Our initial plan was to stay in Thailand a month so Laurence entered the country on a free 30 days visa. As Polish travellers only get a free 15 days visa Gosia had to purchase a 2 months visa before entering the country. However, as we really liked the islands of South Thailand .....and to be honest we also needed to rest after 5 months of travelling (!) we ended up staying for a month in the islands and Laurence had only two days left on her visa so it was time for her to do a "visa run", i.e. exit the country and come back again on another free 30 days visa. From Chumphon, agencies offer for Bh1200 a visa run to the Andaman Casino, a Thai casino on an island located in Myanmar (from Krabi agencies take you on a day trip to Malaysia for Bh1000).
The visa run from Chumphon to the Andaman casino via Ranong takes a full afternoon, leaving Chumphon at 12.30pm and being back at 7pm. The minibus trip to Ranong is 2h long. At the Andaman Casino private pier, 8km from Ranong, there is a Thai custom to get your stamp out of Thailand. The boat trip to the casino is very quick, only 30min. You have to leave your passport at the custom and wait in the casino 1h for the next boat to go back to Ranong. This is the occasion to taste what it is like to stay in an expensive place....very nice swimming pools, many bars and restaurants....all very expensive for Thailand but much cheaper than it would be in Europe. Leaving the casino you get your passport back with your day visa to Myanmar ($10 included in the price of the visa run) and an exit stamp of Myanmar. Back in Ranong you get your free 30 days visa before getting back in the minibus direction Chumphon. It was fun to go to the casino but it's very tiring, so when planning to stay longer than a month in Thailand it is better to get a visa for 2 months or longer before entering the country.
Back in Chumphon, where Gosia had a relaxing afternoon, we had a few hours left before catching
the night train to Bangkok. As we booked our ticket only the same morning there was no seats left in 1st and 2nd class, so we had to buy a 3rd class ticket. It turned out to be a good experience, the ticket was much cheaper, only Bh232 and the 9h trip was not that bad. The seats were very hard and uncomfortable but as it was night time it was not too hot in the wagon. The wagon was packed with families, people were sleeping on the floor or across the seats. We had a funny situation when we boarded the train, the controller ran towards us trying to stop us entering the 3rd class wagon thinking we had tickets for the 1st or 2nd class! He was so surprised to see that we had 3rd class tickets and then during all the trip he kept checking if we were ok.
The visa run from Chumphon to the Andaman casino via Ranong takes a full afternoon, leaving Chumphon at 12.30pm and being back at 7pm. The minibus trip to Ranong is 2h long. At the Andaman Casino private pier, 8km from Ranong, there is a Thai custom to get your stamp out of Thailand. The boat trip to the casino is very quick, only 30min. You have to leave your passport at the custom and wait in the casino 1h for the next boat to go back to Ranong. This is the occasion to taste what it is like to stay in an expensive place....very nice swimming pools, many bars and restaurants....all very expensive for Thailand but much cheaper than it would be in Europe. Leaving the casino you get your passport back with your day visa to Myanmar ($10 included in the price of the visa run) and an exit stamp of Myanmar. Back in Ranong you get your free 30 days visa before getting back in the minibus direction Chumphon. It was fun to go to the casino but it's very tiring, so when planning to stay longer than a month in Thailand it is better to get a visa for 2 months or longer before entering the country.
Back in Chumphon, where Gosia had a relaxing afternoon, we had a few hours left before catching
the night train to Bangkok. As we booked our ticket only the same morning there was no seats left in 1st and 2nd class, so we had to buy a 3rd class ticket. It turned out to be a good experience, the ticket was much cheaper, only Bh232 and the 9h trip was not that bad. The seats were very hard and uncomfortable but as it was night time it was not too hot in the wagon. The wagon was packed with families, people were sleeping on the floor or across the seats. We had a funny situation when we boarded the train, the controller ran towards us trying to stop us entering the 3rd class wagon thinking we had tickets for the 1st or 2nd class! He was so surprised to see that we had 3rd class tickets and then during all the trip he kept checking if we were ok.
