Phuket Thailand

mdt · #1 09-10-2006, 08:00

Hi All,

Just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. My names Matt from Socal. As probably most, been a silent reader for quite some time. Posted a few as of late. Absolutley love the board.

Visited Phuket back in September for 2 weeks alone (after a recent divorce). Had the time of my life (with several emails received daily and a much smaller bank acct to prove it). After seeing numerous BM's recommendations stayed at Summer Breeze and couldn't have been happier. An absolutely great hotel.

Stopped in at My Thai Bar one night, but of course, way too early so didn't meet anyone.

I do have one question. Have any of you guys that travel frequently to Thailand been hassled by immigration when coming back into your country. I'm from the US. My ex-wife and I went to Thailand once and then went through Thailand going to Burma. So with my recent trip I now have 4 stamps in my passport. The immigration guy coming back into LAX gave me the 3rd degree ... have someone over there? why so many trips? what did you do there? where did you stay? etc. Really surprised me.

I was just wondering if any other BM's had similiar experiences with immigration in there home country of if it's just the US? And by the way ... I don't think I look too much more "shady" than the next guy

Mav · #2 09-10-2006, 08:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdt

Hi All,

Just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. My names Matt from Socal. As probably most, been a silent reader for quite some time. Posted a few as of late. Absolutley love the board.

Visited Phuket back in September for 2 weeks alone (after a recent divorce). Had the time of my life (with several emails received daily and a much smaller bank acct to prove it). After seeing numerous BM's recommendations stayed at Summer Breeze and couldn't have been happier. An absolutely great hotel.

Stopped in at My Thai Bar one night, but of course, way too early so didn't meet anyone.

I do have one question. Have any of you guys that travel frequently to Thailand been hassled by immigration when coming back into your country. I'm from the US. My ex-wife and I went to Thailand once and then went through Thailand going to Burma. So with my recent trip I now have 4 stamps in my passport. The immigration guy coming back into LAX gave me the 3rd degree ... have someone over there? why so many trips? what did you do there? where did you stay? etc. Really surprised me.

I was just wondering if any other BM's had similiar experiences with immigration in there home country of if it's just the US? And by the way ... I don't think I look too much more "shady" than the next guy

Hi...and welcome to the Board.

Yes l live in Melbourne Australia, and have my bags searched the last 2 times l have come back from Thailand......after getting the same types of questions you get.

Starting to p1ss me off a bit......if it happens next time l might have a chat to a Surpervisor there to see if l can avoid this in future......l don't mind one in every three or something but if it happens everytime l feel it then l think that is OTT

Devman · #3 09-10-2006, 20:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mav

Hi...and welcome to the Board.

Yes l live in Melbourne Australia, and have my bags searched the last 2 times l have come back from Thailand......after getting the same types of questions you get.

Starting to p1ss me off a bit......if it happens next time l might have a chat to a Surpervisor there to see if l can avoid this in future......l don't mind one in every three or something but if it happens everytime l feel it then l think that is OTT

Same thing happened to me at Perth airport this month. Where have you been, what did you do, why do you go, who do you know? etc etc. But this was the 1st time that they looked through my bags.
But what seriously annoyed me was they looked through my camera, not that I had anything worth looking at but I don't want some pr*ck looking through my personal stuff without due cause.
I'm not sure, but there must be a limit of how many times someone is allowed to go to Los!!

andy50 · #4 09-10-2006, 21:33

its probably the political climate that causes this , every ones more cautious these days , more-so in america i dare say, ive never been stopped coming back into the uk,(from los) but i and lots of passengers were body searched and hand luggage too, in dom muang ,just before entering the departure lounge once

faultytowers · #5 09-10-2006, 22:02

Was stopped one time after flying direct Bangkok - Heathrow , "security" guy waiting when we got out of "walk way" from plane. Very polite , showed I.D badge etc , asked why I had been in LOS , did I have Thai/Western friends living there , basic questions and no real problem. I then went through passport control , picked up luggage and walked through customs. Had this strange feeling that I was going to be stopped and searched , but nothing , walked out and had a smoke then got taxi home.

Don't know why they "picked" me , or if it was immigration/drugs that they were after. As I was clear for both I wasn't worried , maybe it showed in my answers/attitude.

Bello Uomo · #6 09-10-2006, 22:12

These stories are starting to piss me off. Not the stories....the situations.

If I am in this situation, I need to bite my tongue and refrain from the smartass attitude I sometimes have towards 'authority' figures. Or else I will leave myself vulnerable to a full search (bend over Sir?)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Devman

Same thing happened to me at Perth airport this month. Where have you been, what did you do, why do you go, who do you know? etc etc. But this was the 1st time that they looked through my bags.
But what seriously annoyed me was they looked through my camera

When you say they looked through your camera, do you mean they switched it on and looked at the pics? If so, I would have a bloody big problem with that and call for a supervisor.

Anyway, reminds me to take the battery out before coming home.

