Vientiane Visa Run, Report

[pisk]

This week I went to Vientiane, Laos, on a double-entry tourist visa run.

Executive TL;DR summary: all good (mostly harmless).

The only interesting twist is me having stayed in Thailand on back-to-back tourist visas since February; I was a bit worried they might give me problems because of that. Read below on how it went.

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Travelling

Arrived at Udon Thani airport on Monday evening; took a limo to the Friendship bridge straight from the airport's arrival hall. Departure was immediate, trip mercifully uneventful, 200B one-way. Then took a bus across the Friendship bridge, 15B one-way. I quickly approached other farangs as we stepped out of the bus, to arrange for a shared taxi to town: 100B. Then filled out and paid for the Lao visa application, one photo needed, cost 1,200B.

To get to the embassy in Vientiane I hired a tuk-tuk; the cost should theoretically be <50B one-way, but I can never find any driver willing to settle for that money; after 30min walking around the town trying to haggle I give up and pay 100B to get there. Going back is always easier; tuk-tuks waiting outside the embassy will happily go back for 50B. So 150B return.

Accommodation

My favourite hostel, Souphaphone, was booked for the night, so I just made a reservation for Tue-Fri on the spot and checked into another nearby place for the night, the INTHA hotel. INTHA has smaller room, not as meticulously clean as SPP, but is reasonable, free wi-fi, 135kK per night (500B). On Tuesday morning moved to SPP, got my favourite room at the top floor, with balcony and temple view. Life is good :-) Elegant spacious rooms, aircon, cable TV, free wi-fi (see below), room cleaned every day, central location, 170kK (620B) for a double room. Very pleasant and competent staff. IMO they should be charging more but I'm not telling them!

Money

Conversion Kip<->THB used to be simpler last time I was here: scratch last 3 zeros then multiply by 4; 12,000Kip->48Baht. Nowadays you have to subtract another 10% from that figure (Baht is stronger!): 12,000Kip->about 44Baht. Good for a quick estimate of how much you're being screwed.

There are ATMs in the centre but since they accept and give out Thai baht everywhere, it's probably better to stack up on Baht and avoid Kip altogether.

Visa

I came with the intention of applying for a double entry tourist visa. I've been staying in Thailand on tourist visas for 8 months now, so I printed out my bank account statement, in case they didn't believe me I was a real tourist (I am, but none of the non-imm O conditions apply to me!).

I deliberately went to the embassy later on (around 11pm), so I wouldn't have to wait. Surely enough the place was near empty. Filled out my visa application on the spot, handed it to the immigration guy along with my account statement, 2 photos and a photocopy of my passport (just the picture page). He leafed through my passport very carefully (it's full of extensions and re-entry permit stamps... I travel a lot), checked some stuff on his computer then handed me back the account statement saying it's not necessary. I read that two ways 1) the statement made no difference whatsoever and I just wasted some paper 2) the guy actually had some decision making power, took the statement into consideration then didn't need it anymore. Either way, I guess providing the bank statement didn't hurt.

Next day I picked up my double entry visa (again went around 2pm, to avoid crowds). There is no visa fee at the moment, the double entry tourist was free.

Food

There's a ridiculous amount of bakeries, patisseries etc. in Vientiane (used to be a French colony). There are also many Indian places, I spotted a Belgian bar, Scandi restaurant, Korean, English... I personally love eating Japanese so I went to Osaka restaurant (complete with okonomiyaki!) and Fujiwara (both in the centre near SPP). Osaka is very cozy and rather improvised; Fujiwara is way more glamorous (and pricey), but also sells real sushi (not smoked salmon like in Osaka...lol). I passed by a Japanese place called Sakura as well but didn't get in.

Prices are similar to Thailand, maybe a bit cheaper. The biggest difference to the place I live (the very south of Thailand) is the more cosmopolitan variety.

Communication

I can use my home Thai network (True) from most places in the centre (near the river), so I can call home without any problems, at Thai rates. Only annoyance is that the network changes to something Lao when out of reach, and then doesn't change back. I solved that by setting my phone to `manual network change`, so that I was always on either True or nothing at all.

Internet: thanks to the ubiquitous cafes, you can get free wi-fi almost anywhere in the centre. Most hostels have wi-fi too. Even where the connection is encrypted, it's usually just plain WEP (hint hint) so you can get going in a matter of minutes.

The city

Vientiane has changed a lot since I was last here; lots of new cafes and shops. Most visibly, the promenade along the river is shaping up. Unless they ruin it with a gazillion little stalls that will try to sell shit and annoy you, it will be a spectacular place indeed! Walking along the bank in the soft lazy afternoon sun, I had a positively Viennese feeling, something I didn't expect to experience in SE Asia.

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As you can probably tell from the tone of this post, I enjoyed Vientiane a lot. It's definitely one of my favourite places. The free double entry Thai visas are just a pleasant bonus =)