Can Thai Citizens Cross Into Cambodia With Just Id Card..

[Huayrat]

Hi , can somebody settle a discusion please.. My girlfriend has crossed into chong chom with just using An Id card her and her 2 friends.. 2 times in the last 2 years she has done this but another farang says no you need a passport.. Has anybody crossed this border with there Thai partner and used just an ID card??

Edited June 9, 2013 by Huayrat

[MJCM]

What I have heard is that Thais can cross the border without a Passport, but can only stay within the same province and only for a limited amount of time. If they want for example to visit PP or Sihanoukville etc they need a Passport !

But this could have changed in the meantime !

Edited June 9, 2013 by MJCM

[Huayrat]

Ok Thank you.. I suppose Buriram is a province very close to the border so that is probably why..

[MJCM]

Ok Thank you.. I suppose Buriram is a province very close to the border so that is probably why..

My guess it would be the same for every Thai, I knew some people here in Pattaya and they go every 2-3 weeks to the Casino near Aranyaprathet / Poi Pet to gamble (for a day or 2), and they only use their ID Card.

Edit: // SpElLinG

Edited June 9, 2013 by MJCM

[phuketrichard]

have her get a passport, its only 1,015 baht an takes less than a week

otherwise she can only enter border area.

[samran]

I've crossed a Cambodian border. With what form of Thai ID I used, well that would be telling 5555

Edited June 9, 2013 by samran

[Tomtomtom69]

Passport is needed. However, an ID card may be acceptable for short trips into no-man's land where the casinos are located (this would be before Cambodian immigration) provided the Thai citizen without a passport returns back to Thailand before the border closes (this is 8pm at Aranyaprathet, could be earlier elsewhere). I am not aware of ID cards being acceptable for anything other than short day excursions maybe 1km inside the country anywhere else. At least on the road between Poipet and Sisophon heading towards Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, there is a police checkpoint around 20km east of the border. Although in practice ID checks are not carried out, they could be. I wouldn't advise any Thai to attempt to travel this far inland without a passport though, no matter how far they think they can travel without one. Also, checking into any hotel is very difficult without a passport - I was able to use my Cambodian driver's license most of the time, but not always. Sometimes a passport (or at least a copy) was insisted upon.

[Dork]

At least until a couple of years ago, whether a Thai could pass the Thai immigration checkpoint at Poipet without a passport depended on the level of tension between the Thai and Cambodian governments. In general it was allowed but whenever there was a border skirmish or some other diplomatic spat immigration would revert to passports only. And sometimes as an added punishment, Thai immigration would only open 1 or 2 Thai passport counters so that getting through the queue took hours whereas the counters for foreign passports would be manned as usual. Obviously this was intended to put a squeeze on casino revenue though several of them are Thai owned anyway.

It also depends on who you are. There are a privileged few that can and regularly do pass the checkpoint 24/7 without any document checking at all.

[Tomtomtom69]

At least until a couple of years ago, whether a Thai could pass the Thai immigration checkpoint at Poipet without a passport depended on the level of tension between the Thai and Cambodian governments. In general it was allowed but whenever there was a border skirmish or some other diplomatic spat immigration would revert to passports only. And sometimes as an added punishment, Thai immigration would only open 1 or 2 Thai passport counters so that getting through the queue took hours whereas the counters for foreign passports would be manned as usual. Obviously this was intended to put a squeeze on casino revenue though several of them are Thai owned anyway.

It also depends on who you are. There are a privileged few that can and regularly do pass the checkpoint 24/7 without any document checking at all.

I thought the gates were firmly shut after 8pm. Having had to sleep in Aranyaprathet before because we arrived with some goods and it was already 7.45pm, I can assure you that the border area is dead after 8pm. We walked to the market area and the border area was eerily quiet then. Also, is it true that no Thai cars can enter Poipet? Indeed, I've never seen any try.

