Australian Embassy

Having criticised the Russian embassy thinking no western country could possibly be so inept, we met an Australian girl in the embassy area who was rather distraught. Her bag was snatched in Krabi by a motorbike and had her passport in. She came back to Bangkok to get a new one and they said her Thai visa would need 10 days left on it to get a new passport! It didnt, so instead they are issuing a 7 month temporary passport which basically means thats the end of her trip. Passports need a 6 month validity when entering a country.

I've never heard such things and when i needed a new passport in Estonia the British embassy issued it within 24 hours. A Danish and Israeli friend had their bag stolen in Koh Phangan and they got new passports in a few days. Don't know which embassies have similar pathetic rules to the Russians and Aussies, but i cant believe a stolen bag can lead to this much trouble, truly incredible.