Visa Run - Go To Burma Or Laos ?

[cwkid]

Hello

I am due to do my first visa run next month, it says in my Passport 24 August 2008.

I am on a 12 month non-o visa.

I'm currently in Chaiyaphum in Isaan, what's the best option for the fastest run, cross over and come back.

I suspect I will have stay over 1 night if its too much to do all in one day.

Should I go to Laos or Burma? I would probably get the bus rather than drive myself.

I also need to know the name of the actual border town I should be going to. I understand I should be able to get a visa for Laos or Burma at their borders.

Chaiyaphum Province Map:

Many Thanks, for any advice...

Edited July 27, 2008 by cwkid

[lopburi3]

Nong Khai on the Thai/Laos border. You may have to take bus to Khon Khen or Udon and then onward to Nong Khai.

[cwkid]

Nong Khai on the Thai/Laos border. You may have to take bus to Khon Khen or Udon and then onward to Nong Khai.

Thanks for the fast reply, I will look in to Nong Khai.

Im wondering about the date in my passport, 24th of August, should I do the border crossing actually on the 24th or the day before on the 23rd? Or does it not matter? I assume they will know to give me another 90 days coming backing in.

Cheers

[NHJ]

<br />

Nong Khai on the Thai/Laos border. You may have to take bus to Khon Khen or Udon and then onward to Nong Khai.

<br /><br />Thanks for the fast reply, I will look in to Nong Khai. <br /><br />Im wondering about the date in my passport, 24th of August, should I do the border crossing actually on the 24th or the day before on the 23rd? Or does it not matter? I assume they will know to give me another 90 days coming backing in. <br /><br />Cheers<br />

guessing is not something good when it comes to visa for thailand

more details on your visa may help to get a good answer.

[PoorSucker]

24th is OK.

You will get 90 days on your Multiple entry Non-O

[NHJ]

<br />24th is OK.<br />You will get 90 days on your Multiple entry Non-O<br />

oops my bad, i didn't see the details of his visa in the first post.

[Mystery]

Anyone know if the Mae Sot border crossing from Thai to Burma is open? I'm off to do visa run tomorrow but have left plenty of days in case I can't actually cross there.. I have a Non-0 1 year multiple visa and just need to cross the border and get back to activate next 3 months! By the way I'm talking about Mae Sot next to Tak, just north of Kamphaeng Phet...

Any knowledge on this would be greatly appreciated as if I can't cross here I'll have to go to Rayong/Ranong (I can never remember which one it is but the one nearer Bangkok anyway!) But its just Mae Sot is closer to where I am than Rayong/Ranong!

Thanks alot in advance!!

[lopburi3]

There has not been any report of it being closed.

[Mystery]

There has not been any report of it being closed.

Thanks!

[cwkid]

My brother who will be visiting from the UK at the same time may want to come in to Laos with me for the day. He will be on the standard 30 days tourist vista that people from the UK get upon entry to Thailand. What's the deal there, will he be able to cross in to Laos and re-enter Thailand OK ?

This is quite a good page about the crossing with photos!

http://<URL Automatically Removed>/laos-travel-forum/5379...e-visa-run.html

Thanks

[Macclad]

cwkid,

When you do your visa run bear in mind that the bus journey from Chaiyaphum to Udon Thani is over four and a half hours.....then from Udon Thani to Nong Khai is another hour.

The visa run itself over the bridge into Laos and back,on average,takes about one and a half hours.

If I were you I'd definitely consider a nightover in either Vientiane (Laos),Nong Khai or Udon Thani.

Your brother should be able to enter Laos and come back with you,no problem.

[cwkid]

cwkid,

When you do your visa run bear in mind that the bus journey from Chaiyaphum to Udon Thani is over four and a half hours.....then from Udon Thani to Nong Khai is another hour.

The visa run itself over the bridge into Laos and back,on average,takes about one and a half hours.

If I were you I'd definitely consider a nightover in either Vientiane (Laos),Nong Khai or Udon Thani.

Your brother should be able to enter Laos and come back with you,no problem.

Thanks, I think we will probably have a night in Vientiane and paint the town red!

So its better to go to Udon Thani rather than Khon Kaen?