Also, the foreigners queue is full of foreigners from all sorts of countries, there's Russians, Vietnamese, Laotians, Europeans, Aussies, Americans, etc. a ton of people and it can take a full hour to get through as a foreigner - the line went well outside the building the last two times I was there (coming back to Thailand is also slow, but queues tend to be a bit shorter). I observed the Thai queues which looked a lot quicker to me with fewer people. Since many Thais are scared of going to Cambodia (and this is in no small part due to recent and historical tensions) it did appear to me that there weren't that many Thais there.

[SantiSuk]

Ok Thank you.. I suppose Buriram is a province very close to the border so that is probably why..

Has Buriram ceded to Cambodia? Damn these land-grabbing Khmers

[Dork]

At least until a couple of years ago, whether a Thai could pass the Thai immigration checkpoint at Poipet without a passport depended on the level of tension between the Thai and Cambodian governments. In general it was allowed but whenever there was a border skirmish or some other diplomatic spat immigration would revert to passports only. And sometimes as an added punishment, Thai immigration would only open 1 or 2 Thai passport counters so that getting through the queue took hours whereas the counters for foreign passports would be manned as usual. Obviously this was intended to put a squeeze on casino revenue though several of them are Thai owned anyway.

It also depends on who you are. There are a privileged few that can and regularly do pass the checkpoint 24/7 without any document checking at all.

I thought the gates were firmly shut after 8pm. Having had to sleep in Aranyaprathet before because we arrived with some goods and it was already 7.45pm, I can assure you that the border area is dead after 8pm. We walked to the market area and the border area was eerily quiet then. Also, is it true that no Thai cars can enter Poipet? Indeed, I've never seen any try.

Also, the foreigners queue is full of foreigners from all sorts of countries, there's Russians, Vietnamese, Laotians, Europeans, Aussies, Americans, etc. a ton of people and it can take a full hour to get through as a foreigner - the line went well outside the building the last two times I was there (coming back to Thailand is also slow, but queues tend to be a bit shorter). I observed the Thai queues which looked a lot quicker to me with fewer people. Since many Thais are scared of going to Cambodia (and this is in no small part due to recent and historical tensions) it did appear to me that there weren't that many Thais there.

Yes the gates on the Thai side are closed at 8PM but they can be and quite often are opened for medical emergencies. It's a long way to a reasonable hospital on the Cambodian side. But also casino owners & other "influential" people seem to be able to get the gates opened at will. They don't even get out of their vehicles. Some other shadowy types involved in the gambling business also seem to be able to get in and out anytime but I think they use some illegal bypass nearby.

As for Thai registered cars, it is possible to drive them into the no-mans-land (as long as Thailand let's you out) but to pass the Cambodian checkpoint is more difficult and a bit risky if you do manage it. It has been explained to me that you need advance permission in writing from a Govt. Ministry in Phnom Penh to drive a right hand drive car into Cambodia and there are quite a few checkpoints from Poipet onwards where you would likely be checked. You do see caravans of Thai 4WD vehicles on organised rallies passing through but I guess they have the relevant permission.

As you say, there are periods when you see very few Thai's at the checkpoint or in the casinos. That normally indicates that the underground casinos in Bangkok are operating freely.

[phuketrichard]

As for Thai registered cars, it is possible to drive them into the no-mans-land (as long as Thailand let's you out) but to pass the

Cambodian checkpoint is more difficult and a bit risky if you do manage it. It has been explained to me that you need advance permission in

writing from a Govt. Ministry in Phnom Penh to drive a right hand drive car into Cambodia and there are quite a few checkpoints from Poipet

onwards where you would likely be checked. You do see caravans of Thai 4WD vehicles on organised rallies passing through but I guess they have

the relevant permission.

true but not true.

they wont let u in at Poi Pet with a thai licensed car but it has nothing to do with rhd or not. They just don't want you to cross,BUT if u get permission ahead of time in PP you can so that goes to show RHD has nothing to do with it.

