Nong Khai to Vientiane Visa Run

[mia farang]

Thanks guys

Thats cleared that up so we can cross into Laos as explained on this post then come back across the bridge and my passport will be stamped for a 15 day visit upon return into Thailand.

I was worried I'd get some abuse for asking a silly question but you have been really helpful.

Cheers

[Rigger]

Well they got me coming into Thailand this time after 7 years of 35 days in 35 days out They told me no more and only gave me 15 days. So I am over in vientiene doing the marrige visa thing.

[lom]

You arrived by air ?

[stroller]

^^
I'll be up next with a potential visa prob, keep your ears and eyes open if 2 months tourist visa are given without too much fuss, if you can, please!
Or I'll do me first Malaysia visa run and stop by in Narathivat which I almost did this month.

[Spin]

2 months tourist visa are given without too much fuss

yep very easy in Vienteine for tourist visas

[ChiangMai noon]

Has anyone been booted out of the country?
I have yet to see a "they booted me from the country" thread yet.

Will we all be here forever?

[dirtydog]

I know quite a few people that have only been given a few days on arrival, they just fly out and get a visa, well apart from one who just went and bought an elite card

[Rigger]

Well I think Vientiene is nice place I did find it a bit strange at first as all the motorcycles here have number plates and they even wear helmets ???
Driving is very relaxed no screaming bikes or cars flying about and hardly anyone uses their horn.
If you are looking for a nice quite place to stay with friendly staff try the Mongkol hotel its on the river and has all you need here unless you dont bring the wife then you will have to walk 500m up the road to get a gobbal.
The hotel is 800bht a night with fridge and UBC TV and the food is good.
Also if you have a 12 call switch your phone to manual find server and to AIS then you can use your phone as normal if you are close to the river

[peterpan]

unless you dont bring the wife then you will have to walk 500m up the road to get a gobbal.

Please enlighten us dear Rigger, WTF is a gobbal ?

[Rigger]

unless you dont bring the wife then you will have to walk 500m up the road to get a gobbal.

Please enlighten us dear Rigger, WTF is a gobbal ?

I dont know how to spell the foking thing I am lucky if I get one me self anyway PP its when you get your knob polished.
The Mongkol hotel
Ban Sithan Neua
025 Fangum Rd
Vietiane loa PDR
856-21 216232, 216059
Thai mobile 085823914, 0845179914

And found a nice place just up the road testerday called the spirt house that sells some really good meat pies and make any cocktail you want at a good price. Just walk out the Mongkol hotel and take a left down the river also plays good old 70s/80s music.
Anyway it was must have been good as I am still pisst and the wife aint talking to me

[peterpan]

Anyway it was must have been good as I am still pisst and the wife aint talking to me

Thats how I tell that I have had a good time the night before, so its not a bad thing.
So Gobbal = Gobble, I got that one now, but thought that naughty stuff was not allowed in Laos ?

There are one or two nice places on the road by the river, one I went to had to go up 4 floors, top floor was a relaxing bar, good food and good beer, got well pissed there and my (then) 4 year old daughter had to lead me home.

[kevpola]

I have to do a visa run on Monday because Immigration at Bung Kean stuff up my visa extension application.
I was wondering if anyone would know if the consulate is open in vientianne? It is a public holiday in Thailand! If it is not open would the visa run people at Non Khai be working? I have to cross the border on Monday (7th) as my current visa runs out then.

[stroller]

And where exactly is the Mongkol, or rather the "gobbal" place?

[ChiangMai noon]

Thats how I tell that I have had a good time the night before, so its not a bad thing.
So Gobbal = Gobble, I got that one now, but thought that naughty stuff was not allowed in Laos ?

How did the marriage visa application go?
Did you have to show 400,000 or 40,000 a month income?
I'm confused.

[Rigger]

How did the marriage visa application go? Did you have to show 400,000 or 40,000 a month income? I'm confused.

No probs all I showed was a marrige cert and the kids pass ports for a 3 months visa. I think it is the only the one year where you show the 400k. Anyway if I understand it right next time I come in it should have started a new 6 months and I will go back to the normal 30 on arrival with a couple of days extention

[stroller]

The borders will be open, the consulate most likely be closed.

Not sure what you mean by "the visa run people at Non Khai", but it's easy enough to go yourself, $30 visa for Laos on arrival.

[kingwilly]

or u can do the marathon run!

[kevpola]

Sorry, what I mean by the "Visa Run People" is those who work from near the Non Khai border crossing and take you to Lao and back again. i have done this once before and found it very easy having a driver and someone to handle all the formalities of the border crossing.

I have no idea what a marathon run is!

[Wallace]

LAO VISA HAS GONE UP!!

Just come back from Vientiane. The cost for the visa into Laos is now $35 between 8am and 8pm, Monday to Friday. It's $36 at other times. I think they've cottoned on to the change in the exchange rates (now about 8,500 to the dollar) so it works out at around 1300 baht if you buy dollars before you go. Not sure what they charge in Baht but it used to be 1500.

If you're Australian, the cost is $30. For Canadians it's a whopping $42.

[stroller]

I just got here, report to follow.
It's gone up for some nationalities, still $30 for most, which is what I paid, + 2$ for not having a photo for the visa application and because it's Saturday.

