S
SANGKA
Guest
An interesting report i found,maybe of interest to some.
Posted 2012-09-26 22:06:12
Note: this report will NOT appeal to the folks who go upstairs to the Departure level at the airport to save the 50 baht airport taxi fee. It is NOT the least expensive way to get your visa (although the difference is probably less than 1000 baht). It is, at least in my experience, the most hassle-free way to dispose of an otherwise painful chore...
Last weekend, we drove to Mukdahan, having pre-arranged the services of the Savan Vegas visa run package,
We contacted them and arranged to be at their office, next to the Thai border checkpoint at 8:00 AM Monday, where we were told there is a secure parking lot where we could leave our truck while we spent the night and next day in Savannakhet.
We arrived early, had some gao lao at one of the vendors at the parking facility, and then went to the Savan Vegas office (huge sign along the road to the checkpoint, can't miss it)
Having read about the parking, we expected to pay 150 baht overnight, and indeed the attendant said it was 50/day; However, I was a bit surprised when it came to 200 baht! We were only to be gone from that morning (8:00 AM) until the next day at 3 or 4 PM. Seems his 'one day' really means eight hours, and we paid up without further discussion.
Inside the large air conditioned office, we were asked our names, and handed a Lao arrival/departure card, and a Thai arrival/departure card to fill out, and told the bus would be there soon to take us across the boarder and to the casino/hotel.
Our driver arrived, and drove us up to the Thai immigration checkpoint, where we exited the van and stood at the back of a line of 30 or so people ahead of us. Not long after, our driver came over and escorted us to a window on the other side of the road that took our passports and stamped us out in about 30 seconds! Back on the bus, to the Lao side...
As soon as we arrived at the Lao side, Savan Vegas representatives collected our passports (and my 2 photos and US$35; wife is an Asean member, no visa required), and disappeared into the office. He didn't like my US$5 bill, but I guess it was accepted. We didn't have to fill out the visa form, and it was all done in about 15 min. We did have to exit the van and get our photo captured as the Immigration officer stamped us in, but, again, no more than 30 seconds expired.
We were told we had to pay a 20 baht 'stamp fee', which I am sure was bogus, but no big deal - paid and forgotten.
With that, we were on our way to the casino, about a 10 minute ride to...nowhere! Which is where the casino is located. Which is the whole point of the promotion. You are captive...just you and 1000 old women from Isaan, with an aggregate 872 teeth among them, and dozens of gaming tables and hundreds of video poker machines. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
We were greeted by lovely staff, well-meaning, if a bit frantic, and checked in promptly. The promotion consists of 2 days, 1 night, meals, transportation to/from the border, and their VIP service: they do the running to the Thai embassy for your visa! You sign a form allowing them to apply on your behalf, give them the cash, and the filled forms and pictures (we arrived at about 8:45 AM; Embassy closes at 11:00), and they do the whole deal - you get it back around 3:00 PM the next day.
At reception, they gave us our meal tickets: breakfast, lunch, dinner the day of arrival, and breakfast and lunch for the next day, a total of five meals at their buffet. The promotion, by the way, was for one person, and the web page specified that there was a 300 baht charge for meals for an extra person (no extra charge for the room), BUT they didn't even charge us for the extra meals! Altogether, we paid THB1499 + THB1000 (deposit, refunded at checkout).
Our room was nice, although in slight disrepair (little stuff), and overlooked the gambling floor. Rooms are arranged around three sides, odd numbers facing inward, overlooking the casino floor, and the even numbers facing outward. Had we known this, we might have asked for an outer room, because the music and cheers of the crowd were on most of the night and early AM...
Great cable TV, with many English-language movie channels, and a comfortable bed were the highlights.
The not-so-good: the noise, the impossible-to-escape odor of cigarettes, detectable in the room, but overwhelming in the casino.
