Report - Border in/out stamp tourist visa via Padang Besar

[spambot]

This is a follow up after my post http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/796999-malaysia-border-start-2nd-60-day-tourist-visa-overland/ Asking for help on getting my stamp for 2^nd visa on double entry tourist. Trying to give back - After been given to.

REPORT

Flight Air Asia = BKK to Hat Yai (10:30am) – Flight time 1:25hr – Cost for return flight Air Asia 1.600 Baht (bought 2 months in advance).

12:00 noon – Exit front doors arrival lounge Hat Yai Airport and walk direct across car part front of building and 100 m here find a Blue songthaew – Take this into city (30 Baht) – Journey time 20 mins –

Its not clear where to get off until you know the landmarks: So if you are staying near the rail station – Get off (where you can clearly see you enter the city) when the songthaew pulls up to what is a huge amount of other songthaews parked ready for journeys around the city (this is not the bus station – Thai sat next to me could speak very little English kept saying out loud –“Bus Terminal” and pointing for me to get off and I fell for it) – Further info on landmarks - This is about 100 m before a well know landmark – Clock tower. If you get off here looking for a place to stay you are in the centre of the Hat Yai tourist area.

Getting to the bus station

If you do remain on the songthaew – Wait on board until the very end you will be at the actual Bus terminal for Hat Yai (The songthaew finishes here). You are dropped at the back of the terminal and this is the best place to start if you want to get on the public bus that goes to Padang Besar – Strawberry coloured – 44 Baht – 1.5 hrs – passes directly in front of immigration border controls.

If you want the faster mini van start at the front of the terminal and walk the entire furthest you can past all the many ticket offices to the far wall – 50 Baht – 1 hr – Also drops you directly outside immigration border control.

The bus Terminal Hat Yai on Google maps is incorrect – The listing in Maps actually is showing where the new night market is now located – So if you get here and are confused – It is 100 m away on (roughly) the same road – walk back from here toward (roughly) the direction of the main town - You will see only a few minivans outside here until you get inside - There is no signage telling you that this is the bus station.

Getting off at Immigration - Immigration border process

When entering immigration take the left hand side (small point, but saves a good 10/15 mins of confusion).

Exit Thailand –– Fast process (1 min) – rips out departure card from passport and stamps exit in passport.

Malaysia IN – Walk for about 200 m (passing duty free on left) – Quick process (1 min) to get 90 day stamp.

Malaysia OUT – Walk directly opposite site of the roads – until reach the furthest point so you can walk no further - Quick process (1 min) to get exit stamp.

Now walk the back the 200 m - (But first for me I called into duty free and got a 1 litre bottle of Jim Bean whisky 480 Baht – But do not do this if you are flying back - like I was – It gets confiscated at the airport – I should have known this, but I just didn't think – All my head was saying was “Wow what a great price”).

Out of Duty free and onward to Enter Thailand

Thailand IN – This did take a little longer with the Entry / Departure card filling out and the official that wanted to examine every page in my passport and then deciding to process a fellow Thai who waved his arms behind me and just ignored me the guy interrupting got his service on demand rather than waiting his turn. Once the interrupter got what he needed (stamp on his paperwork), even then this only took 10 mins to pass through this immigration with my entry stamp.

Bottom line – No queue at any point or waiting time required and it was easy and straight-forward – At every point I was always walking up to empty immigration windows. Maybe Sado border crossing is like this – I do not know because I have never been that way.

Getting Back to Hat Yai by Bus – Bus leaves just across the road from Entry into Thailand – They seem to be hourly – Not to be confused with bright yellow busses that pass the bus stop quire regularly, but these are local school buses.

I however walked left for about half a mile, since I did not get on the bus immediately as I wanted to see the town first - Spent 1 hr there – But there is not a lot to see here and in fact it’s rather disappointing.

I found a local shop owner that could speak great English, but she was not sure if there was another strawberry colored bus that left directly from outside her shop going back to Hat Yai (Time now was 5:30 pm) – She thought there was one, but her husband was not positive that it would come – So they showed me to where the mini vans (That I came on) – Where they park and would travel back to Hat Yai (Bus station) – I got on the Minivan at 6pm.

