bamboozled

So the 90 days on my Non-O multi entry are just about up and next week I will have to leave the country to avoid overstay and get a new stamp in my passport upon re-entry to Thailand. I'm in CM and planning to cross from Chang Khong to Huay Xai with a Laos visa on arrival. Do I need to stay the night in Laos or can I turn right around and come back to Thailand, such as was always the case Mae Sai/Tachilek? Many thanks!

Very close to being ruined. The train from China is ready and waiting. Only China hasn't opened the border, yet, as far as I know. But the train already runs from Vientiane to the Chinese border and the whole line is functional through to...Kunming I think it is? Once it opens, "relaxing place" is but a memory. That's just the way it is.

True enough....I'll most likely be heading there later this month. Just a longer, more expensive, trip. Of course, at that point, I might have to hang my hat in Luang Prabang for a spell or thrice.

Yeah, this is the engine I had in mind. So that little thing, an engine the same size as my Mazda 3, can power this beast at a respectable clip? I'm not familiar with 170kw. It's such a tough looking truck you would think it drank a lot and spewed exhaust like a song taew.

So how much of a dog was that 4 banger?

I never quite understood the Ford Raptor. I know little about it but it's a tough looking truck. But on the side of the car it says it is a 2.2 liter engine, is that not correct? I couldn't ever imagine it had any power. Though it LOOKS like it has power, there's no replacement for displacement.

E-visa is $10 more expensive and only allows entry at certain border points, not all. So if you change your mind about where you will enter you might be out of luck. I actually tried to get the E-visa but my credit card was rejected and payment methods are limited. Good luck.

Oh.....you know....come to think of it, I might have taken it all the way to the Savannakhet bus station. I guess I had been thinking of a previous trip where I grabbed a taxi. I was the last person to get back on the bus as the immigration was still closed when I arrived so early and I had to wait while they called someone. The officer also asked me for 100 baht for some reason. I assume it was just because he could and grabbed some pocket money. I paid it since it was small money and I didn't want to make any problems....of course.

The one I took doesn't go into Laos. It stops at the Mukdahan bus station and then you have to transfer to a different bus for the 15 minute ride to the bridge. It stops and you get out and exit through Thailand immi. Then back on the bus and across the bridge where you exit again with all your <deleted> and do your Visa/immigration stuff for entering Laos.. Then you have to get a taxi of some sort. I took a bus such as you speak of from Vientiane to Udon without having to change buses. I don't know if there is one like that going into Laos from anywhere, Bkk or KK included. But sure there are buses from KK to Mukdahan.

Oh yes, I got one!

Hi all, I spaced on this thread after I began my journey and have just crossed back into Thailand after two weeks. I went straight to Savannakhet with no stop in Muk but Unblocktheplane now I'm wishing I did. ...in a time machine, perhaps. Since it was Sunday, I was in no rush to get to the consulate which made things much more relaxing. I ended up staying 4 or 5 days there as I met a guy at a bar and we had a lot of fun drinking the nights away. The two Laos owners also speak great English and have lived in the US. They were wonderful to talk to and we all had a lot of fun. Having folks to while away the days/nights makes all the difference. I also bicycled around a lot. The bar is called Senorita. No issues getting the visa and no long lines. After 4 nights I took a day bus to Vientiane 13 hours), and stayed for two nights. I haven't been in 10 years but I didn't recognize the place. Much more built up around the river area and many, many places now out of business because of Covid. It was a bit depressing and what was nice and relaxing before seems to have been "modernized" and ruined. IMHO. I then got a $36 flight to Luang Prabang and stayed for 4 nights. Back to Vientiane on the new high-speed train. One more night staying there and today took a bus to Udon. Tomorrow flight back to Chiang Mai. Note: I had not heard of this train but it's been built by China and runs all the way up to the border with eventual plans to end in Singapore. Currently, it is not running to China I think because of Covid. However, I foresee everything changing drastically in Laos as soon as the border opens up. Laos is currently still relaxing, even Luang Prabang but I don't think that will last long once China citizens are able to pop into Laos on this train (only 2 hours between Luang Prabang and Vientiane, for example, instead of 10 hour bus ride). There are just so many of them and Laos is not very big. Just some FYI. If you want to enjoy peaceful, relaxing, Laos. Better do it very soon.