Cheers

[lopburi3]

If you can get a bus direct to Nong Khai that is best - second best would be Udon as there is frequent bus/van service to Nong Khai. But Khon Khen is closest to you and much larger than your city so you might have to travel there first. Depends on bus schedules. Your friend will have to buy visa for Laos and on return will obtain another 30 day stamp (assuming he has not used his 90 day limit in six months). Udon or Nong Khai might be better for night time entertainment.

[cwkid]

<br />If you can get a bus direct to Nong Khai that is best - second best would be Udon as there is frequent bus/van service to Nong Khai. But Khon Khen is closest to you and much larger than your city so you might have to travel there first. Depends on bus schedules. Your friend will have to buy visa for Laos and on return will obtain another 30 day stamp (assuming he has not used his 90 day limit in six months). Udon or Nong Khai might be better for night time entertainment.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

ok thanks for the good advice, I will check out the buses from here and see if there is a direct one to Nong Khai, if not we will go to Udon Thani first. My brother is flying in from the UK, so the 90 day limit in six months wont affect him I guess.

Thanks again.

[funfun]

Hello

I am due to do my first visa run next month, it says in my Passport 24 August 2008.

I am on a 12 month non-o visa.

I'm currently in Chaiyaphum in Isaan, what's the best option for the fastest run, cross over and come back.

I suspect I will have stay over 1 night if its too much to do all in one day.

Should I go to Laos or Burma? I would probably get the bus rather than drive myself.

I also need to know the name of the actual border town I should be going to. I understand I should be able to get a visa for Laos or Burma at their borders.

Chaiyaphum Province Map:

Many Thanks, for any advice...

just looking at rest of posts and maybe right go laos, good nightlife etc,

"what's the best option for the fastest run, cross over and come back.

I suspect I will have stay over 1 night if its too much to do all in one day"

chaiyapum is a big massive area, my mate lives in place called chat yurat (i think) so he's about an hour from korat and if he needs to go lil, lil, and back he goes to aranyaprathet border, think hes about 3/4 hours and hes there, from chaiya he's only 5/6 hours from pattaya, so maybe better roads that way dont know!

http://map.longdo.com/longdomap

bit more on aranyaprathet below, over a year old so a little bit out of date, i dont think its as busy now as many now go to the nearer one at ban leam, but gives a good insight!

http://www.thaivisa.com/487.0.html

chris

[lopburi3]

Poster appears to be talking about Muang and using public transport. Believe Nong Khai is the direction for him to go. The air distance is 240km to both locations but to Nong Khai there are major highways almost direct. To Arun there are not. And public transport to Arun would be much more difficult to find.

[cwkid]

Hello

I am due to do my first visa run next month, it says in my Passport 24 August 2008.

I am on a 12 month non-o visa.

I'm currently in Chaiyaphum in Isaan, what's the best option for the fastest run, cross over and come back.

I suspect I will have stay over 1 night if its too much to do all in one day.

Should I go to Laos or Burma? I would probably get the bus rather than drive myself.

I also need to know the name of the actual border town I should be going to. I understand I should be able to get a visa for Laos or Burma at their borders.

Chaiyaphum Province Map:

Many Thanks, for any advice...

just looking at rest of posts and maybe right go laos, good nightlife etc,

"what's the best option for the fastest run, cross over and come back.

I suspect I will have stay over 1 night if its too much to do all in one day"

chaiyapum is a big massive area, my mate lives in place called chat yurat (i think) so he's about an hour from korat and if he needs to go lil, lil, and back he goes to aranyaprathet border, think hes about 3/4 hours and hes there, from chaiya he's only 5/6 hours from pattaya, so maybe better roads that way dont know!

http://map.longdo.com/longdomap

bit more on aranyaprathet below, over a year old so a little bit out of date, i dont think its as busy now as many now go to the nearer one at ban leam, but gives a good insight!

http://www.thaivisa.com/487.0.html

chris

We drove to Korat the other week, it took us about 1.5 hours in the car from where we are, we live near Chaiyaphum city, 10 mins away in a village.