YOU can, an i have, as have a few people i know, crossed at Osmach (south of Surin) with no trouble an u can also cross with ur car via Koh Kong but u need pay 100 baht/day

I left last Sept via poi pet with car and saw no checkpoints between SR and Poi pet on either side.

Am taking my car back in next month via Osmach

All the times i have had my car in Cambodia an that amounts to about 14 months total over the past 4 years i have never seen a checkpoint EXCEPT when leaving the country next to the border heading back to Thailand and those i just drove past. I have driven most all of the passable roads except for the far northeast

[OJAS]

As for Thai registered cars, it is possible to drive them into the no-mans-land (as long as Thailand let's you out) but to pass the Cambodian checkpoint is more difficult and a bit risky if you do manage it. It has been explained to me that you need advance permission in writing from a Govt. Ministry in Phnom Penh to drive a right hand drive car into Cambodia and there are quite a few checkpoints from Poipet onwards where you would likely be checked. You do see caravans of Thai 4WD vehicles on organised rallies passing through but I guess they have the relevant permission.

Out of curiosity (having never travelled to Cambodia from Thailand myself), is the switch from the left-hand side of the road to the right-hand side when travelling by car managed in some orderly manner by any chance? If so, how and where is the change actually performed?

Or are there mountains of smashed-up vehicles by the side of the road in no-man's-land which are testament to this being a chaotic free-for-all?

[samran]

As for Thai registered cars, it is possible to drive them into the no-mans-land (as long as Thailand let's you out) but to pass the

Cambodian checkpoint is more difficult and a bit risky if you do manage it. It has been explained to me that you need advance permission in

writing from a Govt. Ministry in Phnom Penh to drive a right hand drive car into Cambodia and there are quite a few checkpoints from Poipet

onwards where you would likely be checked. You do see caravans of Thai 4WD vehicles on organised rallies passing through but I guess they have

the relevant permission.

true but not true.

they wont let u in at Poi Pet with a thai licensed car but it has nothing to do with rhd or not. They just don't want you to cross,BUT if u get permission ahead of time in PP you can so that goes to show RHD has nothing to do with it.

YOU can, an i have, as have a few people i know, crossed at Osmach (south of Surin) with no trouble an u can also cross with ur car via Koh Kong but u need pay 100 baht/day

I left last Sept via poi pet with car and saw no checkpoints between SR and Poi pet on either side.

Am taking my car back in next month via Osmach

All the times i have had my car in Cambodia an that amounts to about 14 months total over the past 4 years i have never seen a checkpoint EXCEPT when leaving the country next to the border heading back to Thailand and those i just drove past. I have driven most all of the passable roads except for the far northeast

Would love to see any threads you've started on driving Thai cars in Cambodia...documents needed, etc. Especially interested in the 'advance approval from Phonom Penh and how you apply for that...

[khwaibah]

op. thai id card 24 hours 50 bt. longer need pp.

[phuketrichard]

As for Thai registered cars, it is possible to drive them into the no-mans-land (as long as Thailand let's you out) but to pass the

Cambodian checkpoint is more difficult and a bit risky if you do manage it. It has been explained to me that you need advance permission in

writing from a Govt. Ministry in Phnom Penh to drive a right hand drive car into Cambodia and there are quite a few checkpoints from Poipet

onwards where you would likely be checked. You do see caravans of Thai 4WD vehicles on organised rallies passing through but I guess they have

the relevant permission.

true but not true.

they wont let u in at Poi Pet with a thai licensed car but it has nothing to do with rhd or not. They just don't want you to cross,BUT if u get permission ahead of time in PP you can so that goes to show RHD has nothing to do with it.

YOU can, an i have, as have a few people i know, crossed at Osmach (south of Surin) with no trouble an u can also cross with ur car via Koh Kong but u need pay 100 baht/day

I left last Sept via poi pet with car and saw no checkpoints between SR and Poi pet on either side.