If you need to find this Minivan station (It is really an in-door garage that can fit around 10 minivans) A visual description is not easy. But if you were walking the main street of the town (from the Immigration end) – There are only streets off to your right – At about 100 m before the end, and before this main street veers a hard right there is a convenience store that is similar to 7/11 called something like ‘Fresh and easy’ – Down this street about 50 m on right hand side is the garage with the mini vans parked that are leaving for Hat Yai.

Trains

One further bit of info – I inquired at the rail station in Hat Yai about the trains that set off from Hat Yai, but not given info about the ones that pass through Hat Yai en-route from BKK, (since they are generally delayed by many hours) and inquired about the trains that only leave from Pedang Besar:

There is one train a day from both ends:

Hat Yai – Pedang Besar leaves at 4:00 pm – 1 hr journey time

Pedang Besar - Hat Yai leaves at 9:00 am – 1 hr journey time

- If any of this helps, anyone….Great!

[steve187]

good report

[paz]

(But first for me I called into duty free and got a 1 litre bottle of Jim Bean whisky 480 Baht – But do not do this if you are flying back - like I was – It gets confiscated at the airport – I should have known this, but I just didn't think – All my head was saying was “Wow what a great price”).

No reason to have goods confiscated. Just turn back for a minute and pour in the toilet.

[rabid old goat]

you dont need to go to the bus station on the forward leg. the padang bus stops at the clock tower.

if you catch the padang bus from the bus station it then goes to clocktower before going to padang. hence you have wasted at least an hour.

there are/were also minibus going from clocktower vicinity to sadao if not also padang. catch the padang bus and minibus on the same side of the road that the airport songthaew drops you off at clocktower

Edited February 9, 2015 by rabid old goat

[spambot]

you dont need to go to the bus station on the forward leg. the padang bus stops at the clock tower.

if you catch the padang bus from the bus station it then goes to clocktower before going to padang. hence you have wasted at least an hour.

there are/were also minibus going from clocktower vicinity to sadao if not also padang. catch the padang bus and minibus on the same side of the road that the airport songthaew drops you off at clocktower

Good feedback - Extra excellent value information - Worth knowing - Good Stuff!

[fredzafsky]

Pedang Besar is a good border. Me and my colleagues in Songkhla use this border to activate our multiple-entry 1-year non-immigrant B visas. Other borders worth visiting are Ban Wang Prachan in Satun and the border in Nathawee, Songkhla.

I went to Pedang Besar, Sunday gone, to get a stamp in my new passport; my visa was in my recently expired passport. It took a bit of head-scratching on their part but they were very friendly and going through to Malaysia/entering back into Thailand was a doddle.

However, don't make the mistake of going to Danok (Sadao). They are the most rotten, corrupt, criminal bureaucrats I've come across in Thailand.

I had all the necessary paperwork to legally enter Thailand (visa aforementioned plus work permit) so their mafia office staff took to insulting me and trying to shake me down for my money. I vow never to go there gain.

[recom273]

Good report ..

It's usual to have the local workers slide their papers in front of you, and they do love to count the stamps.

You had some good advice or luck, there are queues in both directions at Sadao.

The fastest way to the border would probably be the mini van, this starts at a soi not far from the clock tower.

Stand on the plaza, keep the clock behind you and keep on walking. Take the second soi on your right ( you will see a big eagle above a sports shop ). Walk down 20 meters and look to the right.

The can leaves from here and heads to the bus station to pick up more passengers. If you start from the minivan station you get the pick of the seats and not shoe horned into the middle seat at the back.

You were also lucky, the last van leaves at 6.00-ish. I got stuck once and ended up in dannock once.

[spambot]

Good report ..

It's usual to have the local workers slide their papers in front of you, and they do love to count the stamps.

You had some good advice or luck, there are queues in both directions at Sadao.

The fastest way to the border would probably be the mini van, this starts at a soi not far from the clock tower.

Stand on the plaza, keep the clock behind you and keep on walking. Take the second soi on your right ( you will see a big eagle above a sports shop ). Walk down 20 meters and look to the right.

The can leaves from here and heads to the bus station to pick up more passengers. If you start from the minivan station you get the pick of the seats and not shoe horned into the middle seat at the back.

You were also lucky, the last van leaves at 6.00-ish. I got stuck once and ended up in dannock once.

Good solid actionable data here - Great contribution!

[spambot]

Pedang Besar is a good border. Me and my colleagues in Songkhla use this border to activate our multiple-entry 1-year non-immigrant B visas. Other borders worth visiting are Ban Wang Prachan in Satun and the border in Nathawee, Songkhla.

