My first visa run..
A very interesting day indeed.. :/
After 3 months, 90 days to be exact, my original visa finally expired. So time for a visa run, I hadn't really prepared for it in time, that's why I decided to go for the emergency option, a day trip to the nearest Cambodian border crossing and casino.. :)
You see gambling is illegal in Thailand, so all along the border with Cambodia there are casino's just across the border with immigration offices on both sides to cash in on visas.
One of these crossings turns out to be reasonably close by, so after a minivan ride Rayong-Chantaburi (1 hour), Chantaburi-Cambodia (Daung) (1 hour), getting through the border offices (half an hour), spending an hour at the casino and then another 15 minutes going through immigration the other way and a 3 hour ride on the bus back to Rayong... Pffff.. but I have another 30 days in Thailand. :)
The thought of having to go through this every month is very tiring, so I will have to think about another (more fun) way to do this the next time.
On the other hand the casino experience was almost worth the trouble... ;)
The sight of busloads full of Thai going crazy in a casino was a lot of fun, but the game selection was very limited, one roulette table, a room full of bacarat tables and a room filled with tables with some kind of dice game..
This actually turned out to be an interesting game, it took me some time to figure out how it worked, but it turned out to work a bit like roulette but with dice. :)
Even more interesting was one of the girls working at this table, after a few minutes of watching how the game worked she slipped me a note, asking my name and if I had eaten lunch already ;) a very clear invitation for a lunch date.. Sometimes being Farang has it's advantages.
The idea was very tempting, she was very pretty, but in the end I had to decline, I had a bus to catch back home and also she looked very young, too young for me to get involved with. :)
So all in all a mixed day, on the one hand very very tiring and expensive to get into Cambodia, but on the other hand there were some interesting points about it too...
After 3 months, 90 days to be exact, my original visa finally expired. So time for a visa run, I hadn't really prepared for it in time, that's why I decided to go for the emergency option, a day trip to the nearest Cambodian border crossing and casino.. :)
You see gambling is illegal in Thailand, so all along the border with Cambodia there are casino's just across the border with immigration offices on both sides to cash in on visas.
One of these crossings turns out to be reasonably close by, so after a minivan ride Rayong-Chantaburi (1 hour), Chantaburi-Cambodia (Daung) (1 hour), getting through the border offices (half an hour), spending an hour at the casino and then another 15 minutes going through immigration the other way and a 3 hour ride on the bus back to Rayong... Pffff.. but I have another 30 days in Thailand. :)
The thought of having to go through this every month is very tiring, so I will have to think about another (more fun) way to do this the next time.
On the other hand the casino experience was almost worth the trouble... ;)
The sight of busloads full of Thai going crazy in a casino was a lot of fun, but the game selection was very limited, one roulette table, a room full of bacarat tables and a room filled with tables with some kind of dice game..
This actually turned out to be an interesting game, it took me some time to figure out how it worked, but it turned out to work a bit like roulette but with dice. :)
Even more interesting was one of the girls working at this table, after a few minutes of watching how the game worked she slipped me a note, asking my name and if I had eaten lunch already ;) a very clear invitation for a lunch date.. Sometimes being Farang has it's advantages.
The idea was very tempting, she was very pretty, but in the end I had to decline, I had a bus to catch back home and also she looked very young, too young for me to get involved with. :)
So all in all a mixed day, on the one hand very very tiring and expensive to get into Cambodia, but on the other hand there were some interesting points about it too...
posted by Richard | 18:38
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