Am taking my car back in next month via Osmach

All the times i have had my car in Cambodia an that amounts to about 14 months total over the past 4 years i have never seen a checkpoint EXCEPT when leaving the country next to the border heading back to Thailand and those i just drove past. I have driven most all of the passable roads except for the far northeast

Would love to see any threads you've started on driving Thai cars in Cambodia...documents needed, etc. Especially interested in the 'advance approval from Phonom Penh and how you apply for that...

do a search as i have done a write up here and on teak door .

I have never done it the whole legit way but have been taken my car in since 2008 and only been stopped twice. I don't know anyone that has done it the legit way also but know lots of people that have taken their cars /motorcycles in with no hassles.

when u cross the border u merely drive on the other side :-)

will be drivng back next month

Edited June 11, 2013 by phuketrichard

[Tomtomtom69]

As for Thai registered cars, it is possible to drive them into the no-mans-land (as long as Thailand let's you out) but to pass the

Cambodian checkpoint is more difficult and a bit risky if you do manage it. It has been explained to me that you need advance permission in

writing from a Govt. Ministry in Phnom Penh to drive a right hand drive car into Cambodia and there are quite a few checkpoints from Poipet

onwards where you would likely be checked. You do see caravans of Thai 4WD vehicles on organised rallies passing through but I guess they have

the relevant permission.

true but not true.

they wont let u in at Poi Pet with a thai licensed car but it has nothing to do with rhd or not. They just don't want you to cross,BUT if u get permission ahead of time in PP you can so that goes to show RHD has nothing to do with it.

YOU can, an i have, as have a few people i know, crossed at Osmach (south of Surin) with no trouble an u can also cross with ur car via Koh Kong but u need pay 100 baht/day

I left last Sept via poi pet with car and saw no checkpoints between SR and Poi pet on either side.

Am taking my car back in next month via Osmach

All the times i have had my car in Cambodia an that amounts to about 14 months total over the past 4 years i have never seen a checkpoint EXCEPT when leaving the country next to the border heading back to Thailand and those i just drove past. I have driven most all of the passable roads except for the far northeast

I have heard that Cambodia is also making life difficult for Vietnamese and Lao cars entering it's territory. In other words, it's not very straightforward to enter Cambodia in a foreign registered vehicle at all, particularly if the car is registered in a neighboring country. A Lao car entering from the Lao border was denied recently for no apparent reason; one was told it could only drive as far as Stung Treng 50km south of the border and another was refused altogether, though the driver could have tried again the next day and may have been allowed to enter. Therefore, entering with a Thai vehicle seems a lot more straightforward, but of course provided you enter from Thailand directly and not from Laos (from Vietnam forget it altogether as it won't be allowed in either direction).

[Tomtomtom69]

As for Thai registered cars, it is possible to drive them into the no-mans-land (as long as Thailand let's you out) but to pass the Cambodian checkpoint is more difficult and a bit risky if you do manage it. It has been explained to me that you need advance permission in writing from a Govt. Ministry in Phnom Penh to drive a right hand drive car into Cambodia and there are quite a few checkpoints from Poipet onwards where you would likely be checked. You do see caravans of Thai 4WD vehicles on organised rallies passing through but I guess they have the relevant permission.

Out of curiosity (having never travelled to Cambodia from Thailand myself), is the switch from the left-hand side of the road to the right-hand side when travelling by car managed in some orderly manner by any chance? If so, how and where is the change actually performed?

Or are there mountains of smashed-up vehicles by the side of the road in no-man's-land which are testament to this being a chaotic free-for-all?

Well for starters, the number of vehicles traveling between Thailand and Cambodia is so small I don't think it's an issue - you could probably count them on one hand. Secondly, all you need to do is keep right as soon as you hit Cambodian territory; the passport control and vehicle handling areas are designed with that in mind.

