Recent Visa Run Report - Savannakhet

[georgebkk]

Upon arrival at Mukdahan bus station, you purchase a ticket (45B) for the Mukdahan->Savannakhet border bus. The counter is in the back part of the station, left side, right corner. This provides you with safe, secure, no hassle, air-conditioned transportation all the way to Savannakhet bus station. Be sure to wave to the rip-off tuk-tuks as you leave.

Upon getting your exit stamp from Thailand, when you get to the Lao side, if you don't already have a visa, you need to purchase one there for 30-40 USD, depending upon your nationality. The office where you do this is just opposite the stampers and is clearly marked 'Visa-on-Arrival'. USA citizens are charged 35 USD now (or if you have only Thai baht it's the more expensive 1500B) and Canadians 40 USD. Other nationalities will have to assume the same cost as USA to be safe. And they want crisp money, too. Don't hand them any worn, stinking bills if you can avoid it.

Upon securing your visa, you then go get your entry stamp. Now here is where you need to pay attention. They will flip through your passport just like the Thai officials do, trying to look busy, then will give you your entry stamp and, as they are about to hand your passport back to you they will smile coyly and say "forty baht". IGNORE THIS REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL MONEY. It is a scam that these corrupt officials have been perpetrating lately with impunity. And they will try to hit you up both on the way in AND on the way out. Just smile, extend your hand (and say "jao kahmoh-ee" if you want to impress them with a little Lao) and they will give you your passport back with a sort of mischievous grin, as if they're saying to themselves "...dang, couldn't cheat this falung..." In fact, ALL THREE of them will exhibit this grin when you refuse. It's like some kind of criminal joke amongst them. You know, the "thieves-that-smile-in-your-face" kind of grin...

If you see other people struggling to dig out some baht for these cheats, tell them it's not necessary and that you've already paid your entry fee (the visa!) to visit this corrupt little s___hole of a country. These dishonest ######## must be raking in hundreds, if not THOUSANDS of baht per day of this cheat money in addition to their salaries. They probably live like kings compared to most Lao people. Once again: DO NOT PAY THE BOGUS FEE. Simply retrieve your passport and return to the bus for the final leg to Savannakhet bus station.

The Thai Consulate at Savannakhet is located south along the river, approximately half the distance from Mukdahan to the bridge. That's the best way I can describe its location if you don't have a map. Unlike Vientianne, what's nice about this consulate is the little row of food stalls within easy walking distance along the river just to the south of it. You can have a quick bite to eat while waiting for the consulate to open if you're early. Nice view of Mukdahan across the river, too. Grilled chicken, boiled eggs and sticky rice are available, as well as the usual, limited assortment of beverages. But the stunning view makes up for the limited menu. Good place to chill a while.

Yes, as others have confirmed, the Thai consulate at Savannakhet is becoming swamped daily. Fortunately, I arrived early (8:45-9am) and was able to get my app submitted without too much wait. By 9:30, there must have been about 50+ people filling out forms at the tables. It was already jammed. Mostly Phlipps and a handful of fellow westerners. Do yourself a favor and GET THERE EARLY! Gate opens at 8:30am.

Remember to bring:

1) TWO passport photos

2) A photocopy of the front page of your passport

3) The requisite visa fee in baht

If you forget either of the first two, you will likely lose your place in line and be directed back out across the street where you can obtain photos and copies from the vendors, as needed. Remember this.

And, yes, as others have noticed, the two officials having to deal with this sudden, new onslaught of daily applications looked tired and stressed out. Maybe even burned out. In fact, retrieval the following day was delayed AN HOUR AND A HALF due to so many passports having to be processed (yes, they didn't re-open the gate until about 2:30 pm! This caused me to miss my bus home and cost me an extra day for this trip! Argh.).

When you get your passport back and all is well, naturally you are likely to want to make a beeline for the bus station. Well, the tuk-tuk drivers all know this and they will all insist on 10K kip for the short ride (price fixing). No haggling is possible. Just pay it and go.

When you get back to the bus station for the trip back across the river, you can pay with either kip or baht. It is best to save a little kip for the bus fare (13K, to be exact), and then unload the residual on drinking water or whatever looks safe to eat. There was no currency exchange counter that I could see, so remember to 'dump your geep' before you get on the return bus.

I didn't mention accommodations because they vary so widely, but you should be able to find the usual guesthouse room with attached bath for about 200-300B/night. It's the tuk-tuk fares that you will have to budget extra for, however...

Questions? Comments? Musings? Fire away...

Edited June 3, 2007 by Maestro
Offensive reference to Lao immigration officials replaced with ###

[marginline]

Great write-up georgebkk, thanks very much for taking the time to post with so much detail!

