When we were making arrangements to come to Thailand, David was working in Australia. He had a multiple entry visa. Once his contract in Australia ended in October, we didn’t realize that he needed a different visa. So began the saga of the ever-elusive visa.
Missed Visa Opportunity: Spain
Not being very savvy about world travel and visas, we were informed RIGHT AFTER we returned from Spain, that David needed to apply for a new visa. Because he was no longer traveling to Australia regularly, the multiple re-entry visa would not work for him. Had we realized this even a week earlier, we could have applied for the visa when we were in Spain.
Visa Attempt 1: Cambodia
David had researched different ways that he could acquire a new visa. One way to extend your visa is to drive into another country. The easiest and least expensive way is to take a bus to Cambodia. Right before the border, you have to take a tuk-tuk across. It is quite a scam. The tuk-tuk drivers try to get the farangs to pay an arm and a leg for the short trip. Luckily, David knew what to expect. Once he got to the border, he then needed to get to the embassy. He had read that you have to be careful at the border because people will try to “sell” you a visa. In actuality, they were really just selling you the paperwork. But the naïve farang wouldn’t know any different. At the end of this trip, David had a 10-day extension to his current visa.
Visa Attempt 2: Malaysia
Now David had ten days to figure out what he was going to do next. A few days later, he arranged a trip to Malaysia. He was still after the ever-elusive visa – this time hopefully a 30-day visa. He had arranged passage in a luxury van and this plan had him sleeping in the van on the way there, filing paperwork at the embassy when he arrived the next morning, spending the night at a pre-arranged hotel, picking up the visa the next morning and then home that night. He had to travel about an hour to get to Bangkok where the van picked up. He got there in plenty of time. As he was boarding the van, they were checking passports and paperwork to make sure everyone had the necessary documents. Problem ~ not enough pages in his passport. The embassy would not have issued a visa because of this. Thankfully, they checked this BEFORE he got to Penang. The next day he was in downtown Bangkok paying the $50+ to get extra pages put in his passport.
Visa Attempt 3: Hong Kong
Time was getting tight! David needed to leave the country but we were on a time crunch now because the girls were coming and he didn’t want to have to leave while they were here. He was looking for another 30-day visa so he could get by until the girls left. So we scoured Asia Air to find the cheapest flight ANYWHERE outside of Thailand. Thankfully, David found a fairly inexpensive RT flight to Hong Kong, his old stomping ground. The departure date arrived and he left our place early for Hong Kong. Interestingly enough, he ran into some Norwegians who are making a visa run, as well. They were spending the day in HK and also catching a flight late that evening. David became tour guide and showed them all of the Hong Kong sights. He made some good contacts for our future, as of yet unplanned, trip to Norway. He returned home late that night with yet another 30-day visa.
At this point, I am thinking that David has a pretty good thing going on here! In about two months, he has traveled to Spain, Cambodia, Hong Kong, ALMOST Malaysia and now he is planning to go to Laos. Hmmmm!
Next post: Finally getting the visa!
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