[khwaibah]

As for Thai registered cars, it is possible to drive them into the no-mans-land (as long as Thailand let's you out) but to pass the Cambodian checkpoint is more difficult and a bit risky if you do manage it. It has been explained to me that you need advance permission in writing from a Govt. Ministry in Phnom Penh to drive a right hand drive car into Cambodia and there are quite a few checkpoints from Poipet onwards where you would likely be checked. You do see caravans of Thai 4WD vehicles on organised rallies passing through but I guess they have the relevant permission.

Out of curiosity (having never travelled to Cambodia from Thailand myself), is the switch from the left-hand side of the road to the right-hand side when travelling by car managed in some orderly manner by any chance? If so, how and where is the change actually performed?

Or are there mountains of smashed-up vehicles by the side of the road in no-man's-land which are testament to this being a chaotic free-for-all?

Well for starters, the number of vehicles traveling between Thailand and Cambodia is so small I don't think it's an issue - you could probably count them on one hand. Secondly, all you need to do is keep right as soon as you hit Cambodian territory; the passport control and vehicle handling areas are designed with that in mind.

If I was to count the number of vehicles that go threw Kap Choeng with Cambodian plates on a daily bases I would need a calculator.

[phuketrichard]

in all my times in Camboida with my thai car the number of other thai plates i have seen past Siem Rep is ZERO

Only once in PP i saw a bunch of Harley's that came over from Pattaya and where on their way to Saigon. ( They had gotten prior approval)

I spoke with a few people last july in Phnom Phen with Laos plates, (motorcycles) an Chinese plates, ( car and bike) , all had been turned back below the 4000 islands trying to get into Cambodia and had gone over an entered at Osmach ( where i enter)

If u enter at koh koong you will be told your only allowed to drive in KK province and not farther.

I have only been stopped in Sihanoukville twice, i have only been stopped once in PP an and then ticketed for $5

Edited November 15, 2013 by phuketrichard

[Tomtomtom69]

in all my times in Camboida with my thai car the number of other thai plates i have seen past Siem Rep is ZERO

Only once in PP i saw a bunch of Harley's that came over from Pattaya and where on their way to Saigon. ( They had gotten prior approval)

I spoke with a few people last july in Phnom Phen with Laos plates, (motorcycles) an Chinese plates, ( car and bike) , all had been turned back below the 4000 islands trying to get into Cambodia and had gone over an entered at Osmach ( where i enter)

If u enter at koh koong you will be told your only allowed to drive in KK province and not farther.

I have only been stopped in Sihanoukville twice, i have only been stopped once in PP an and then ticketed for $5

I have seen only 1 Thai pickup truck in Phnom Penh, 1 Lao car there and another Lao car near Kampong Cham, driving down from the Lao border (presumably, although this was in 2011 I think). Vietnamese cars are equally rare - generally you see tons of Vietnamese buses in Phnom Penh and even in Siem Reap but not private passenger cars.

I have also seen one Chinese (Kunming, Yunnan) plated car driving towards Thailand near Sisophon, but that was probably a one-off. I have been told of a number of unsuccessful crossing attempts from the main Lao-Cambodian border crossing by car. I guess you are right in saying that entries into Cambodia should be from a Thai checkpoint, even if you're driving a car registered in a third country.

[phuketrichard]

Funny but up northern Thailand (Fang and Chaing Rai area) i saw lots of Chinese cars and bikes,

Met 3 Chinese riders crossing back to laos at Chiang Khong that had ridden from Beijing all the way down to Phuket and were heading back

spoke about 4 words of English!! Met a young Swedish guy last July ridding a Chinese motorcycle with a side car an his Chinese gf with him, He had been living and working in Shanghia and had put over 30,000 kms on his bike

In northern Laos saw loads of Chinese cars

Forgot to mention, last time i was on Otres beach, Sihanoukville, saw 2 caravans parked on the beach , one from Germany, one from Belgium an met one German guy that has a resort there and his van is under wraps