I do have a few questions though, if you will humor me please:

#1. From what city in LOS did you travel from to get to Mukdahan? (I'm hoping you're gonna say Bangkok)

#2. What time of the day do you need to leave for Mukdahan if one wishes to arrive in Savannakhet nice and early?

#3. Chronology wise, how long 'should' it have taken you; from start to finish, if you hadn't missed your bus that 2nd afternoon?

Thanks again and take care.

[engrin]

I dont have any plans to go back to Laos anytime soon.

I noticed the money there has 2 different numbers on it.

For example, a bill will say 10,000 and 5,000 on it.

Has anyone else noticed that?

How do you know how much money you have!??

[Maigo6]

If you see other people struggling to dig out some baht for these cheats, tell them it's not necessary and that you've already paid your entry fee (the visa!) to visit this corrupt little s___hole of a country.

Good report george.............

Dunno about following this advice though.

[marginline]

I dont have any plans to go back to Laos anytime soon.

I noticed the money there has 2 different numbers on it.

For example, a bill will say 10,000 and 5,000 on it.

Has anyone else noticed that?

How do you know how much money you have!??

This useful little link here engrin called "Lao Banknotes Collection" IMHO seems to cover all the bases.

Edited June 3, 2007 by marginline

[engrin]

thanks marginline, makes more sense to me now

[marginline]

thanks marginline, makes more sense to me now

You're very welcome engrin...one other thing I forgot to mention and FWIW today's Lao Kip exchange rate would value their highest denomination bank note (₭50,000) at:

US$ 5.22

EUR 3.88

GB£ 2.64

JP¥ 636.00

TH฿ 181.00

...so even if you DO mess-up a little with the ₭5,000 & ₭10,000 bank notes, it's not going to cost you too much (thankfully)

[Badbanker]

And, yes, as others have noticed, the two officials having to deal with this sudden, new onslaught of daily applications looked tired and stressed out. Maybe even burned out. In fact, retrieval the following day was delayed AN HOUR AND A HALF due to so many passports having to be processed (yes, they didn't re-open the gate until about 2:30 pm! This caused me to miss my bus home and cost me an extra day for this trip! Argh.).

I think you also now need to have a photocopy of your entry stamp into Laos for the visa application.

Actually the brass plate on the gate at the front of the Lao Consulate in Savannakhet says they open at 2.00-2.30 to return visas to non Lao nationals!  So they opened a half an hour late not one and a half hours late.

The tuk tuk guys want 20 baht per person and if you have a friend or 3, it would be fine to take you back to bus station in 10 mins.  They prefer Baht! For safety sake no one should book a bus ticket out of Mukdaharn before 5 pm cause sometimes immigration on the bridge can take a bit of time.

If you want to see the brass plate it is at:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?ac...st&id=22505

Good report.   

Did they make any noise about not issuing more than one tourist visa per year per person from Savannakhet?

Badbanker

[yeti]

The good old days before the bridge, when they were giving you back your passport the afternoon of the same day.

At this time they had to process maybe 20 visas/day, and were already a pain in the arse. I can very well imagine them looking exhausted if they didn't receive reinforcements...

[americanworldtourists]

THE PEOPLE WHO WORK AT THE CONSULATE

TOLD ME THEY CAN ONLY DO ONE

CLASS O NONIMMIGRANT FOR EACH PERSON

PER YEAR AND TWO TOURIST VISA FOR

EACH PERSON PER YEAR. I WAS SURPRISE

THEY TOLD ME THIS BECAUSE I NEVER BEEN

TO EMBASSY WHERE THEY LIMITED THEIR WORK.

DON'T GO THERE.ONLY IF YOU HAVE TO.

THAI COUNSULATE SAVANNAKHET.

[georgebkk]

Great write-up georgebkk, thanks very much for taking the time to post with so much detail!

I do have a few questions though, if you will humor me please:

#1. From what city in LOS did you travel from to get to Mukdahan? (I'm hoping you're gonna say Bangkok)

#2. What time of the day do you need to leave for Mukdahan if one wishes to arrive in Savannakhet nice and early?

#3. Chronology wise, how long 'should' it have taken you; from start to finish, if you hadn't missed your bus that 2nd afternoon?

Thanks again and take care.

1. I had to start my visa run from the north where I'm staying at the moment (CR).

2. From the north, it's a day and a half travel time, minimum. There's no way around it. One must take the overnighter to Udon Thani or Sakhon Nakhon then a connecting bus to Mukdahan.

Also, I recommend keeping foam ear plugs handy, too, to help you not only sleep but survive the 2-3 hours when, as most people who've taken these long-haul bus rides knows, the driver converts the inside of the bus into a high-volume movie theatre, blasting the latest, extremely violent Thai cops 'n robbers movie. Sheer torture. (But the Thais were all absolutely mesmerized by it. Even the monks were in rapt attention. All I could do was count the minutes until it was over....... )

3. Like I said, a day and a half because they don't have as full a schedule of buses to and from the northern bus stations like they do for BKK, Pattaya, etc.

