The Visa Run Options

We have looked at most of the options for visa runs (leaving the country you are staying in i.e Thailand and visiting another to renew your visa) from HuaHin and here are just a few of visa borders runs we considered :

1. Laos: Vientiane

You pay about 1500Baht each just to enter Laos so £90 for three + Thai visa fees and travel = us not going to Laos

2. Cambodia: Ban Laem

Not really an option as you have to travel to the capital, Phnom Penh if you want the 60 day +30 day extension visa.

3. Burma (Mynamar): Andaman Club or Kawthong (Victoria Point) (click for our visa bounce to kawthong)

Not an option as there are no Embassies or Consulates + you only get 15day extensions at the moment (15-12-08)

4. Malaysia: Penang, Kota Bharu

We considered Kota Bharu but having been there twice before (see here) and knowing its roughly monsoon season from October to March we decided to do the visa run to Penang.

Visa run to Penang

You can obviously take the plane, train or bus all have there advantages and disadvantages.

• Bus: (Slow) Cheap but slow and very painful with Tehya as she can’t get up and walk about.
• Plane: (Fast) Read the rest of the blog about Hanna and planes, also Tehya has to pay full price.
• Train: (Slow) Not so cheap either but you can sleep and you certainly get more leg room than on the buses and planes.

We have chosen the slow tedious train route that leaves Hua Hin on Tuesday the 16th December at 18:11 and arrives in Butterworth on Wednesday the 17th around 13:45 (18 hours). The problem with this option is that you have to submit your visa documents before 12:00 in the afternoon so we can’t submit our forms until Thursday the 18th. Then hopefully pick them up on Friday the 19th of December and return Sunday the 21st of December. We have to stay until Sunday as we need our 90 day visa to last until our return to the UK on the 20th March 2009.

Oh I wish we would have purchased a one year multiple entry visa for Thailand before we left the UK, this would have allowed us to get an automatic 90 day visa upon entering Thailand from any of the bordering countries.

At the time of writing the Thai government had recently changed the rules on the visa border bounce, i.e you only get a 15 day visa if you do a border bounce over land instead of the normal 30 days. Designed to get rid of the riff raff. It will be a big problem for many Farangs in Hua Hin as its a long way to bordering countries. Certainly wont do much for Thailands carbon footprint as most people will now fly into the country.

{w:650;w250} Thai consulate, Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Penang, Malaysia

(map of Thai embassy/consulate Penang, Malaysia)

Thai Consulate Penang, Malaysia contact details:

You can print the Thai visa application form to save time click here for the pdf form

Documents that you need :

- Passport or travel document with validity not less than 6 months
- Visa application form completely filled out
- Two recent (4 x 6 cm) photograph of the applicant
- Air ticket or eTicket paid in full
- Financial means (20,000 Baht per person and 40,000 Baht per family)
- Consular officers reserve the rights to request additional documents as deemed necessary

You basically get a 60 day visa in Penang for 120RM (1200Baht or £22) and then pay an extra 1,900 Baht (per person) to extend for another 30 days, so this allows a total of 90 days in Thailand before requiring another visa.

(The Visa actually cost 110RM (1100Baht or £21))

The total cost for the visa run without hotels, food, taxis :

(1) Train to Penang (return) 2nd class sleeper (we only pay for x2 tickets as Tehya sleeps with Hanna) = 2,200Baht Oneway

(1a) x1 person return = 2,200Baht so Total train bothways x2 people = 4,400Baht

(2) 60 day visa from Penang consulate per person 1200Baht (120RM) = 3,600Baht

(3) 30 day visa extension 1900Baht per person = 5,700Baht (We will purchase this in Thailand a few days before our 60 day visa runs out)

Total price for Tourist Visa = 13,700Baht (£257 roughly)

(all of the above details may change at the drop of a hat, so please check with the Thai consulate or embassy)

Thai Visa Service – Penang

You can also easily get your visa done on the day of arrival, we checked at guest house NO75 (near star lodge) and the charge was 130RM. You can drop off your visa application in the afternoon and it is returned the same day around 5pm. So you only need to spend one day in Penang. You also don’t need to supply any other information to the consulate other than filling in the visa application and adding x2 photos. You can sit back and have a relaxing afternoon as somebody else deals with the visa application – Hassle free!!!!