Any border run services currently operating from Chiang Mai?

[csaba81]

Thanks in advance for any details.

[seedy]

Which border ?

If Tachileik , Green bus goes up to Mae Sai. Motorbike taxi, songthaew available from there to the border crossing.

 

[novacova]

53 minutes ago, seedy said:

Which border ?

If Tachileik , Green bus goes up to Mae Sai. Motorbike taxi, songthaew available from there to the border crossing.

 

Isn’t Myanmar still closed?

Otherwise Chiangkhong is closest. Rent a car or green bus to chiangkhong. Don’t know of any border run services, usually taxis offer the service from what I’ve heard.

[Mahseer]

There's people asking every day here:

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/chiangmaiexpats/
 

Yes Tachilek remains closed.

[blackshadow]

why not go mai sai ??????!!!

[ripstanley]

4 minutes ago, blackshadow said:

why not go mai sai ??????!!!

It is good if you want to shop at the market in Mai Sai. The border into Myanmar is still closed so cannot do a border run.

[lordblackader]

13 hours ago, blackshadow said:

why not go mai sai ??????!!!

Unless you want to swim across the river to enter Myanmar illegally, it's not happening. 

[bubba]

You can also do a border run from Sop Ruak ("Golden Triangle") by boat across the river to Laos. Friend of mine confirmed this with Chiang Saen immigration and will be doing that next week. There is immigration there for your exit/entry stamps and you can buy a Lao visit on the other side. 

[elektrified]

Chiang Khong is the closest border that is open. I was there week before last. Only takes about 4.5 hours to drive there. Can border bounce and head back to Thailand in only 60-90 minutes (mostly time spent buying the Laos visa and waiting for the buses to cross the bridge). Nothing to see Huay Xai, Laos, don't bother taking a tour of the town.

[bubba]

On 1/10/2023 at 4:58 PM, bubba said:

You can also do a border run from Sop Ruak ("Golden Triangle") by boat across the river to Laos. Friend of mine confirmed this with Chiang Saen immigration and will be doing that next week. There is immigration there for your exit/entry stamps and you can buy a Lao visit on the other side. 

An update on that if anyone is interested...

 

Here's how it worked:

 

Go to the immigration office in Sop Ruak. They will stamp you out and they also ask if you have at least 10,000 baht in cash and an outbound air ticket. (On arrival, they did not ask to see that).

 

After getting stamped out walk out the back door which leads to the boat dock. The boat across to Lao costs 70 baht if there are at least three passengers and they run on demand.

 

Once on the other side, you disembark and walk up to Lao immigration. The first window checks passports and hands you an arrival form, which you complete, then hand it to the next window and then pay at another window. The visa cost varies by country - for Americans it was 1,500 baht. 

 

You can then go to departures, get stamped out and return to Thailand to get stamped in. The boat back to Thailand costs 150 baht. BTW, there is also a small duty free shop inside the Lao arrivals hall with decent prices on spirits and wine. If you have USD, use those as they were doing 37 baht/dollar for purchases.

 

Once back on the Thai side, you just need to go through Thai arrivals and you're stamped back in. The immigration officer advised and confirmed that they will only allow this twice each year.

 

Seems easy to me if you need to do a border run and maybe faster than going through Chiang Kong and across the bridge there, at least until Tachilek reopens, which of course is faster and cheaper.