Of possible interest to U.S. citizens... I made a one day trip to Ventianne while on my recent visit to Udon. It wasn't to extend my tourist visa, just genuine site seeing. Something about that one day trip set off bells and whistles upon returning to the U.S. I was asked to go into secondary inpection, my bags were THOROUGHLY searched, and I was asked many questions about why I went to Laos. It should be noted that my passport has stamps from more than a dozen trips in and out of middle eastern countries, including Iraq. I've also visited former USSR states in eastern Europe, and I've never been given a second look on returning to the U.S. Just a heads up.

it is an overstatement that there isn't much to see in Aranya Prathet or Poipet. it is one of the most disturbing places I have been to recently, with all the casinos, beggars, poverty and filth. watch your pockets and try to get over with it as soon as you can.

Type "thai visa run" into google. Some of the teachers at my school used that one of the same name. I think it was about 1,500 baht to go there and back by coach. They didn't leave too early. If you don't want the hassle and don't mind paying then best going by this coach.

To be honest I don't think it's because you live in the US.

When I used to do trips one week or less, or stopped over in Thailand for only a few days I'd always get the second degree from customs upon my arrival back to Australia. I think they're ultra paranoid about people being drugs back with them from these regions.

Thanks for your help everyone...I decided for the first time I'll take this option and look at going by myself next time.

Left at 9:30 this morning on a large bus, reclining seats, movies (albiet terrible ones)..got back to BKK about 7:30pm. Spent about 20 minutes harrassing the kids at the border for money but they wouldn't give me any. Next time I might spend a few days over there. Bus is a good option if you don't know your way around, or are lazy and left it to the last minute like I did.

Border Run Info Required
 

So I have to do a border run in a few days, can someone tell me how I go about doing this? I'd rather not catch a taxi to Bangkok-Cambodia and back again. I've read on this forum some people catch buses or trains? Is it just a chase of going to Mo-Chit bus terminal and jumping on a bus?

Thanks for reporting back. I am glad to hear it worked out for you.

If you are in Bangkok and want to go to Cambodia, go to Mo-Chit terminal and buy a ticket to the Aranyaprathet bus station.
You will need to take a tuk-tuk for the last mile or so to the border crossing at Poipet. The tuk-tuk will take you to a Consul agent first where you will be offered a Cambodian visa for 20 US Dollars. These agents are trustworthy, though you might get the visa cheaper at the border. I'm not sure.

You can just tell the driver to go straight to the border but this will take longer for your visa to be processed.

If you plan on doing this all in one day , leave early. Make sure you leave enough time to catch a return bus to Bangkok.

There is not much to see in Aranyaprathet or Poipet.

Alternatively you can book with an agent from Bangkok that will arrange a bus to take you there and back, but it is more expensive and I'm not sure how reliable they are. I've never used this method.

I've heard stories of people buying tickets from agents for journeys that never happened.

If anyone in the Chiangmai area needs to make a visa run, you might be interested in reading our story:

http://www.ourbluemarble.us/New_Jour..._and_back.html

Just make sure you have some dollars with you. At that time the Burmese at the border charged us five dollars each plus what ever the Thai re-enty visa cost.

5 dollars is for the day visa to Burma. if you have a reentry permit, you pay 1000 baht for that in advance. if you enter on a visa-free option, that is free, but on the land borders, it is only 15 days. if you are on a multiple-entry visa, you pay for the visa in advance. as far as I know, the land borders do not issue visa on arrival anymore - Hungarians often get stuck in Poipet because of this. Thai authorities also sometimes are on a campaign demanding to see 10 or 20 thousand baht in cash from anyone on a visa-free entry or multiple entry.

Just out of curiosity. Where did you buy your ticket and how much did it cost you?

There was no ticket to be bought as such. I just arrived at the arranged meet point with 2,000 baht which was what everyone paid. If you want to book a place you can do so via contact details on the web site but a lot of people just seemed to arrive with no booking.