LivinLOS · #7 09-10-2006, 22:24

Yes they check digi cams for pics these days.. Want to check no child porn pics.. And they seem to have the right.. Same with laptops and other items.. and no battery means they can hold onto it for a while if they feel awkward.

I often do over react and lash out at them (and never had a finger up the butt as of yet so seems safeish).. One time after a long bad flight and then a 1 hour or more delay to get bags.. Walking through customs into Amsterdam with Thai wife he stops and asks me to open my bags.. I just looked at him and said.. "this is amsterdam.. what the **** would I be bringing, that would be cheaper there than here".. He actually smiled and just waved me through without looking.. Good job he had a sense of humour as I didnt at that stage.

Andymon · #8 10-10-2006, 01:02

On my first two trips to Thailand in 2005 I was also pulled out and given the 3rd degree by customs at LAX. Luggage was searched and they asked a lot of questions about where I had been and what I had done etc. The second trip I had 2 digital cameras in a backpack carry-on (a larger Cannon G-3 on top and a smaller Cannon powershot near the bottom). He pulled out the G-3 and had me turn it on and go through the pictures....he spent over 5 minutes acting really interested in seeing all the places I had photographed....but I'm sure he was really looking for any porn or kiddie porn type pictures. Luckily I had used the G-3 for all my day trips to Phi Phi, James bond Island etc. All of my partying and bedroom pictures were on the smaller powershot camera which he never found

On my last trip in March I only took the smaller powershot but used 2 memory cards with only "safe" pictures on the card in the camera for the trip home.
This time there were no seaches and no questions asked.... got my bags and walked right out to the street

cybernator_uk · #9 10-10-2006, 02:31

Hi and welcome to the board... Glad you enjoy it

I was stoped once at heathrow and asked where i had been and i showed him my stampy for Thailand/Malyasia... Asked what i was doing there so i told the truth and said sightseeing etc... Never looked in my bags... Lucky really as i had a lot of cigarettes in my bag well mmore than the 200 your supposed to bring back... actually that hadnt occcured to me in KL airport... He might had stoped me tho because i was a little bit drunk tho haha

Devman · #10 10-10-2006, 06:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bello Uomo

These stories are starting to piss me off. Not the stories....the situations.

If I am in this situation, I need to bite my tongue and refrain from the smartass attitude I sometimes have towards 'authority' figures. Or else I will leave myself vulnerable to a full search (bend over Sir?)

When you say they looked through your camera, do you mean they switched it on and looked at the pics? If so, I would have a bloody big problem with that and call for a supervisor.

Anyway, reminds me to take the battery out before coming home.

Yes, made me turn the camera on so they could look at the pictures.
Actually caught me off-guard as I never considered they would look at pictures. But having said that I have never had any compromising photo's from any of my trips. It was more an invasion of personal privacy....but fair enough if there is a reason to warrant a search.
Next trip I will have 2 cards for my camera, 1 for custom's to peruse & 1 of my holiday pics tucked away somewhere.

Einheriar · #11 10-10-2006, 06:39

It seems everytime i come to checkin, on my way home...i get stopped and searched, the weird thing is, the same happens in Denmark.....I never smugle anything, well the occasional bottle of whiskey, thats all....wonder if they will do it this time also.

visa2003 · #12 10-10-2006, 08:17

Nowadays when I come home from LOS to Perth, customs guys seem to go out of their way to get rid of me!!!

I think this comes from the time I got back and was really hanging out for a cigarette! I walked past the fiest set of toilets, into the next set, sat down and had a much needed gasper!

When I finally got to the customs check, got pulled aside and given the Third Degree!! Searched the bags, had me take off my shoes and asked if I would take off my shirt!!

It was all ok by me as I was no longer stressed about having a smoke.
Anyway, after about an hour of this, with the supervisor lending a hand, they finally asked me why I went into the second loo instead of the first. When I told them, I got a lesson in profanity that I will never forget and learnt a few new ones!!!!

Since then they don't seem to even look at me. Must have my name in big red letters on the computer!!!

Nanook · #13 10-10-2006, 14:22

It is well known in Amsterdam that planes coming from Asia and especially Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China are checked upon more than average. The chance that you are caught with anything is higher than average. Usually customs is after fake products like DVD's, watches, clothes, etc. From Singapore it is more electronics. I think most travellers are aware of this. Even more when you are a regular to these areas.
But I agree with most of you that it is not so much the fact that they check your bags, but the way how they approach you.

Last winter coming from Malaysia, I had a Moroccan-Dutch guy, who had it written all over his face that the only thing he wanted to do is irritating travellers. These guys are bad. I had nothing to hide, so I played the game with him. He commanded me to put my suitcase on a table, so I did. Then he wanted to search it and try to open it, but of course it was still locked. So he instructed me to open. Etc. etc. Anyway, he didn't find anything and let me go. When walking away, I told him that he acts more civilized the whole process would have gone more smooth and friendly. He just didn't get it, so a waste of time.

Nanook