Due to the face that my visa was about to expire on the 31st of December but I was going to stay a week more, and not wanting to pay the overstay fee, I decided to do a visa run with the company Bangkok Buddy.
The meeting point is at sukhumvit soi 12 at korean town at 4:20am but unfortunately for some reason the staff was late today and instead of leaving at 5am, we left at 5:20am. The minibus fits 11 including 1 driver and the journey there was smooth. 2 stops midway for toilet breaks both which were 20 mins.
Arrived at the poipet border at 11am and we went through immigration to leave Thailand which took 45 minutes due to a long queue. After that, the staff took our passports while we headed to a casino resort for a buffet lunch. The spread is decent and it offers a wide range of food but some of it was cold.
After an hour, the staff returned our passports with the Cambodian stamps already stamped in our passport. Headed back to immigration to head back into Thailand and again a long queue. Took us an hour this time to clear immigration.
Back onto the minivan at 3pm and headed back to Bangkok. Arrived at 8:30pm due to terrible traffic near the airport.
All in all, despite the delay in the morning which then probably caused the immigration queues to be long, thus making us leave late and thus the traffic. the entire journey and process was very smooth. It cost 1500฿ for me as I have a Singapore passport but I believe for non ASEAN passports, it cost 2500฿ instead.
People should know there's a limit now of 2 land border crossings "per calendar year", according to what I've read. If you've had more than 2 you'll have to fly out and fly back in, say via Cambodia (for about $80 r/t if you plan ahead from Air Asia). Maybe they bend the rules a bit if you're doing this as you've done (as part of a group). The law is mainly to stop farangs working in Thailand illegally (say a diving instructor) on the islands.
2 land border crossings limit: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/959042-only-2-visa-exempt-entries-at-border-crossings-per-calendar-year-effective-dec-31st/
I'm in Ranong now on a visa run and it's interesting how they illegally apply this rule to folks like me with actual visas (vs "permission to stay for 30 days" as most BM probably have). I got told I wouldn't be allowed to use my visa (on which is printed "good for entry till Sept 2017") more than another 3 months. A subsequent conversation with Thaivisa.com confirmed that this was total crap. Ranong immigration said I'd have to pay for a 1900B extension in 3 months! I don't think this is merely incompetence. Ranong (as well as Poipet, where you went) is infamous for extortion. So I'll be flying my next visa run (one must still leave the country every 3 months under my type of visa).