I love seeing people still getting out there an really traveling, brings back old memories of the apple pie route from Amsterdam thru Afghanistan to Kathmandu :-)

Edited November 15, 2013 by phuketrichard

[Sheryl]

At least until a couple of years ago, whether a Thai could pass the Thai immigration checkpoint at Poipet without a passport depended on the level of tension between the Thai and Cambodian governments. In general it was allowed but whenever there was a border skirmish or some other diplomatic spat immigration would revert to passports only. And sometimes as an added punishment, Thai immigration would only open 1 or 2 Thai passport counters so that getting through the queue took hours whereas the counters for foreign passports would be manned as usual. Obviously this was intended to put a squeeze on casino revenue though several of them are Thai owned anyway.

It also depends on who you are. There are a privileged few that can and regularly do pass the checkpoint 24/7 without any document checking at all.

I thought the gates were firmly shut after 8pm. Having had to sleep in Aranyaprathet before because we arrived with some goods and it was already 7.45pm, I can assure you that the border area is dead after 8pm. We walked to the market area and the border area was eerily quiet then. Also, is it true that no Thai cars can enter Poipet? Indeed, I've never seen any try.

Also, the foreigners queue is full of foreigners from all sorts of countries, there's Russians, Vietnamese, Laotians, Europeans, Aussies, Americans, etc. a ton of people and it can take a full hour to get through as a foreigner - the line went well outside the building the last two times I was there (coming back to Thailand is also slow, but queues tend to be a bit shorter). I observed the Thai queues which looked a lot quicker to me with fewer people. Since many Thais are scared of going to Cambodia (and this is in no small part due to recent and historical tensions) it did appear to me that there weren't that many Thais there.

Plenty of Thai gamblers go there, believe me. Busload after busload of them (not to mention Mercedes after Mercedes) especially on weekends and holidays.

There is an "express" immigration counter -- sometimes 2 -- for Thai nationals, they zip right through. And unlike first class check in lines at airports, they will not let others use that counter even when it is otherwise unused. Hence the long, long lines for everyone else.

[Tomtomtom69]

At least until a couple of years ago, whether a Thai could pass the Thai immigration checkpoint at Poipet without a passport depended on the level of tension between the Thai and Cambodian governments. In general it was allowed but whenever there was a border skirmish or some other diplomatic spat immigration would revert to passports only. And sometimes as an added punishment, Thai immigration would only open 1 or 2 Thai passport counters so that getting through the queue took hours whereas the counters for foreign passports would be manned as usual. Obviously this was intended to put a squeeze on casino revenue though several of them are Thai owned anyway.

It also depends on who you are. There are a privileged few that can and regularly do pass the checkpoint 24/7 without any document checking at all.

I thought the gates were firmly shut after 8pm. Having had to sleep in Aranyaprathet before because we arrived with some goods and it was already 7.45pm, I can assure you that the border area is dead after 8pm. We walked to the market area and the border area was eerily quiet then. Also, is it true that no Thai cars can enter Poipet? Indeed, I've never seen any try.

Also, the foreigners queue is full of foreigners from all sorts of countries, there's Russians, Vietnamese, Laotians, Europeans, Aussies, Americans, etc. a ton of people and it can take a full hour to get through as a foreigner - the line went well outside the building the last two times I was there (coming back to Thailand is also slow, but queues tend to be a bit shorter). I observed the Thai queues which looked a lot quicker to me with fewer people. Since many Thais are scared of going to Cambodia (and this is in no small part due to recent and historical tensions) it did appear to me that there weren't that many Thais there.

Plenty of Thai gamblers go there, believe me. Busload after busload of them (not to mention Mercedes after Mercedes) especially on weekends and holidays.

There is an "express" immigration counter -- sometimes 2 -- for Thai nationals, they zip right through. And unlike first class check in lines at airports, they will not let others use that counter even when it is otherwise unused. Hence the long, long lines for everyone else.

