Vientiane visa runs

Posted by admin on November 27th, 2009 filed in Bangkok, Expat life, Island life, Living here, People, Phuket & Krabi, Politics, The North, Top attractions, Transportation, Travel destinations, Visiting

The Laos visa run is one of those things that expatriates in Thailand just seem to accept. But heading over the Friendship Bridge to Vientiane is actually a refreshingly pleasant experience for those who have never done it before.

The northeastern Thai town of Udon Thani is the main transport hub for those wanting to get into Laos, and is a 12-hour coach from Chiang Mai or eight hours from Bangkok by bus or train. Alternatively there is an airport here with Nokair connections to many destinations including Pattaya.

Undon Thani is around 50km from the Thai border town of Nong Khai and taxis cost around 600 baht, so you may want to buddy up with some fellow passengers and share the cost. Alternatively mini-buses wait to collect you at the bus station and will carry you direct to Thai immigration for around 200 baht per person.

Once you’ve stamped out of Thailand (don’t forget your exit card folks!) you pay the 20 baht toll across the Friendship Bridge and cross over to the Laos side. There (if you are clever and arranged your visa beforehand) you get stamped straight in at the ‘arrivals’ window.

However, if you haven’t anything pre-organised you go to the ‘visa on arrival’ window on the left hand side and had over your passport, one photograph and your visa fee (35$US for most nationalities). You can pay 1,500 baht if that’s all you’ve got but obviously it is more economical to arrange dollars beforehand.

Once over the border minibuses wait and offer to take you to the Thai consulate (providing its still early enough – we got through at about 9.30am), wait for you to hand in your visa forms and then take you to the hotel of your choice. All this costs 150 baht but, in my experience, is well worth is for the saved headache and to be sure that you get your application in straight away.

The Thai consulate has lots of people hanging around outside trying to persuade you to let them fill out your form for you for a 40 baht fee. The form is in English, however, and so you’re better off heading straight in, collecting a ticket from the machine on the right hand side of the windows and doing it yourself.

There are pens and tables there plus little pots of glue for pasting your two passport-sized photographs to the form. Once you’ve handed in your completed paperwork (there is no fee until March , 2010, for tourist visas) then your driver will take you to your hotel.

We were in town last week which corresponded with the start of the 25^th Sea Games so the whole place was packed with Thai coach tours and there were few bargains to be found. Nevertheless, we managed to get a nice ‘VIP suit’ with TrueVisions cable TV, air conditioning, bathroom and minibar for 1,200 baht per night.

After that a pleasant evening was spent wandering the French colonial promenades and feasting on baguettes and apple croissants plus gallons of dark, delicious Beer Lao. The next afternoon our driver picked us up from the hotel for the reverse of the journey of the previous morning.

The embassy opens its doors at 1.15pm (already with a huge queue by then) but people moved fairly quickly through as various nationalities picked up their passports complete with double-entry tourist visas. I did enquire about the possibility of a triple-entry but my request was politely declined.

Then it was back across the border and to Udon Thani for the bus home. Generally Vientiane is a lovely, if sleepy, town well worth staying around for a couple of nights next time you need to nip over a border. The food was delicious and the booze certainly superior to Chang or Leo. And at the end of the day what more matters.