[funfun]

Poster appears to be talking about Muang and using public transport. Believe Nong Khai is the direction for him to go. The air distance is 240km to both locations but to Nong Khai there are major highways almost direct. To Arun there are not. And public transport to Arun would be much more difficult to find.

poster asks many questions, one off

"I'm currently in Chaiyaphum in Isaan, what's the best option for the fastest run, cross over and come back."

i gave my opinion as everyone has in a helpfull manner, it might not be correct, it might not suit him, it might not suit anybody, it was my opinion from what my mate does, i did say i dont know the roads/ itenary bus's whatever.

i supplied a map for his reference, and a link of somone who has been off here.

and again

"We drove to Korat the other week, it took us about 1.5 hours in the car from where we are, we live near Chaiyaphum city, 10 mins away in a village"

is that reply directly cos i wrote

"chaiyapum is a big massive area, my mate lives in place called chat yurat (i think) so he's about an hour from korat"

so i said about an hour, you corrected me to say abou 1.5 hours, are you in chat yurat?

Thanks for your input

chris

[cwkid]

Poster appears to be talking about Muang and using public transport. Believe Nong Khai is the direction for him to go. The air distance is 240km to both locations but to Nong Khai there are major highways almost direct. To Arun there are not. And public transport to Arun would be much more difficult to find.

poster asks many questions, one off

"I'm currently in Chaiyaphum in Isaan, what's the best option for the fastest run, cross over and come back."

i gave my opinion as everyone has in a helpfull manner, it might not be correct, it might not suit him, it might not suit anybody, it was my opinion from what my mate does, i did say i dont know the roads/ itenary bus's whatever.

i supplied a map for his reference, and a link of somone who has been off here.

and again

"We drove to Korat the other week, it took us about 1.5 hours in the car from where we are, we live near Chaiyaphum city, 10 mins away in a village"

is that reply directly cos i wrote

"chaiyapum is a big massive area, my mate lives in place called chat yurat (i think) so he's about an hour from korat"

so i said about an hour, you corrected me to say abou 1.5 hours, are you in chat yurat?

Thanks for your input

chris

Chris

Thanks for your input, I wasn't correcting you merely stating from where we live it takes 1.5 hours to get to Korat in the car.

I've been to the bus station in Chaiyaphum, there are several it appears, I went to the one that deals with routes up to the North East.

They have a direct bus to Nong Khai, it's 250 baht you have to ask for ticket number 2 and the bus leaves from bay 3. Figures.

It takes 6 hours, glad I've got my Sony PSP with me!

Leaves Chaiyaphum:

06:00

08:00

10:00

12:00

14:00

Leaves Nong Khai:

07:00

09:00

11:00

13:00

15:00

Hope some one else picking this thread up later might find this information helpful,

[funfun]

Poster appears to be talking about Muang and using public transport. Believe Nong Khai is the direction for him to go. The air distance is 240km to both locations but to Nong Khai there are major highways almost direct. To Arun there are not. And public transport to Arun would be much more difficult to find.

poster asks many questions, one off

"I'm currently in Chaiyaphum in Isaan, what's the best option for the fastest run, cross over and come back."

i gave my opinion as everyone has in a helpfull manner, it might not be correct, it might not suit him, it might not suit anybody, it was my opinion from what my mate does, i did say i dont know the roads/ itenary bus's whatever.

i supplied a map for his reference, and a link of somone who has been off here.

and again

"We drove to Korat the other week, it took us about 1.5 hours in the car from where we are, we live near Chaiyaphum city, 10 mins away in a village"

is that reply directly cos i wrote

"chaiyapum is a big massive area, my mate lives in place called chat yurat (i think) so he's about an hour from korat"

so i said about an hour, you corrected me to say abou 1.5 hours, are you in chat yurat?

Thanks for your input

chris

Chris

Thanks for your input, I wasn't correcting you merely stating from where we live it takes 1.5 hours to get to Korat in the car.

I've been to the bus station in Chaiyaphum, there are several it appears, I went to the one that deals with routes up to the North East.

They have a direct bus to Nong Khai, it's 250 baht you have to ask for ticket number 2 and the bus leaves from bay 3. Figures.

It takes 6 hours, glad I've got my Sony PSP with me!

Leaves Chaiyaphum:

06:00

08:00

10:00

12:00

14:00

Leaves Nong Khai:

07:00

09:00

11:00

13:00

15:00

Hope some one else picking this thread up later might find this information helpful,

sorry for that, its just the way it looked to me when you follow the posts down, and i had hadnt had a drink then, but im fine now, had 6 big beer laos at side of mekong river, and im ready to rock an role!

again sorry for that chaps

chris

[cwkid]

If I drink 3 big bottles of Chang I am pissed lol! Must be a light weight.