Yes, I believe you. Except the part about the Thai Mercedes in Cambodia - there are no Thai cars allowed to cross the border at Poipet, except with rare exceptions mostly due to prior permission being received. The Mercedes you are talking about are probably parking in the parking lots on the Thai side whilst the gamblers are picked up by the Cambodian casino cars into no-mans land.

[Tomtomtom69]

Funny but up northern Thailand (Fang and Chaing Rai area) i saw lots of Chinese cars and bikes,

Met 3 Chinese riders crossing back to laos at Chiang Khong that had ridden from Beijing all the way down to Phuket and were heading back

spoke about 4 words of English!! Met a young Swedish guy last July ridding a Chinese motorcycle with a side car an his Chinese gf with him, He had been living and working in Shanghia and had put over 30,000 kms on his bike

In northern Laos saw loads of Chinese cars

Forgot to mention, last time i was on Otres beach, Sihanoukville, saw 2 caravans parked on the beach , one from Germany, one from Belgium an met one German guy that has a resort there and his van is under wraps

I love seeing people still getting out there an really traveling, brings back old memories of the apple pie route from Amsterdam thru Afghanistan to Kathmandu :-)

In northern Thailand, mainly Chiang Rai but also Chiang Mai you do tend to see quite a few Chinese cars, has been the case for a number of years. On a day-to-day basis though, you probably won't see many (or any at all) but during Chinese holiday periods they come down in their hundreds and are easy to spot. I'm not sure if they need a Thai guide with them as is generally required when foreign cars enter China (except for Lao cars, which don't require a guide). I did see a Chinese car registered in Jilin (it was an expensive high-end BMW) along with a motorcycle parked near the 1st Friendship Bridge in Nong Khai after just having crossed from Laos, the guy waited there for ages probably waiting for a guide or something. About to head into Myawady, Myanmar, I saw 2 Russian registered vehicles just returning from a trip to Myanmar and heading onwards to who knows where (and probably eventually back to Russia)>

In Laos you are guaranteed to see Chinese cars virtually every single day, in most parts of the country. This includes Vientiane and Luang Prabang. In general though, Thai cars dominate when it comes to foreign registered vehicles driving in Laos but this is hardly surprising - Chinese cars are second and again this is hardly surprising given the proximity and increasing wealth of Chinese.

Also in Laos, every time you're there one sees cars/motorcycles/caravans registered in all sorts of different countries. The other day it was a French and Swiss campervan travelling together south of Vang Vieng towards Vientiane (and possibly onto Thailand). The same day it was a Malaysian car as well as a week earlier. I also saw a British registered truck, Australian registered vehicles on 2 different occasions and a Florida registered motorcycle. This is hardly surprising given how open Laos is these days as you can bring in almost any vehicle from any country for tourism purposes, no problems at all.

[phuketrichard]

was the florida registered motorcyle a ural? I met the guy here in Phuket.

IN northern Laos ( Luang Namtha, Muang Sing, Udomoaxi) u see few thai cars but as one heads south towards LP, V u see more and more especailly thai registered motorycles as they come up alot from Chiang Mai for a few day trip

Chinese do not need guides in Laos or Thailand.

Because of a few bad Thai motorycleriders, groups are not being allowed in , in groups of 3 or more to enter Laos from Thailand any more. This just came about recently an u can read more on it in the gt-riders frourm.

[Tomtomtom69]

was the florida registered motorcyle a ural? I met the guy here in Phuket.

IN northern Laos ( Luang Namtha, Muang Sing, Udomoaxi) u see few thai cars but as one heads south towards LP, V u see more and more especailly thai registered motorycles as they come up alot from Chiang Mai for a few day trip

Chinese do not need guides in Laos or Thailand.

Because of a few bad Thai motorycleriders, groups are not being allowed in , in groups of 3 or more to enter Laos from Thailand any more. This just came about recently an u can read more on it in the gt-riders frourm.

Nope, it was a Suzuki I think.

