This post is about visas and travels and I share my opinions which may bore non-travelers to death. Thus, feel free to skip through the text and enjoy the pictures.
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| Beautiful sunset on the Mekong may actually get you to read this post |
In all my travel experience, this was the first time I did a visa run. To those who don't know what this means, I'll explain simply: most countries don't allow you to stay in them for more than a specific amount of time and then demand that you leave. So if you wanna stay longer, all you have to do is leave and then come back again. Some even do it the same day. Sometimes it involves getting new visas, sometimes it doesn't.
My last attempt at a visa run ended up with going back home. We left Yangshuo, China planning to come back but in Hong Kong felt like it's a good time to visit Israel and ended up flying away and not coming back to Yangshuo, where we actually left some stuff. Luckily, a nice person managed to get our stuff back to us a day before our flight.
This specific visa run ended up costing about 3 days of our lives and around $130US per person. For some sense of proportion mind our monthly rent (for both) is $100 and a typical dish in a restaurant is $1+. The part for the new Thai visa itself was $33 so I really wonder wouldn't the Thai government be happier to simply charge $70 to provide this visa while we're still in Thailand. Make more money with less hassle to the person and less pollution to the environment from useless travels. Perhaps the issue is motivating more short-term-big-spending tourists and less explorers or people who want to start residing in the country. Perhaps it's about making sure you know who's the boss as you're never really sure if you'll get the new visa to come back. What do you think?
As a visa run is a very common thing in Thailand, especially with expats living here, many agencies offer a whole package. In the past, your passport could have traveled without you and thus your costs and hassle were minimized. Naturally it was illegal and nowadays it's not very common from what I hear. One agency actually offered it to us but we preferred not to.
After hearing from an American friend here that the agency's package in a minivan has been a nightmare ride (roads are far from perfect and the drivers speed up irregardless of passenger comfort), we decided to go independently and use VIP sleeper buses when possible. Costs were about the same, physical comfort was much better but we were never sure we'll get the next ticket. We always did though :) Altogether about 36 hours net on the road from Pai, Thailand to Vientiane, Laos and back.
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| In-city dirty smelly river. I wouldn't be surprised if people played dare on swimming in it... |
Had no expectations from Vientiane and so they were all fulfilled :) There are beautiful places in Laos and Vientiane didn't impress me much. I did think that if it creates much interest, I'll linger a bit before going back but it didn't. Laos, to my humble experience, is better around smaller villages closer to nature. In comparison to Thailand, prices are higher and level of services is lower. Considering that there aren't much "attractions", the allure isn't too big and my guess is that without neighboring Thailand and its visa regulations, it would have seen a lot less tourism. I believe that the establishment of Thailand as a big transportation junction (read: cheap flights) in addition with easy but short entry permits greatly benefits its neighboring countries. Currently Thailand gives 30 days entry for free when flying in but only 14 days at land borders. Had Thailand given 90 days for free and charge $30 at land borders the tourist route would have been very different.
May seem odd to those not traveling much but visa issues and regulations do set a certain atmosphere for visitors. One of the reasons to India's great popularity with long-term travelers is that it's easy to get a 6-month visa. In the past, one could have easily gotten a new 6-month visa in Nepal so people would stay as long as they wanted in India. As India is quite cheap, especially when you're staying there for long, many foreigners would make some cash outside and come back often. Nowadays, the Indian government added some "cooling period" (often 2 months away from India) before re-entry to the country. This is likely meant to weed out the foreigners who spend less. Take China as a counter-example. It's often quite annoying to get a Chinese visa and in most places it's only given for 1 month. It can be extended twice though, each time being a hassle on its own. The reason you can still seem a good amount of travelers in China (not anywhere close to India though) is that it's always possible to go to Hong Kong and easily get a new visa through an agency there. These agencies used to offer 6 and 12 month visas as well but now they're much harder to get. That's why so many foreigners in China are either there for business or work. Visa exemptions between countries often promote tourism in both countries. Israel, for example, established such with Ukraine and Russia, likely after realizing that considering how many people travel between the countries, it would be financially better to do it.
Last interesting anecdote: Israelis are requested to add a letter explaining why they want the new visa from Thailand. So we get one month entry for free without questions but for a single-entry 2 months visa I need to explain myself? I do wonder what the reasons behind that useless demand are. I doubt if anyone read my letter describing how beautiful Thailand is and how I'd keep exploring it for two more months.
End of visa story. We got a new visa and I don't think I'll do visa runs like that ever again. I kind of miss how this all worked out in South America where I would always get a 3 months entry stamp without any hassle or payment. Si, voy a regresar a sudamerica :)
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| One of Vientiane's dangers - especially at night and when drunk |
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| Who said only Chinglish is funny? |
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| Arc de Triomphe in Vientiane |
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| Let's shake hands on it, okay? |
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| Chinese Opera in Lao language is surely different |