[dirtydog]

^The abuse section is in the lower part of the board

[Floridathunderstorm]

OK. Spent 5 days in the Phon Phisai area with my wife (Thai born but American Citizen) and son (American born). Flew up to Udon Thani and back via Nok Air. Good flights. Good airline. I was impressed. Also, Nok Air had more leg room than the Korean Airlines B777 and B747 I came over here on. Udon Thani airport is a nice modern one. Nicer than most smaller airports in the US. Nong Khai seems to be a peaceful city, although we only spent a few hours there. Go to the Dang Restaurant on Bunternjit Road. Thai food with a western standard. Clean, good food, efficient, air conditioned. Took the Friendship Bridge to Laos for obtaining return visas to Thailand. Stayed 1 night in Vientiane. The visa run through the Thai and Laos immigrations, on both sides of the bridge, including the processing for 60 day tourist visas in the Thai Consulate in Vientiane, were pure torture. Don't do it if you are not ready for punishment. Absurdly crowded, most folks not knowing what to do, and pretty unhelpful authorities. That, coupled with the rip-off touts, make this such a pleasant experience. At my age, and working and living overseas half of my life, I prepare fully for any contingencies. Well, it didn't matter. The authorities apparently don't go by any in-place plan or organization. So, half of my pre-planning went for naught. If possible, get a 60 or 90 day toursit visa in your home country before coming to Thailand. Spent half a day processing through going and half a day processing through coming back. A total joke except none of us were laughing. We had a little 4 year old girl with us and it was especially rough on her.

Vientiane is a beautiful city. I would like to retire there it's so nice. Looks nothing like Thai cities, IMO. With the exception of parts of Bangkok, much more modern and more western looking. Possibly the French influence. Stayed at a very nice and super clean hotel located right on the main avenue of Lanexang Road. The hotel was called Sengphachan and had all of the ammenities of any modern hotel. 600 baht a night including a buffet breakfast. Good service and nice people. I'm a 69 year old American, and not a backpacker or a person who seeks out the cheapest thing in the city, and I was very pleased with this hotel. Typical of a person such as myself I was ready to stay at the City Inn or Lao Orchid for 3 to 4 times the price.

In Phon Phisai we stayed at the BanWas Resort located just off Route 212. Modern and clean 1 bedroom bungalows including some studio apartments. Fully equipped and fully up to western standards. 600 baht per night. The owner and her daughter made us feel welcome. I don't think they ever stop cleaning. BanWas can be reached at 089-5707782 or 081-7089424. Try them out. You will love the place. By the way, they overlook the Mekong river. What a view.

I will add some photos just as soon as I figure out just how to do it on this forum. May have to upload the photos to a web page and then give the web page address.

[peterpan]

The fact that the consulate must be a veritable cash cow for Thailand doesn't seem to provide any incentive to upgrade the comfort facilities, not even a Toilet or a drink dispenser, how much money would a small cafe and sit down area make for them? but No fcker cares a scrap for the comfort of the people throwing the cash at them.

I went over the border yesterday, got there early to have to wait while the bus accumulated enough passengers, sadly in the meantime 3 tour buses arrived, two full of back packers.
I swear not one of these cvnts had the forthought to get the payment ready before they reached the window, so I stood in line behind 30 of the fvckwits scrabbling around between them to get the cash ready,
"Can some one lend me 5 Dollars?
I will provided you buy me banana pancakes for the next week"
fvckers.

[Floridathunderstorm]

The fact that the consulate must be a veritable cash cow for Thailand doesn't seem to provide any incentive to upgrade the comfort facilities, not even a Toilet or a drink dispenser, how much money would a small cafe and sit down area make for them? but No fcker cares a scrap for the comfort of the people throwing the cash at them.

I went over the border yesterday, got there early to have to wait while the bus accumulated enough passengers, sadly in the meantime 3 tour buses arrived, two full of back packers.
I swear not one of these cvnts had the forthought to get the payment ready before they reached the window, so I stood in line behind 30 of the fvckwits scrabbling around between them to get the cash ready,
"Can some one lend me 5 Dollars?
I will provided you buy me banana pancakes for the next week"
fvckers.

In all fairness to the Thai Consulate they do have ladies and mens restrooms. Men's on the ground floor and ladies on the 2nd floor. Although there was not enough seating, there was seating available. Albeit, plastic hard chairs. The Thai Consul spoke with my wife and apologized for the conditions. He stated that they just built and moved into this building, and that he was trying his best to organize the processing to make it quicker and smoother. The real problem, that I could see, was the lack of pertinent information available so that one could at least get all of the documents filled in and gathered together. I noticed that most people did not have a clue what paperwork or copies of documents they required, which of course added to the confusion and uncomfortable situation.

I myself had problems with the documentation. Had downloaded the Visa application form from the Thai Embassy website. There were 5 of us together and I had made sure that each one of us had our packages completed and ready to go. Well, who was to know that the Thai consulate in Vientiene only accepts the Visa application from the Thai Consulate in Vientiane. Why do they even bother to put forms up on their website? You would think that they would have a standard Visa application which would be good for all Thai Consulates worldwide. So, all 5 of us, one of us being a 4 year old with an American Passport, had to re-due the applications. Of course there was nowhere to write and we had to share a couple of pens that we had. Then there was the gluing of the two photos to the new application form. That was tricky considering there were only about three bottles of glue with no applicators attached for hundreds of people.

The only good thing that came out of all this, besides getting to spend some quality time touring around Vientiane, was that we did not have to pay for the 60 day Thai visas. Something about a three month moritorium. However, we did have to pay $35 per person for a visa to spend 1 night in Laos. You wonder about the brainpower (that's an oximoron) of the Laos government. Nobody wants to go to their Marxist paradise anyway and then they make it expensive to try and go there to boot. Also, their immigration officers were something to beholden. At least the Thai officials were halfway civilized. Especially a living doll of a lady officer.

Needless to say I will never cross the "friendship bridge" ? again in pusuit of a visa. If I want to visit Vientiane, another time, I will fly in.

[peterpan]

In all fairness to the Thai Consulate they do have ladies and mens restrooms

Improvement from the old site then>