Laos Crossings

[Gonsalviz]

I know bikes cannot cross the Friendship bridge at Nong Khai. Where else near there, can I get my bike across. If I go, it is only for visa runs so I do not want to be far from Vientiene as hear the roads are crap in Laos.

[marcusb]

You can cross on the ferry weekdays at Bung Kan you must have a visa for Laos one is not issued there on arrival. From there to Vientiane the road is perfect. I was just on it last week.

You can cross at Tha Li Loei then up to Pak Lai ferry across the river then its a mixed bag till Vientiane. It starts pavement than goes to hard pack washboard followed by pavement.

You can cross at chong Mek (ubon)and then it's a long straight boring ride to vientiane, about 750 k I think, roads are perfect.

Tha li and chong mek issue laso visas on arrival

Coming home using the friendship bridge is no problem, 25 minutes last time.

Nice to take the bike as there is so much time to kill when your doing the visa thing.

[Gonsalviz]

You can cross on the ferry weekdays at Bung Kan you must have a visa for Laos one is not issued there on arrival. From there to Vientiane the road is perfect. I was just on it last week.

You can cross at Tha Li Loei then up to Pak Lai ferry across the river then its a mixed bag till Vientiane. It starts pavement than goes to hard pack washboard followed by pavement.

You can cross at chong Mek (ubon)and then it's a long straight boring ride to vientiane, about 750 k I think, roads are perfect.

Tha li and chong mek issue laso visas on arrival

Coming home using the friendship bridge is no problem, 25 minutes last time.

Nice to take the bike as there is so much time to kill when your doing the visa thing.

Tha Li is good for me. How do I get a vehicle passport?

[davidgtr]

I rode into Laos across the Friendship Bridge a couple of weeks ago without any problem. The Nong Khai / "Vientiane" Friendship Bridge seems to be ok nowadays, but not the others.

They dont issue ITP for motorbikes anymore. From memory they stopped 2 + years ago.

Not all the roads in Laos are crap, there are some extremely good ones.

At the moment Vientiane - Pha Tang, (north of Vang Vieng) sucks, as does Oudom Xai -Pak Mong, but a lot of the other asphalt roads are super.

Hope this is a help.

Edited May 10, 2012 by davidgtr

[RidersCorner]

Take a look in the Laos Ride Reports section on the Ride Asia website .... there's a sticky at the top with all the Laos border crossings

[RidersCorner]

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Edited May 14, 2012 by RidersCorner