Some good points there, Tim, thank you. I'm also thinking that Monday morning at the border and the consulate might be busier than say mid week so it might make things easier already being situated in Savannakhet. I'll probably have the good fortune of getting there too early, for sure. Maybe I'll hang at the bus station and get "freshened up" and grab a coffee. That first bus to the bridge is pretty crazy usually, too. I won't be in the usual rush to get to the consulate since it will be Sunday, either, so can take my time.

Well well well it's finally time to try my luck getting a Non-O at the Savannakhet consulate. I'll be arriving to Mukdahan Sunday morning on the overnight bus from Bkk. I'm contemplating staying the day/night in Mukdahan before crossing over to Laos on Monday morning just to break it up a bit. Break up the journey AND the scenery. The overnight bus and straight into visa stuff at border can be a bit trying. I will be quite early, however, so getting a hotel at 7 am might be difficult. Anyhoo, anyone wanna weigh in with a yea or nay on this? Something interesting to do in Muk for a day/night? Is Monday morning at Laos immigration busier and more trying than a Sunday morning? Thanks folks!

Hi folks, I'll be heading to Savannakhet, Laos in a week or two to get my Non-O visa based on marriage at the Thai consulate there. I'm in Chiang Mai at the moment and thinking about turning it into some sort of trip around Laos at the same time. I've been a few times over the past 20 years last time in Luang Prabang about 3/4 years ago. Has anybody gone touring lately? Just wondering what the word on the street is. Is business back to usual, more or less, buses, trains, planes, taxis, etc....up and running. Hotels/guest houses/restaurants? I assume more or less things are open. Any hassles with masks or vax (I am 3 x Vaxed)? I have USD to spend and I see it's doing quite well at the moment! Cheers, Bamboozled!

LOve it!

Thanks feller!

MTSR, did you get insurance for Thai? I guess you need that to get Thailand Pass, right?

Fantastic Savannakhet report! And nightfox, send one a them guys to me in CM? Sounds eezy peezy. Thanks fellers!

Can you contact this old lawyer? Perhaps he just told/paid the local guys to leave it be and that's why you were able to carry on? Perhaps everything WAS cleared up and now some new people see a way to make a problem and collect on it. If it was a real problem in the past, and was really cleared up, there must be some documentation somewhere. If not, it might never have been cleared up. Can you contact the office/precinct where the old problem was cleared?

I wish you good luck. Do you have any correspondence from they lawyer that said everything was fine?

Very good news, indeed. See you all there for a tall-boy Bia Lao. Thanks for stepping in , Transam. Do you have a golden eagle tattooed on your chest?

Fantastic! So, Dovef, you did indeed get a Non-O, 1-year, multi entry, on marriage? I think it's clear you got a multi-entry but If you would be so kind to confirm, is it a one-year validity visa? Or just multi entry, 90-day visa? (I'm not ever sure they exist). Many thanks!

I'm without words and losing hope in humanity. I blame the murderer(s), sure, but if you look at the macro picture, homo sapien is in flames. Maybe we always have been. This kind of event, and the many atrocities world-wide, beg the question: do we deserve the coming extinction that we are aware of, that we won't accept, that we won't do a damn thing to avert? Every non-human entity would shout a resounding, "YES!" I have pain in my life that seems unbearable often enough. Yet never anything like this, not even close. How do you survive it, I have no idea. Or maybe you don't. One of the saddest stories to come out of the recent Texas massacre was that of the husband of 24 years of the slain teacher and mother of four. He died the morning after she was killed of a heart attack, of a broken heart. Gosh, it makes me cry.

Thanks, theDUkes. You're probably right. I did get some large sheets of it at one of the old school stationary shops...the big one in the old city a bit down from the UN Irish Pub. Not butcher paper but brown packing paper. A bit think, it is, but I think I can use it. I will check Lazada. I kind of like shopping from the shops, if possible. I like to give them business.

That's hot!