TotallyOz Posted March 2, 2008 Posted March 2, 2008 I had to do a Visa run and we did it to Maesai. That is in Myanmar. It is about 4 or so hours from Chiang Mai and not far from Chiang Lai. The boarder was typical of a run with lots of shops on both sides and lots of beggars and swindlers. To get a one-day pass to Myanmar costs 10USD or 500 baht. However, I tried to pay in USD and they kept finding something wrong with the bill and finally I realized that the dollar sucks and they didn’t want it, so I paid in Baht and they took it fast. They do hold on to your passport and you get it back when you return. That was a bit odd for me but it all worked out fine. We had a chance to visit the Golden Triangle, which is the area of the Kong River, which boarders Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. We took a boat over to the casino and played a bit of cards. This trip cost the same as the other crossing but they don’t stamp your passport. They do hold it but it is not a Visa office. A boat took us from Thailand to Myanmar and then to a bus to the casino. The casino floor was not large but it was fun and I loved watching the boyfriend in his first casino. He had such a nice time there that I wish I had booked an overnight there to play all night. For us, we had to be back by 6PM or we had to come back the next morning. The casino was nice and clean and I look forward to trying it again in the future. I was told that rooms are 2100 baht a night but if you show you are going to put up 50k baht to play that they will comp your room. PJ’s took us on the trip. They drove us there and took care of all the details for us. We could have chose a bus for 700 baht for the visa run but we wanted to take our time and enjoy the day. The private van did cost us a great deal more but it was worth it in my mind and we were happy that we had PJ’s do this for us. The cost for the day for a private driver and Jiab as our guide as well as breakfast, lunch, dinner and a packed vehicle full of snacks and sodas was 6100 baht. That got me and the boyfriend pickup service and a full day in a private car and all the excursions we took. Some choose to go the route of a organized visa run to save expenses and I have done that on most occasion I travel but I had never been to Myanmar and I wanted to take the day at my own pace and stop as often as I wanted. If you are looking for an organized trip, you can also ask Peter and Jiab about this or about a private day. My only regret was not staying a few nights over in Myanmar to take in more of the country but I will travel there at some point in my life. Quote
Guest Posted March 4, 2008 Posted March 4, 2008 Sorry, I forgot to mention, if you take a Thai guy over the boarder, he needs his Identification card. He will stop by an office to fill out a paper. It costs him 30 baht to cross over and 10 baht for the stamp on the return. So it was a total of 40 baht for the crossing. When we went to the Casino, it was only 30 baht for the trip. Not sure why there was no 10 baht return. Quote
