Chiang Rai To Vientiane By Bus.

[sceadugenga]

I had to go to Vientiane for a new visa this week and decided to try the whole thing by bus. For those interested here's a short report.

The bus, Sombat Tours, left CR at 5pm Sunday night. It is marked Sakon (Saphon?) Nakhon to Chiang Rai, no mention of Udon Thani where you have to get off, and leaves from Bay 11. The fare is 680B for a first class Bus.

It got into Udon around 6.30am, now you have to scramble because if you're not at the Royal Thai Embassy in Vientiane by 11am, and your unlucky not to be there by 10, at the very latest, you won't get your application in that day. Every minute is vital here.

You get the next Nong Khai bus, which leaves from the same station... DO NOT ACCEPT A TUKTUK WHICH WILL OFFER TO TAKE YOU TO THE OTHER BUS STATION FOR THE VIENTIANE BUS UNLESS YOU HAVE ALREADY OBTAINED A LAO VISA.

As the bus enters Nong Khai, it will stop by a crowd of tuktuk driver who will all yell "Lao, Lao" at you. They will take you to the bridge where you go through Thai and Lao immigration.

There is a new mini bus service there that will take you to the embassy for 100B. He likes to have at least 5 passengers before he leaves.

I'm not going to discuss visa matters here, I'll do it in the correct forum later, but if all goes well you'll pick up your visa at 1pm the next day. Be there about 12.30pm.

Once again you make haste to the tuktuks/taxis outside the embassy and head for the border. Prices are negotiable and you can usually share. The border was chaos yesterday with massive queues on both sides. I was still through by 4pm and accepted a mini bus service to Udon for 300B.

They dropped me at the bus station and I made the mistake of going to the wrong bus office and was told there was no bus to CR that night. I actually paid for the bus to Chiang Mai intending to change buses there when I realised it wasn't Sombat Tours. I found them and was told the CR bus left at 7.50pm. I obtained a refund from the other company (they were somewhat sulky about it) and paid my fare, 659B, and arrived in the 'Rai at 9am this morning. (Wednesday).

So I was away about 65 hours and my expenses were:

Lao Visa 1200B

Thai Visa 1000B

Buses 1340B

Other transport, approx 1000B (You can negotiate cheaper here but I was in a hurry, I include hotel to and from embassy trips but there are many hotels within walking distance.)

Riverside Hotel 500B. (There's plenty cheaper but a lot were full).

So there's a visa for about 5000B in less than 3 days.

It was hard work though and I'm absolutely knackered.

Edited August 6, 2008 by sceadugenga

[mcgriffith]

Glad you made it back safe and sound, scea!

I have to go to CM Imm mid-Sept for my one year retirement extension renewal.

I just realized tonight, reading the trials and travails of your post....that I have not stepped foot out of Thailand in almost 2 years this September.

Pure unadulterated laziness....

[sceadugenga]

I can strongly recommend a trip to Vientiane Macca. You could go on the bike and take your time. It's about 700kms.

Good roads all the way to Nong Khai and you could either take the bike over the border or leave it somewhere like the Meeting Place guest house and rent one in Lao.

I couldn't believe the changes in Vientiane, there's a mall and a Sports Bar there now. This is definitely the best time of the year to go there, the river was a high as I've ever seen it and the air was as clear as crystal.

I'm convinced the Lao people are friendlier than Thais on first acquaintance and generally more of them speak better English.

Most things are cheaper, I had a night on the town that will go down in the history of Vientiane that was remarkably inexpensive. I met an Aussie guy at the border and we started with a quiet beer watching the sun go down over the Mekong and fell out of the Sports Bar well after midnight.

A real smart move when you have to be at the embassy with your wits about you at 8pm the next morning.

[goski]

Yes, that´s how I did it as well Scea. I tend to like Vientiane so I try to stay a few days extra if it´s outside the weekend.

I have never managed to get to the Thai Consulate on the first day ever so I tend to check in and go there the next day. For the ones with the cash, you don´t even have to go inside the consulate, just pay like 5000 baht for single tourist visa from one of the crooks outside. But, I personally would rather spend that on some good food and Lao beer.

I have previously taken a big bus straight to Udon from Vientiane but stopped doing that since you have to wait for everybody at the border and that can take a huge amount of time. Just take a tuktuk like scea says and on the Thai side there will be plenty of transportation to Udon.

Well, I guess there are plenty of information about this in other threads.

[YoungerBrother]

"The border was chaos yesterday with massive queues on both sides."

So that was you filling up the queues

Made the same visa journey, yes Monday was chaos at the Thai embassy. The officer as usually was very nice, just glanced over the application form asking me "double entry ?"

CR to UT 659 B Chackrapong Tour not recommended

Double Entry Tourist Visa 2000 B

UT to CR Sombat Tour 512 B

Despite the long hours on the bus, i very much enjoined the Beer Lao and the view over the river.

YB

[sceadugenga]

Due to a personal stuff up (no photocopy of passport) I got to the counter right on 12 noon and they pulled the plug.

There were about a dozen or twenty people left and we were told that if we got there early the next morning he would personally try to see that our applications would be processed the same day and be ready by 2pm.

Which they were.

It's not the first time I've had Thai immigration officers go out of there way to help me. It certainly wouldn't have happened at the Australian embassy.

[goski]

Yes, I agree that they are very nice there. Just to take this further into the wrong area of posting - did you guys have to show (or did you hand it in anyway) any form of proof of travelling out of Thailand in a close future?

[sceadugenga]

Not a word about it.

When the rumors were flying around I set up an online ticket confirmation print out with a flexible date and would print off a copy every time I did a "run".

Never asked for it once.