/demo.php
   
2. There used to be a fee to enter the upstair gambling room, however that is no longer the case. The lovely girls at the entrace will give you a visitors badge, don't put it on, just put it in your pocket. You will have to walk through a metal detector...and as you do have a look and a chuckle and the "no hand guns inside" sign. Inside the gambling room there are a number of card games...black jack, pock deng, etc as well as roulette tables. You go to the change counter and buy some chips.
   

I was never questions asked at any border, travelling with my son(s) to ASEAN countries from TH, boys have Thai Passport and my family name.

But better sure than sorry.

-Apple Hotel- prices? Their Website gives me no room prices, and some questions in Thai, I, at least, cannot change language.

Slept always in "Trinidee Hotel", best in town it was, (1.400 Baht) which has the Hot water springs pumped to their Hotel and has small, hot pools of different temperature near the main Swimming Pool, even the water for the bath tub coming from the hot spring water.

To hear,that the Entrance fee is scrapped at the Casinos main room is good news, I paid the One Time Entrance Fee, 11 years ago.

And slept many times in the Casino Island Hotels rooms,

between 1.200 - 1.600 Baht as a regular and Andaman Casino Club Member.

Seems I got discounted, as the Website and Booking sites offer higher prices.

To bargain at the Pier Hotel Reception and also at the reception at the Hotel can help.

(Or maybe only if you had been a Member before?)

The big Swimming Pool and the Sauna on the premises most time deserted and to your pleasure.

Beautiful view and surroundings! Should be also now access to a beach, but I did not check that out.

Boat-Tour to Kauw Thung - Victoria Point in Myanmar for shopping possible.

Edited January 6, 2013 by ALFREDO

[tjhorner]

Phronesis.....Invaluable info; thanks so much..

Anyone aware if any of this info has changed?

Planning a trip down to Ranong with some family to visit some family and planning on a inpromptu visa run and maybe a few hours at the casino.

THANKS

I have done this run a on a number of occassions.

At the Andaman Club Pier they have a nice airconditioned departure lounge, their own little immigration window, and secure undercover parking outside. It beats huddling with the proletariat masses (Burmese workers) at the other main immigration office and pier hands down.

Ranong itself is a nice Thai style town with some good things to do. There is no visible bar scene there so it is a good place to spend some time with your daughter.

With regard to special requirements, Thais do not need to do immigration from the Andaman Club Pier. All that is required is a copy of their ID card.

You may want to have a letter from her mum...with a signed copy of her mum's ID card also to be sure...but I would be suprised if this was even an issue. Does your daughter have a Thai ID card or only a passport?

From Phuket I suggest the following itinerary:

• Leave Phuket at around 9am after the peak hour traffic has subsided
• Stop at Khao Lak for a coffee at the Khao Lak Seafood Family Restaurant. It is on the right at the top end of the main street: http://www.khaolakseafood.com/
• Stop at Thai Muang and eat lunch at one of the great Thai shop house restaurants in the main street. Amazingly cheap compared with Phuket prices
• Continue on to Ranong to arrive mid afternoon. Check in to the Apple Hip Hotel. Nice brand new clean rooms at a good price: http://www.theappleh...el.com/demo.php
• Ask the hotel to provide you with a map and some directions how to get the the Andaman Club Pier. TAKE NOTE that it is not the same pier where the main immigration is. It is located about 10 minutes drive north of town. Take a drive out to the Pier to make sure you know the route and check with the very friendly staff in the depature lounge regarding any special requirements for your daughter for the following morning. Also check the departure time for the Andaman powercat. I think the first boat leaves the Pier at 8am and then there are ones about every 45 minutes thereafter. The schedule does change from time to time, but it is usually displayed on a small A4 sized stand on the main counter of the office.
• Head back into Ranong and in to the main street for dinner. Again there are some great new restaurants popping up with an upmarket feel, but at a fraction of the price of Phuket.
• After dinner when it has cooled down a bit. Grab a couple of towels, your swimmers, and some cool drinks and head up to the Hot Springs (Nam Ron). The springs are lovely, a soak in the hot water is magical, and it is entirely free (not many things left in Thailand that fall into that category). You can lay back in the bathing pool with your daughter, sip on your cool drink, stare at the stars, and listen to the waterfall and sounds of the mountain forest in the background. Doesn't get any better than that for a working class man.
• Head home for bed and ask the reception staff at the hotel to give you a wake up call for 6.30am.
• Wake up and check out, head to the coffee shops on the main street for breakfast, and then on to the Pier. At the Pier make sure you park in one of the many undercover spots so the your car will be nice and cool when you get back.
• The staff at the pier do everything for you. All the copies of your passport etc. The price is 850THB all inclusive...visa fee...boat ticket...etc. The staff at the main counter will give you your paperwork back and then you just walk a few steps over to the immigration window and you will be stamped out of Thailand. If you daughter has a Thai ID card you can present that to the staff at the main counter and they will also make a some copies. They will then give those back you and then there is another window (next to the immigration window) were Thais go to check out. I forget the all inclusive fee that Thais pay, but it is a fraction of what Farangs pay...somewhere around 70THB I think.
• You then walk out along the pier and board the powercat. It is airconditioned but smells a bit of diesel fumes inside. The trip accross to the Club only takes a few minutes. There is no swell but it can be choppy if the wind gets up.
• Once at the Club pier your will get out of the boat and walk through Myanmar immigration. TAKE NOTE that they will hang on to your passport.
• If you want to wait at the pier and get the same boat back (without going up to the Casino) you can
• However, I would suggest that you head up to the Casino and spend some time in the complex with your daughter. There is a free minibus from the pier up the mountain to the resort. The actual gambling rooms are only a small part of the resort. It has very open architecture and you can sit and looks at a 360 degree view of the surroundings from the island. There is also a cracking big swimming pool (make sure your daughter has her togs and a towel as I am sure she will want to swim).
• There are a couple of restaurant choice...the food tries to be upmarket but often fails to reach the bar. It is a little pricey but not too bad.
• There are lots of staff in the Resort so no doubt you could have some take care of the daughter for a few hours (there might even be a crache) so you can head upstairs for a punt
• There is a poker machine (slot machine) room downstairs but avoid it like the plague as the non payout screws on the machines are wound up tighter than a ducks bum
• There used to be a fee to enter the upstair gambling room, however that is no longer the case. The lovely girls at the entrace will give you a visitors badge, don't put it on, just put it in your pocket. You will have to walk through a metal detector...and as you do have a look and a chuckle and the "no hand guns inside" sign. Inside the gambling room there are a number of card games...black jack, pock deng, etc as well as roulette tables. You go to the change counter and buy some chips.
• I always play black jack and the minimum bet is 100THB. The croupiers are all from PI and speak good English. You will be ofterred free whiskey or fruit juice while you play. As with all casinos, there are no visible clocks or outside windows...so take care you don't lose track of the time (exactly what the casino wants you to do)
• They have staff member ring a gong in the main foyer of the resort when the minibus down to the pier is departing. REMEMBER to collect your passport before you get on the Powercat.
• If you head back to the Thai pier after lunch you can then drive slowly back to Phuket to arrive in the early evening after the peak hour traffic madness has subsided.

The road north of Tukuapa is lovely and there is forest covered mountains on your right and several big waterfalls (Nam Tok) that you can see as you drive along. You will want to wind down your windows to sample what clean Thai air smells like. An opportunity that is no longer available on Phuket.

Good luck and enjoy your precious time with your daughter.