The weird: French shutters (not) covering a window between the bathroom and the bed. Lying in bed, due to the gaps in the fixed shutters, you could see most of what takes place in the bathroom in just too much detail...cool, I guess: if you open them you can watch TV in the shower...
The food...difficult. Breakfast was served from 7:00 AM until 10:00; by the time we got checked in, and back down to the buffet, it was 9:15, and the place was decimated. Food was strewn all over the serving tables, no attempt had been made to clean as it progressed, and most everything (except a TON of white rice) was gone. They were still cooking eggs to order, however, and for a moment we were tempted, but there wasn't a SINGLE table cleared of dirty dishes. They were piled 3-4 dishes high EVERYWHERE. We just did a 180, and headed out to find a tuk-tuk.
Determined to find something to see/do in Savannakhet, we decided to go to the market, which we had heard was OK. The tuk-tuks, of course, smell blood the second you step off the front entrance of the hotel, and we were bombarded by 200 baht offers to go to the market, and 500 baht offers to ride all around all the way down the long, hot driveway. Finally, we saw someone getting dropped off, and were able to negotiate 100 baht to the market with the driver of the empty tuk-tuk. This would have been no more than a 40 baht ride in Vientiane, but we had no idea how far the market was, so it was on.
The market was actually pretty big, lots of different items, from electronics to board shorts, similar to the Indochine market across the river in Mukdahan, or any of several others along the Mekong. Bought some shorts to use as a swim suit, since the Savan Vegas has a really nice pool. Lots of food, too, so we made up for our breakfast disaster by finding the lady who sells kai gataa (eggs in a pan), and chowing down accordingly. 100 baht for two of us: two eggs/meat in a pan, a baguette, soda - x2 . Good.
Best we could do going back was 100 baht again, so we beat it back to the casino.
By now it should be obvious: the promotion is a loss leader to get you captive in a casino, with nothing but time and money on your hands. Probably works for many guests, but for us, it was brutal. Thanks ye gods for HBO/Cinemax/Fox/MGM channels! Spent the rest of the morning watching movies...
Posted 2012-09-26 22:06:12
Note: this report will NOT appeal to the folks who go upstairs to the Departure level at the airport to save the 50 baht airport taxi fee. It is NOT the least expensive way to get your visa (although the difference is probably less than 1000 baht). It is, at least in my experience, the most hassle-free way to dispose of an otherwise painful chore...
Last weekend, we drove to Mukdahan, having pre-arranged the services of the Savan Vegas visa run package,
We contacted them and arranged to be at their office, next to the Thai border checkpoint at 8:00 AM Monday, where we were told there is a secure parking lot where we could leave our truck while we spent the night and next day in Savannakhet.
We arrived early, had some gao lao at one of the vendors at the parking facility, and then went to the Savan Vegas office (huge sign along the road to the checkpoint, can't miss it)
Having read about the parking, we expected to pay 150 baht overnight, and indeed the attendant said it was 50/day; However, I was a bit surprised when it came to 200 baht! We were only to be gone from that morning (8:00 AM) until the next day at 3 or 4 PM. Seems his 'one day' really means eight hours, and we paid up without further discussion.
Inside the large air conditioned office, we were asked our names, and handed a Lao arrival/departure card, and a Thai arrival/departure card to fill out, and told the bus would be there soon to take us across the boarder and to the casino/hotel.
Our driver arrived, and drove us up to the Thai immigration checkpoint, where we exited the van and stood at the back of a line of 30 or so people ahead of us. Not long after, our driver came over and escorted us to a window on the other side of the road that took our passports and stamped us out in about 30 seconds! Back on the bus, to the Lao side...
As soon as we arrived at the Lao side, Savan Vegas representatives collected our passports (and my 2 photos and US$35; wife is an Asean member, no visa required), and disappeared into the office. He didn't like my US$5 bill, but I guess it was accepted. We didn't have to fill out the visa form, and it was all done in about 15 min. We did have to exit the van and get our photo captured as the Immigration officer stamped us in, but, again, no more than 30 seconds expired.
