Travelling with a Thai has definitely been interesting, if a bit frustrating. My first question / suggestion to all governments who issue visas and then give people hell about them : Why did you issue us a visa in the first place? Counterfeiting aside, isn't the visa document enough to get into your country anymore? It is stated on the website and at the embassy, but the borders don't trust us. Maybe your embassies are full of idiot automatons who stamp visas on any paper in their vicinity and the hillbilly border guards actually are in the game with their full faculties. I tend to think it is the other way around.
That is mainly for China, which blocks this blog anyway, so no harm no foul. (For this and other banned/blocked sites in China you can use www.flyproxy.com ...for now)
So, after the entry problem, the exit turned out to pose a problem as well. The guy scanned her passport, looked around, looked at her, and then raises his handin that lazy official sort of way, hands loosely closed but index and middle fingers extended. He flags another official behind him, saying "There is a Thai here, come take a look at this."
Strangely enough, we were LEAVING. I was wondering what this guy had in mind. Was he thinking she was Chinese, but had purchased a Thai visa to get out? He did talk to her in Chinese to see her reaction (she knows no Chinese...so there was a blank smile, I assume). Was he wanting to detain her in China since she was Thai and likely to have trouble in Korea? I am just not sure what he was looking for, since we had legal visas and were departing within the validity of the visa.
I finished about 30 seconds after she had been taken aside, so I went up to the table. The guy looked at me and ask in English if I was travelling with her. What was my relationship with her? How long had we known each other? I have never been interrogated so much upon LEAVING a place. Maybe he thought we had drugs crammed up our orifces.
Once he saw that I was taking her, it moved along. I didn't risk asking why the suspicion, as I feared that would start us back into everything. The flight to Seoul was uneventful, lasting about an hour and a half. Upon arrival, however, our names were on a list of about six people. We stopped and gave the girl our pp info and boarding passes. She wrote everything down and smiled saying thanks. I asked if there was a problem, but she said no. I am not sure if this was related to immigrationor not.
I passed through the check with no problem, and then Nok got up to the counter. After about 5 minutes of looking at her passport and going through the computer, deja vu : into the special room for special checks. WOW.
NOTE : Korea has signed a treaty allowing ASEAN countries to enter without a visa. This is obviously not the case, which means the treaty IS A PAPER VOID OF MEANING. So, you sign the thing to make everyone feel better or to get some benefits for yourself, and then you just keep doing things the same way.
THE INSPECTION ROOM
I waited for about 30 minutes outside of the inspection room, waiting for word. They would not let me in with her. I couldn't see her from where I stood, but I tried to remain present and visible in the hopes that they would call me over. Finally, a woman did come out and ask if I was the boyfriend. She then proceeded to ask me a series of questions about where we had met, how long we had known each other, and lots of other details. I am sure this was to see if we answered the same way, which we did. After this questioning, I was allowed into the room.
The room was fine, not some dank interrogation spot. A couple of other travellers were in there getting questioned. A Chinese-Korean guy was having his documents questioned. An African guy was sitting there saying nothing. A few more Chinese came in, and a Nepali guy was also taken in. I tried not to pay too much attention to them, but it was interesting to see who got pulled.
Basically, I was told that, although Thais are eligible for visa-free entry, so many of them stay that they require more. Again, wish it said that everywhere else. Well, I signed an agreement saying that if she didn't leave I would go to jail and pay loads of money. It seemed like that would be enough, but later an old guy showed up, and said a Korean guarantor would be required. Jung Hoon's number was the first one I found, so we caled him. It did help that he works for a famous company. He was nice enough to sign the guarantee for me to guarantee her. The officials looked more or less happy with that, and we were on our way.
Now, if I could just get started with work...