So, yes, this trip was brutal. Almost a mistake, I would say. I was so fatigued from it that it made me clumsy and inattentive. The result was that I banged my head on a street sign in Savannakhet and suffered a nasty gash. Had it not been for the hat I was wearing, I probably would have needed stitches. WORD OF WARNING: Street signs on sidewalks in Laos are sometimes LOWER than they look. Use caution when approaching them on foot.

Here's a link to another fairly recent report by someone else that's somewhat accurate except for certain outdated prices as well as documentation requirements at the Thai consulate:

Savannakhet Visa Run Report (dated 20 Jan 07)

Good luck all.

[georgebkk]

Actually the brass plate on the gate at the front of the Lao Consulate in Savannakhet says they open at 2.00-2.30 to return visas to non Lao nationals! So they opened a half an hour late not one and a half hours late.

If it's indeed 2pm, then thanks for the correction. I actually don't recall now what reopening time the sign said. I was assuming that both Vientianne's and Savannakhet's Thai Consulates' hours were coordinated, but apparently they're not.

Did they make any noise about not issuing more than one tourist visa per year per person from Savannakhet?

You know what... I was so tired I forgot to ask. But as others have stated, it is only two per year now for each consulate. The way things are going, we will have to assume this is correct. Not a problem with me as I am not likely to go back...

Good report.

Thanks. Your Jan '07 report was helpful, too.

[georgebkk]

One further note:

For the record, I want to retract my description of Laos as being a "s___hole of a country", as I wrote in my report above. I was in kind of a bad mood at the time of the writing.

Actually, it's not all bad. I've been to Luang Prabang twice already and toured the north and enjoyed both trips immensely. Even had an opportunity to indulge in a 'taboo' pleasure on my second trip that I will never forget (had a Lao gf for a week! Yes, it's possible, guys! Learn a little Lao and combine that with your knowledge of Thai and it will take you far. Just be discrete about it... )

In fact, they would be good to put in a Thai consulate in LP. That would change my outlook on Laos tremendously!

And most people (except for the tuk-tuk drivers, of course...) are generally friendly and good-hearted. It's just the corrupt officials that are holding things back for this country -- and occasionally pissing off avid tourists like me...

[expatwannabe]

The bf and I flew ChiangMai-Luang Prabang-Vientiane about 2 months ago for a tourist visa. (I know what you're gonna say - No, I couldn't have left him behind.)

No one at the second window in Luang Prabang asked us for an extra 40 Baht. But then, there were Lao Air guys with us, showing us what to do. They didn't want us late for the next leg to Vientiane.

So I saved 40 Baht. And all I had to do was shell out US$400 for 2 round-trip tickets.

Fun trip, though. You get to see the most destitute foreigners on border runs. Reminds me of Tijuana.

[georgebkk]

Good report george.............

Dunno about following this advice though.

Thanks.

Yes, follow the advice. Don't pay the phony "extortion" fee.

BTW, if anyone wants to add to this info, next time you're at this particular Lao consulate, how about taking a fresh picture of the metal sign on the wall next to the front gate which shows the hours of operation, then post the pic here for verification. That would help a lot. Thanks.

[lopburi3]

Actually the brass plate on the gate at the front of the Lao Consulate in Savannakhet says they open at 2.00-2.30 to return visas to non Lao nationals! So they opened a half an hour late not one and a half hours late.

If it's indeed 2pm, then thanks for the correction. I actually don't recall now what reopening time the sign said. I was assuming that both Vientianne's and Savannakhet's Thai Consulates' hours were coordinated, but apparently they're not.

Did they make any noise about not issuing more than one tourist visa per year per person from Savannakhet?

You know what... I was so tired I forgot to ask. But as others have stated, it is only two per year now for each consulate. The way things are going, we will have to assume this is correct. Not a problem with me as I am not likely to go back...

Good report.

Thanks. Your Jan '07 report was helpful, too.

I have not seen this stated for Vientiane - only for Savannakhet and only a few people have mentioned it so far. If it is just Savannakhet I suspect it may have more to do with staffing shortage there than visa policy.

[cali4995]

and why are there staffing problems at the Savannakhet consulate? for months now this consulate has been taking in several hundred thousand baht every week, if not more than 1 million baht every week in visa fees? is it unreasonable to expect a certain level of service?

Edited June 4, 2007 by cali4995

[lopburi3]

Because you have to have trained staff to assign there which would probably require language training. You have to have accommodations and office space for the staff. You have to have approval of the host Government. You have to have the approval of the Thai Government.

In other words not something done overnight - which is what happened to the visa workload.