There's An Awful Lot Of Beer Lao In Vientiane

[OneeyedJohn]

Have been before but not by road so was a new experience for me.

Thr bus overnite from C Rai should of taken 13 hours, but with a breakdown I arrived in Udon Thani

15 hours later at 0800. I'm already under pressure to make the Vientiane application cut off time which I

thought was 1130 ( it is actually 1200, but I wasn't aware of that) Another bus to Nong Khai should have

been straightforward, but it was like a kerbcrawler in Soho, trawling around for customers, filling up petrol, resulting

in an hour and a half journey. When if ever will Thailand wake up to the fact that bad service is just not acceptable.

Mistake #1 .....I didn't get off the bus at Friendship bridge instead I carried on to the bus station......Arrggh

Grab a Tuk Tuk to take me back the 6 Kms to Immigration, but instead he drops me off at a roadside travel

agents. More wasted time another 2 Kms tuk tuk to Immigration.

Now I'm really hotting up to discover my 30 $ should be 35 $, OK 200 Baht covers the difference, another page disappears in my passport but Laos visa quickly sorted. Through Laos immigration and waiting around for a bus to Vientiane 52 Kms away.

Mistake #2......I decide to take a nice Prado all on my own to Vientiane for 300 Baht promising extra if he gets me there before 11. The road to Vientiane is not easy to speed on so we get there at 1115, and to my huge relief discover I've got time to spare. Had I not made it then a weekend stopover would have been necessary. Somewhat frustrating to see a few other farangs get there before and around the same time as me, so I guess I was panicking and perhaps these guys had done it all before.

How refreshing to see the colour yellow was only apparent on the many many Beer lao lorries with their yellow crates

Five years ago this town was a hot dusty, petrol smelling heap, but not now. Quite a sophisticated tourist friendly place with

lots of choice for drinking, eating out, sleeping places and plenty of the other if you are that way inclined .I've not been to Vietnam yet, but

by crikey these Laoation girls are pretty special. I didn't get that who the ###### are you and what the ###### are you doing here type looks that I've noticed in Thailand lately.

I took a Vientiane - Udon Thani bus back that involved a lot of nonsense at the border getting on / off to fill in more forms etc etc, but OK.

A six pack of BeerLao made me very popular on the bus with a couple of young Thai guys, and I also gave up my seat to a lady. Everybody was laughing at stupid farang.....a good crack and a nice way to say Bye Bye Laos PDR

My bus back to C Rai was a nightmare lasting 15 hours on a bus without a toilet .

No reason to slag off the bus people here other than to say ....Never again

P.S. I have fallen in love with Beer Lao....10,000 Kip a big one

Oh....did I mention Visa ?? Got it

Edited August 4, 2007 by OneeyedJohn

[Fred Sanford]

sounds great, one eye. that beer lao is great stuff

[Artisi]

Beer Lao - probably one of the best beers in SE Asia.

[jasreeve17]

Vientienne is a great place for a few days break. When people ask me where's my favourite place in Thailand it's the answer that I'd like to give...

More and more beer Laos is available in Bangkok too. Yum.

[martynsnowman]

Have been before but not by road so was a new experience for me.

Thr bus overnite from C Rai should of taken 13 hours, but with a breakdown I arrived in Udon Thani

15 hours later at 0800. I'm already under pressure to make the Vientiane application cut off time which I

thought was 1130 ( it is actually 1200, but I wasn't aware of that) Another bus to Nong Khai should have

been straightforward, but it was like a kerbcrawler in Soho, trawling around for customers, filling up petrol, resulting

in an hour and a half journey. When if ever will Thailand wake up to the fact that bad service is just not acceptable.

Mistake #1 .....I didn't get off the bus at Friendship bridge instead I carried on to the bus station......Arrggh

Grab a Tuk Tuk to take me back the 6 Kms to Immigration, but instead he drops me off at a roadside travel

agents. More wasted time another 2 Kms tuk tuk to Immigration.

Now I'm really hotting up to discover my 30 $ should be 35 $, OK 200 Baht covers the difference, another page disappears in my passport but Laos visa quickly sorted. Through Laos immigration and waiting around for a bus to Vientiane 52 Kms away.

Mistake #2......I decide to take a nice Prado all on my own to Vientiane for 300 Baht promising extra if he gets me there before 11. The road to Vientiane is not easy to speed on so we get there at 1115, and to my huge relief discover I've got time to spare. Had I not made it then a weekend stopover would have been necessary. Somewhat frustrating to see a few other farangs get there before and around the same time as me, so I guess I was panicking and perhaps these guys had done it all before.