In Northern Laos you see plenty of Thai cars just like everywhere else in the country so look closely, because Thai plates look similar to Lao plates (I read both languages so I can tell the difference). Chinese cars definitely don't need guides in Laos nor does anyone else - I just thought they might need guides in Thailand but you claim they don't. The largest numbers of foreign registered vehicles driving in Laos are Thai registered followed relatively closely by Chinese registered ones. Even in southern Laos you can occasionally spot a Chinese vehicle just like you can occasionally spot a Thai vehicle in isolated parts of Udomxai or Phongsali. Neither Thai nor Chinese vehicles can enter Vietnam so while you might occasionally see them driving near the Vietnamese border only Lao and obviously Vietnamese vehicles can actually cross into Vietnam. I have seen Thai vehicles parked at the Vietnamese border as the driver and passengers changed to a Lao vehicle in order to travel further into Vietnam.

I'm wondering if the group tour for motorcycle restrictions also applies to motorcycles registered in other countries. I did see groups of Thai motorcycles (about 3 or 4) driving together in Laos just last week. However, few people from neighboring countries drive motorcycles into Laos - Vietnamese only come on individual bikes and in general it's easy to bring in a car from any country in the world, bikes are a bit more of an issue with rules changing depending on if a bridge needs to be crossed etc.

Edited December 11, 2013 by Tomtomtom69

[samran]

was the florida registered motorcyle a ural? I met the guy here in Phuket.

IN northern Laos ( Luang Namtha, Muang Sing, Udomoaxi) u see few thai cars but as one heads south towards LP, V u see more and more especailly thai registered motorycles as they come up alot from Chiang Mai for a few day trip

Chinese do not need guides in Laos or Thailand.

Because of a few bad Thai motorycleriders, groups are not being allowed in , in groups of 3 or more to enter Laos from Thailand any more. This just came about recently an u can read more on it in the gt-riders frourm.

Nope, it was a Suzuki I think.

In Northern Laos you see plenty of Thai cars just like everywhere else in the country so look closely, because Thai plates look similar to Lao plates (I read both languages so I can tell the difference). Chinese cars definitely don't need guides in Laos nor does anyone else - I just thought they might need guides in Thailand but you claim they don't. The largest numbers of foreign registered vehicles driving in Laos are Thai registered followed relatively closely by Chinese registered ones. Even in southern Laos you can occasionally spot a Chinese vehicle just like you can occasionally spot a Thai vehicle in isolated parts of Udomxai or Phongsali. Neither Thai nor Chinese vehicles can enter Vietnam so while you might occasionally see them driving near the Vietnamese border only Lao and obviously Vietnamese vehicles can actually cross into Vietnam. I have seen Thai vehicles parked at the Vietnamese border as the driver and passengers changed to a Lao vehicle in order to travel further into Vietnam.

I'm wondering if the group tour for motorcycle restrictions also applies to motorcycles registered in other countries. I did see groups of Thai motorcycles (about 3 or 4) driving together in Laos just last week. However, few people from neighboring countries drive motorcycles into Laos - Vietnamese only come on individual bikes and in general it's easy to bring in a car from any country in the world, bikes are a bit more of an issue with rules changing depending on if a bridge needs to be crossed etc.

saw three chinese plated cars on getting on the tollway at the Port Authority entrance in BKK a few weeks ago. LHD, appeared to be a family on road trip. No obvious guides etc, but I wouldn't have thought they'd need one for Thailand.

Edited December 12, 2013 by samran

[phuketrichard]

tomtom, according to gt-riders the ban only applies to thai riders since they have abused the law and not stopped at immigration or customs on the Laos side, A few bad apples can spoil the whole thing.

2 riders ok, more, need officlal permission and lots of paperwork,

so they advise if more than 2 bikes to just enter at differnet times and meet up later.

So far they have said that motorcyles will NOT be allowed across the new bridge but no one has said if the ferry will cease operation. The passanger boats will keep running thou.