Thai airports, trains, buses, public transport

Suvarnabhumi hates "Dang Dao".

By da_gateman, Created on: 11/04/2010, Last updated on: 04/05/2015

» On the way to HCMC today, and officer at Suvarnabhumi claimed that I slammed my documents in his face, which is why he kept cursing at me. He taunted me by refusing to stamp my passport, and was picking on every small detail. I was standing on the yellow square and where the black footprint was,...

• gipchimsa commented : [quote="clubsiam@yahoo.com":31xflugi]I landed at Thailands International Airport was was treated very badly by the immigration official. I made a small mistake on my entry card and the guy was outraged. I kept my cool even though this rude person treated me in a most disrespectful manner. I felt he was egging me on to start a fight.. I had just been to the Thai Consulate in Laos and was also treated in a disrespectful manner by a staff member there too. Land of Smiles? Don't think so. Just for the record, I am not a drunk or slob. I always am polite and well mannered. The treatment by Thai Officials is shocking.[/quote:31xflugi] I do not think that immigration officials anywhere are particularly gracious, except to their own countrymen. I have heard similar stories from foreign friends about Heathrow (London) officials, and as for [u:31xflugi]some[/u:31xflugi] of those Aussies. I had a bit of a ding entering at Sydney once. No reason, he was probably having a bad day. I have never encountered trouble coming into LOS, but agree thay are a cheerless lot. It certainly pays to be nicely dressed, casual or not, and also to emit an air of subservience. Say as little as possible, preferably nothing at all. Just look pre-occupied. Say "thank you." Leave hastily. It is not a fun job, and the Thai officials have the excuse that they get more than their fair share of idiots with attitude and problems. I have noticed this. Also, the Thai immigration system, with all those different visas and rules and stamps, would seem to be a little bit more complicated than many. This adds to their problems I should imagine. Maybe they get longer shifts? There are alsways a lot of queues. One factor that these officials universally fail to take into account ,when dealing with any small discrepancy, is that flying is stressful. Many of the people they deal with are from long haul flights and have been on the move for often more than twenty hours, (to airport, wait in airport, flight, disembark.) These people have a lot to think about (eg. baggage, on-going, reservations, currency, new environment) and are tired, stressed and jet-lagged. I myself assume a zombie like state after 22 hours of travelling. Maybe they should give immigration officials a free long haul round trip once a year.

• gipchimsa commented : [quote="clubsiam@yahoo.com":is9qok47]I landed at Thailands International Airport was was treated very badly by the immigration official. I made a small mistake on my entry card and the guy was outraged. I kept my cool even though this rude person treated me in a most disrespectful manner. I felt he was egging me on to start a fight.. I had just been to the Thai Consulate in Laos and was also treated in a disrespectful manner by a staff member there too. Land of Smiles? Don't think so. Just for the record, I am not a drunk or slob. I always am polite and well mannered. The treatment by Thai Officials is shocking.[/quote:is9qok47] Sometimes

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