How refreshing to see the colour yellow was only apparent on the many many Beer lao lorries with their yellow crates

Five years ago this town was a hot dusty, petrol smelling heap, but not now. Quite a sophisticated tourist friendly place with

lots of choice for drinking, eating out, sleeping places and plenty of the other if you are that way inclined .I've not been to Vietnam yet, but

by crikey these Laoation girls are pretty special. I didn't get that who the ###### are you and what the ###### are you doing here type looks that I've noticed in Thailand lately.

I took a Vientiane - Udon Thani bus back that involved a lot of nonsense at the border getting on / off to fill in more forms etc etc, but OK.

A six pack of BeerLao made me very popular on the bus with a couple of young Thai guys, and I also gave up my seat to a lady. Everybody was laughing at stupid farang.....a good crack and a nice way to say Bye Bye Laos PDR

My bus back to C Rai was a nightmare lasting 15 hours on a bus without a toilet .

No reason to slag off the bus people here other than to say ....Never again

P.S. I have fallen in love with Beer Lao....10,000 Kip a big one

Oh....did I mention Visa ?? Got it

hi john,

i hope you dont mind me picking your brains !!!!

i,m about to do my first visa run to laos but i only live 35km from nong khai so not the same bus travel

i,m here on a type O multy entry visa . and need my first stamp , do i only need to go to lao immagration over the bridge pay my $35 and come back or do i need to go to thai embassy in vienaiane.

thanks for any help ...martyn.

[lopburi3]

With a multi entry visa you only have to exit Thailand, enter another country and then turn around and exit that country and enter Thailand again for a new 90 day stamp.

[toolonginexile]

I've been to vientiane earlier this week for yet another tourist visa. Having been there for the 1st time about six years ago i find vientiane has not actually changed a lot but the thai embassy has become a lot busier. When applying for my visa i had to wait almost two hours until i was handed over my receipt, awful lot of people there and surprisingly about 30% of them were africans. Make sure you get there in time!!! happened to me once that at ten to twelve the guy behind the counter at that embassy booth wouldn't accept any more visa applications that day; at that time i was 2nd next in queu!!! Make sure you've got photos with you, otherwise you'll have to walk ten minutes or so to the next photo shop.

If you come from nongkhai bus station most tuktuk drivers (50 baht to border) will ask you whether you have a lao visa, if you say no they might want to drop you off at that travel agency halfway to friendship bridge, guess they get a commision from them. DON'T stop there, no problem to get the lao visa at the border. I would also recommend you to change your thai baht to US dollars before as the visa fee in thai baht is 1500, in US dollars it's only 30 or 35, so you save about 500 baht there which pays for accomodation for one night. After crossing the border try to make contacts with some other farangs, most of them go to the thai embassy anyway, so you can share the 300 baht for a taxi.

Well, apart from the thai embassy and beerlao i could never really find anything of interest in vientiane (oh sorry, i forgot about the girls...! IMPORTANT: if you want to take someone to your room make sure this is allowed in your guesthouse; actually it is illegal but i never had, i mean, heard of any problems at NITA guesthouse/ Sai Lom Yen ) For dining out i would recommend La terrace, good french/ international restaurant in one of the sois between what i refer to as 2nd and beach road, they serve great steaks, pizzas a.s.o. Great french bread sandwiches in the little restaurants on "beach road".

Nightlife, however, is kind of boring, not too many places to go to. KHOB CHAI DEUR near the fountain has been the most popular place for years; at the moment, however, i would say BOR PEN NYANG right on the riverside is probably the most entertaining place, pub is on the top floor, two pool tables, large bar and quite a few freelancers; spent a great evening there last tuesday!

BTW: when entering back into thailand on wednesday i had to wait yet another hour at the thai immigration booth at the border before getting my passport stamped as the farangs who pick up their passports from the embassy at 1p.m. all arrive there at about the same time. Make sure you stand in the right queu and not in the one for Lao nationals!

[OneeyedJohn]

hi john,

i hope you dont mind me picking your brains !!!!

i,m about to do my first visa run to laos but i only live 35km from nong khai so not the same bus travel

i,m here on a type O multy entry visa . and need my first stamp , do i only need to go to lao immagration over the bridge pay my $35 and come back or do i need to go to thai embassy in vienaiane.

thanks for any help ...martyn.

With a multi entry visa you only have to exit Thailand, enter another country and then turn around and exit that country and enter Thailand again for a new 90 day stamp.

Yes Lopburi is quite correct.....Hee hee :D

You know if you stick a teaser about your visa in The Food Subforum, you'll get an informed answer from Lopburi3.

[ilyushin]

Agree Beer Lao is the finest beers in SEA.