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I just got back from my 90 day trip to the border and this time was the best so far.
If you go via Jack Golf the bus leaves Asok, soi 12 at 5am.
At that time of day it's less than 15 minutes from my house in a cab! (Waiting for a cab takes a while though!)
The cost is 2,200 baht all in (plus a photo) and all you have to do is eat the breakfast buffet and they do the rest!
When you get to the 7/11 on Asok the nice folk at JG hand you a clip board and pen with the papers all ready for you to sign... 5 signatures on two forms (one for each country!) and your address then they do the rest.
We arrived at the border at about 8am... the journey being almost exactly 3 hours. The Jack Golf bus is massive and the seats are huge and the leg room is first class. They hand you a blanket as you alight.
JG have an arrangement now where they act as authorizing agent so you are just waved through the line. Before, we had to line up and get processed out of Thailand, but now they just check that the photo on the passport matches the person carrying it and we're away into Cambodia.
The casino has also changed... It's now a buffet at The Grand Diamond on the right hand side... which is a million times better than the old crappy shithole we used to stop at!
The breakfast is actually edible. There is an omelet bar where they cook your eggs to order with any number of fillings, and the rest of it is pretty good to. I just load up on the potatoes and bacon then stand in the short line for my egg concoction!
By the way - the casino was packed today with hundreds and hundreds of people gambling.
Before, at the other casino, I never ever bothered with the crappy buffet breakfast. It was worse looking than gruel in prison... erm - so I've been told!
At ten o clock we are rounded up and once again - NO WAITING! Just waved through and the photos on the passports are matched with the person holding it. This is also new as we used to have to get individually checked back across the border...
When you get back on the bus you hand back the neck ID and they give you an ice cold water and a forehead wipey thing! It's a comfort to know that there are always plenty of JG staff around to help you around.
Two movies on the way back... Jumpers and Bad Santa! (I'd only just downloaded and watched that one! Grrr!) But I ignored them and played with my iPod, read a bit and napped my way back to Bangkok.
(By the way - VERY smart of Jack Golf... the movies are played silent with subtitles so there's no annoying noise if you don't want to watch them! Great - thanks JG folks!)
I bought my duty frees inside the casino. I could have saved a couple of hundred baht by hunting for a shop outside but I couldn't be arsed.
Jack Daniels 1 litre was 800 baht (I got 2!)
Myers dark rum 400 baht!
You are supposed to bring back one bottle but I bought three! No body checks when you have the JG ID and the staff forewarn you to "share" the allowance so that noone gets in to any trouble if they happen to be stopped and have their bags searched.
In all the years I've been going backwards and forwards doing this visa run I have NEVER had my bags searched or even been stopped.
They graciously dropped a few of us off at Srinakarin so we didn't have to go all the way back into Bangkok just to leave again and I was back at home in my room by 2pm.
This service is way WAY quicker than doing it yourself and because you are chaperoned everywhere by several JG uniformed staff and given an ID to hang around your neck you are all but totally ignored by the beggars and touts. It's fantastic being invisible to these leeches as others get mercilessly hounded by small kids and shifty looking taxi drivers.
Lots of people complaining in the bus about only getting 15 days! He he!
I really don't like doing this border run at all but this is by far the best way to take the pain out of it!
Google Jack Golf for information...
If you go via Jack Golf the bus leaves Asok, soi 12 at 5am.
At that time of day it's less than 15 minutes from my house in a cab! (Waiting for a cab takes a while though!)
The cost is 2,200 baht all in (plus a photo) and all you have to do is eat the breakfast buffet and they do the rest!
When you get to the 7/11 on Asok the nice folk at JG hand you a clip board and pen with the papers all ready for you to sign... 5 signatures on two forms (one for each country!) and your address then they do the rest.
We arrived at the border at about 8am... the journey being almost exactly 3 hours. The Jack Golf bus is massive and the seats are huge and the leg room is first class. They hand you a blanket as you alight.
JG have an arrangement now where they act as authorizing agent so you are just waved through the line. Before, we had to line up and get processed out of Thailand, but now they just check that the photo on the passport matches the person carrying it and we're away into Cambodia.
The casino has also changed... It's now a buffet at The Grand Diamond on the right hand side... which is a million times better than the old crappy shithole we used to stop at!
The breakfast is actually edible. There is an omelet bar where they cook your eggs to order with any number of fillings, and the rest of it is pretty good to. I just load up on the potatoes and bacon then stand in the short line for my egg concoction!
By the way - the casino was packed today with hundreds and hundreds of people gambling.
Before, at the other casino, I never ever bothered with the crappy buffet breakfast. It was worse looking than gruel in prison... erm - so I've been told!
At ten o clock we are rounded up and once again - NO WAITING! Just waved through and the photos on the passports are matched with the person holding it. This is also new as we used to have to get individually checked back across the border...
When you get back on the bus you hand back the neck ID and they give you an ice cold water and a forehead wipey thing! It's a comfort to know that there are always plenty of JG staff around to help you around.
Two movies on the way back... Jumpers and Bad Santa! (I'd only just downloaded and watched that one! Grrr!) But I ignored them and played with my iPod, read a bit and napped my way back to Bangkok.
(By the way - VERY smart of Jack Golf... the movies are played silent with subtitles so there's no annoying noise if you don't want to watch them! Great - thanks JG folks!)
I bought my duty frees inside the casino. I could have saved a couple of hundred baht by hunting for a shop outside but I couldn't be arsed.
Jack Daniels 1 litre was 800 baht (I got 2!)
Myers dark rum 400 baht!
You are supposed to bring back one bottle but I bought three! No body checks when you have the JG ID and the staff forewarn you to "share" the allowance so that noone gets in to any trouble if they happen to be stopped and have their bags searched.
In all the years I've been going backwards and forwards doing this visa run I have NEVER had my bags searched or even been stopped.
They graciously dropped a few of us off at Srinakarin so we didn't have to go all the way back into Bangkok just to leave again and I was back at home in my room by 2pm.
This service is way WAY quicker than doing it yourself and because you are chaperoned everywhere by several JG uniformed staff and given an ID to hang around your neck you are all but totally ignored by the beggars and touts. It's fantastic being invisible to these leeches as others get mercilessly hounded by small kids and shifty looking taxi drivers.
Lots of people complaining in the bus about only getting 15 days! He he!
I really don't like doing this border run at all but this is by far the best way to take the pain out of it!
Google Jack Golf for information...
SB,
Correct... You can go in and out of the country and get 15 days for as long as you like as many times as you like.
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