Vientiane Visa Run Next Week

[crgram]

Since the Consulate will be closed for a couple days, May 3 and 5, I'll be there at least 1 extra day. Anyone have any suggestions on what to do with the extra day or where to stay?

I have my Lao visa in hand and will be taking the bus from Chiang Mai, probably Sunday night getting to UT Monday morning. This will be my first trip to Vientiane so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

cr

[chris5346]

hi,

i would recommend you buying your bus ticket the day before you travel from the arcade bus station - i think there's 2 night buses one leaves at 7 ish and the other 8 ish ? if you can get the earlier one because it's a 24 seater compared to the 40 seater (just means you'll have longer leg room) .

i've only ever been on the later one and i think the bus company is called crackapon or something.

the bus goes to udon thani then can get a another to non khai(very cheap and they leave every half hour or something) from non khai you can get a tuk tuk etc to the border there's usually other ppl doing the same so sharings a good idea.

when you get to the border you'll walk through and be ferried onto a shuttle bus that drives you accross the bridge to laos (shuttle bus cheap) once your into laos you can get a taxi etc to vientiene which takes about 20 mins ?

what i usually do is go straight to the embassy from the border and put in the visa application because it has to be done in the morning - collections are the next day if open in the afternoon.

there's 2 embassys one is called royal or something but your after the normal one for visas - just tell taxi driver they will know which one to goto .

i would recommend you take 2 passport sized photos with you .

also there's private people outside the gates who will sell you photos but they are more expensive and it gets a bit caotic sometimes - also out side the embassy gates there's ppl who can do the process for you but i wouldn't use them and it's very easy to do anyway if you have your own photos just go inside gates and about 50 meters on the right are the application forms and queuing ticket etc.

one other problem you will probably find is that because they are closed no. 3 and 5 ? you may find that they are very busy no 4 and 6 (maybe 2 or 3 times as many ppl) which means you will want to get there early if not you may be spending hours and hours at the embassy -

from the embassy you can get a tuk tuk to the city center that costs about 60 baht ?

how long are you spending in laos ? are you planning to travel along the river ?

there's a few hotels near the embassy but there's nothing else there maybe you want to head towards the river front and fountain square i think there's 2 large hotels on the river next to each other that ppl recommend and there's a few music bars etc .

during the day you can find many temples and gardens/lakes etc all worth a look but there's not much in the way of entertainment.

it's an nice quiet city.

good luck and send me some more info. i've been through laos and may be able to help.

the money is called kip and something like 250000 to 1000 baht ? depending on where your going depends on what money you need to be thinking about.

sorry for the essay - got a bit carried away.

[thaiphoon]

there's 2 embassys one is called royal or something but your after the normal one for visas - just tell taxi driver they will know which one to goto .

There is the embassy for govt business and a seperate location for the consulate which issues visas. The consulate is located at No.15 Ban Ponesinuan, Bourichane Road, Vientiane (near Lao-Singapore Business College). A location map can be found here.