We were told we had to pay a 20 baht 'stamp fee', which I am sure was bogus, but no big deal - paid and forgotten.
With that, we were on our way to the casino, about a 10 minute ride to...nowhere! Which is where the casino is located. Which is the whole point of the promotion. You are captive...just you and 1000 old women from Isaan, with an aggregate 872 teeth among them, and dozens of gaming tables and hundreds of video poker machines. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
We were greeted by lovely staff, well-meaning, if a bit frantic, and checked in promptly. The promotion consists of 2 days, 1 night, meals, transportation to/from the border, and their VIP service: they do the running to the Thai embassy for your visa! You sign a form allowing them to apply on your behalf, give them the cash, and the filled forms and pictures (we arrived at about 8:45 AM; Embassy closes at 11:00), and they do the whole deal - you get it back around 3:00 PM the next day.
At reception, they gave us our meal tickets: breakfast, lunch, dinner the day of arrival, and breakfast and lunch for the next day, a total of five meals at their buffet. The promotion, by the way, was for one person, and the web page specified that there was a 300 baht charge for meals for an extra person (no extra charge for the room), BUT they didn't even charge us for the extra meals! Altogether, we paid THB1499 + THB1000 (deposit, refunded at checkout).
Our room was nice, although in slight disrepair (little stuff), and overlooked the gambling floor. Rooms are arranged around three sides, odd numbers facing inward, overlooking the casino floor, and the even numbers facing outward. Had we known this, we might have asked for an outer room, because the music and cheers of the crowd were on most of the night and early AM...
Great cable TV, with many English-language movie channels, and a comfortable bed were the highlights.
The not-so-good: the noise, the impossible-to-escape odor of cigarettes, detectable in the room, but overwhelming in the casino.
The weird: French shutters (not) covering a window between the bathroom and the bed. Lying in bed, due to the gaps in the fixed shutters, you could see most of what takes place in the bathroom in just too much detail...cool, I guess: if you open them you can watch TV in the shower...
The food...difficult. Breakfast was served from 7:00 AM until 10:00; by the time we got checked in, and back down to the buffet, it was 9:15, and the place was decimated. Food was strewn all over the serving tables, no attempt had been made to clean as it progressed, and most everything (except a TON of white rice) was gone. They were still cooking eggs to order, however, and for a moment we were tempted, but there wasn't a SINGLE table cleared of dirty dishes. They were piled 3-4 dishes high EVERYWHERE. We just did a 180, and headed out to find a tuk-tuk.
Determined to find something to see/do in Savannakhet, we decided to go to the market, which we had heard was OK. The tuk-tuks, of course, smell blood the second you step off the front entrance of the hotel, and we were bombarded by 200 baht offers to go to the market, and 500 baht offers to ride all around all the way down the long, hot driveway. Finally, we saw someone getting dropped off, and were able to negotiate 100 baht to the market with the driver of the empty tuk-tuk. This would have been no more than a 40 baht ride in Vientiane, but we had no idea how far the market was, so it was on.
The market was actually pretty big, lots of different items, from electronics to board shorts, similar to the Indochine market across the river in Mukdahan, or any of several others along the Mekong. Bought some shorts to use as a swim suit, since the Savan Vegas has a really nice pool. Lots of food, too, so we made up for our breakfast disaster by finding the lady who sells kai gataa (eggs in a pan), and chowing down accordingly. 100 baht for two of us: two eggs/meat in a pan, a baguette, soda - x2 . Good.
Best we could do going back was 100 baht again, so we beat it back to the casino.
By now it should be obvious: the promotion is a loss leader to get you captive in a casino, with nothing but time and money on your hands. Probably works for many guests, but for us, it was brutal. Thanks ye gods for HBO/Cinemax/Fox/MGM channels! Spent the rest of the morning watching movies...
