Just back from a border run to Malaysia to start the second entry on my tourist visa. I flew AirAsia from Bangkok to Hat Yai and back, taking off this morning and returning in the evening.

From Hat Yai airport I took a songthaew to downtown and then switched to an ordinary (non airconditioned) bus to get to the border town of Padang Besar.Once there, I went across the border and back on foot, filling out and submitting arrival/departure cards each way. Back on the Thai side, I caught another bus to Hat Yai and another songthaew to the airport.

Some Detail

After landing at Hat Yai airport, I walked out of the terminal building, across the parking lot, and over a grassy, slightly wooded area to the parking lot ring road. The fairly light traffic there included light blue songthaews which I simply flagged down to get picked up. The one I was on took Phetkasem Road, crossing the bridge over the railroad tracks, and continued on it all the way before finally taking a right on Karnchanawanich Road. See map. I got off across from the Tesco Lotus (total ride time about 25 minutes) and then flagged down a bus with "HAT YAI PADANG BEZAR" above the radiator grill for the roughly 90 minute trip to the border. Buses to Padang Besar, both ordinary and 55 baht aircon, run about every 15 minutes.

Coming back it was easy to spot the clearly labeled buses so I had no trouble returning to Hat Yai. I stayed on the bus until the end of its route a couple of blocks from the bridge. Near the bridge, I again flagged down a light blue songthaew and confirmed with the other riders that it was going to the airport. There are also red colored and white colored songthaews which apparently don't go to the airport.

The cost:

AirAsia fare: ............................ 2244.86 baht (may've since gone up)

Bangkok airport bus to BKK airport: ....... 100

Songthaew from HDY airport to downtown: .... 15

Ordinary Bus Hat Yai to Padang Besar: ...... 39

Ordinary Bus Padang Besar to Hat Yai: ...... 39

Songthaew from downtown to HDY airport: .... 15

Bangkok airport bus back to downtown: ..... 100

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -------

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2552.86 baht

So why spend over 500 baht more and go to all this trouble instead of simply taking the 2000 baht Jack Golf (or another operator's) visa run bus to Cambodia? Well, (1) I hadn't done it this way before and wanted to try it out at least once, and (2) A simple Cambo run includes using up an entire passport page just for the visa sticker with additional space used on another page for the entry and exit stamps. This is compared to just half a page or so of entry/exit stamps alone for a Thailand-Malaysia crossing. Do enough Cambo runs and you'll soon have used up a chunk of your passport, as I did when I was on the thirty day plan. So I thought it merited for me the additional effort and cost, but YMMV.

Edited August 22, 200619 yr by Michael W

plane and songtauw

from the airport to the border and back u get a taxi for 300baht.....

Good report!

The only sad part is to think of how much wasted time and fuel is spent on these visa runs. How much money could the Thai gov't make if it offered renewal in Bangkok?? (other than the first 30 days for 1900 baht for a tourist visa)

plane and songtauw

Yep. Easy, convenient, no waiting, and an open air cruise of the city streets. Quite nice, actually.

from the airport to the border and back u get a taxi for 300baht.....

Yeah, I was aware of the taxi option but I intentionally did it this way to get a better idea on the minimum total cost for this kind of trip. Now with a better idea of the layout and timing, I'd probably do it the same way again. The buses and songthaews were so frequent that I spent little time waiting, and since this was all done as a day trip, I also had no luggage to haul along.

Why not consider a trip to Chiang Rai /Mae Sai which should be a nice weekend trip.

A couple of airlines are flying the route . Might be a bit more expensive , but it would be a real change .

Looking forward to another nice trip report.

Why not consider a trip to Chiang Rai /Mae Sai which should be a nice weekend trip.

A couple of airlines are flying the route . Might be a bit more expensive , but it would be a real change.

I've been thinking of trying that one also. Does Burma have a visa-on-arrival with just a small entry stamp or do you have to purchase a visa and get a full page sticker like Cambodia and Indonesia? I remember 9 years ago Burma had day visits for US$5 where they held your passport but stamped a photocopy of a page rather than the passport itself. And you had to be back in Thailand by 5pm when the crossing closed. Is that still available?

There have been other topics recently about Mae Sai , but Mynmar use a small rubber stamp only , no full page.

They stamp your passport.

Should be fun.