I went to Pedang Besar, Sunday gone, to get a stamp in my new passport; my visa was in my recently expired passport. It took a bit of head-scratching on their part but they were very friendly and going through to Malaysia/entering back into Thailand was a doddle.

However, don't make the mistake of going to Danok (Sadao). They are the most rotten, corrupt, criminal bureaucrats I've come across in Thailand.

I had all the necessary paperwork to legally enter Thailand (visa aforementioned plus work permit) so their mafia office staff took to insulting me and trying to shake me down for my money. I vow never to go there gain.

Good extra data - Ban Wang Prachan Satun and Nathawee, Songkhla as options - Great food for thought.

[recom273]

Just also to add ( and commend you )

Despite using this crossing for 15 years, flying into Hat Yai and now as a resident. I never knew there was a Songthaew service from the airport. So you did very well to find the blue truck.

I will add, that the clocktower is known as 'plazaa' or 'talad plaza' rather than the clocktower.

I'm guessing from your report, that the songthaew calls into the clocktower and then heads off to the bus station. After a ride from the airport, you would be itching to get off here, rather than continue all the way to the bus station. Then you can walk to the van station as I mentioned - it might save you an hour.

If you want a more luxurious ride, we now have a blue/yellow taxi service in Hat Yai although It doesnt stop you being assaulted by the touts on the way out of arrivals. There isn't a regular pickup point, but you could wait for one to arrive. Although they have meters, they won't use them and ask for around 300B to a downtown hotel.

In the past, before the company existed, you would be looking to pay somewhere between 500-1000B.

Taxis can be booked in advance, I will post the number in time, and should be booked a couple of days in advance.

Another method of transport when you arrive at the border - there is a moto taxi service that will run the loop and return you to the bus station. 15 years back it was 40B, now it's somewhere around 100B which i think is a little too much, but they will wait at the duty free shop, and also accompany you, show there ID card so you can get double the duty free allowance.

I would also post a warning, if you are on a multi-entry ( as always ) check your stamp, The staff are very slack - I have had times when they ignored my 12 month multi visa and stamped 30 days.

[spambot]

Just also to add ( and commend you )

Despite using this crossing for 15 years, flying into Hat Yai and now as a resident. I never knew there was a Songthaew service from the airport. So you did very well to find the blue truck.

I will add, that the clocktower is known as 'plazaa' or 'talad plaza' rather than the clocktower.

I'm guessing from your report, that the songthaew calls into the clocktower and then heads off to the bus station. After a ride from the airport, you would be itching to get off here, rather than continue all the way to the bus station. Then you can walk to the van station as I mentioned - it might save you an hour.

If you want a more luxurious ride, we now have a blue/yellow taxi service in Hat Yai although It doesnt stop you being assaulted by the touts on the way out of arrivals. There isn't a regular pickup point, but you could wait for one to arrive. Although they have meters, they won't use them and ask for around 300B to a downtown hotel.

In the past, before the company existed, you would be looking to pay somewhere between 500-1000B.

Taxis can be booked in advance, I will post the number in time, and should be booked a couple of days in advance.

Another method of transport when you arrive at the border - there is a moto taxi service that will run the loop and return you to the bus station. 15 years back it was 40B, now it's somewhere around 100B which i think is a little too much, but they will wait at the duty free shop, and also accompany you, show there ID card so you can get double the duty free allowance.

I would also post a warning, if you are on a multi-entry ( as always ) check your stamp, The staff are very slack - I have had times when they ignored my 12 month multi visa and stamped 30 days.

Wow - thank You for keep on giving - Love the extra dimensions and clarity - Its these extra bits that makes the difference between wondering and knowing a plan is workable - The issue for me was the process of entering the town and understanding a way to define my navigation options - But by giving this extra info centered around the specific area of the clock tower (with the extra clarification of naming convention) this allows me understand more than I did before - I saw many reference to 'Plazza' in blog posts, but I had no idea what the reference was about and since Google maps will not provide meaningful logistics for such a generic term - Hence only now can I put the connection together - Great work!

[Maestro]

Removed an off topic post.

[phuketrichard]

I have used Ban Wang Prachan Satuna few times

and also Betong

which is a great fantastic drive down from Yala