Visa run update Phuket - Vientiane - Phuket with Thai GF

[Bulldozer Dawn]

Ok. Here is a report to tidy up two of my earlier threads:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/822468-4-day-stay-in-vientiane-with-thai-gf-she-has-no-passport/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/748473-long-term-parking-at-phuket-airport/

Applying for a thai passport in Phuket

I did bite the bullet and do a trip down to Phuket to buy some bike parts and get the GF a new thai passport. Tips:

• If you get to the passport office early at provincial hall before it opens there is a stack of application forms outside in a plastic basket. There will be some Thai agents milling around (travel agents I guess) filling out multiple copies of these. Grab a form and then ask one of the guards where the restaurant is. There is a little thai style plastic chair restaurant inside the grounds where all of the government workers eat breakfast. They have great fresh food at very UN phuket prices. For example, three thai dishes on rice with a plate of fresh salad is 35thb. Sit there have a nice breakfast with your girl and fill out your form and then stroll back over for the opening of the passport office. New passport was 1000Thb. The fee to have it sent to our house EMS was 40thb. The receipt you get back from the passport office has the EMS tracking number on it. Photos not required, they are taken at the office for free. Thai GF will need her old passport or her ID card and a copy of her tabian ban. We live in the jungle on a mountain in Phang nga and (to my utter astonishment) the postie showed up just 3 days later with the new passport. Apparently he had spent a good part of his morning riding around trying to find our house.

Parking a motorbike long term at Phuket airport

Despite the new development, and the fact that the old parking area is now completely walled off, it is still possible to park a motorbike, for free, at Phuket airport. Tips:

• The entry road into the airport is still the same, but you will see a sign for parking off to the left. Follow that and you will see the bikes parked on the left. They are up on the cement curb. I read in Alfredo's thread that he damaged the sump plug on a big bike negotiating that curb and I can see why he had a problem. Note that the area is ABSOLUTELY PACKED with bikes. So if you are taking one of your own bikes to park there I would suggest taking your oldest, crappiest bike. There is some shelter, but more than likely you bike will be out in the weather. Don't take a big bike as the cement curb is a joke and they have bits of broken brick and plywood as ramps. I had a scooter and that was difficult enough to get up and then back down. A bigger bike would have been a nightmare. Make sure you have a good lock on your bike. Not so much for the possibility of theft, but more to ensure the security numpties don't move your bike around and scratch it or, if you are lucky enough to park undercover, move your bike out into the rain and sun.

Shuttle bus from Udon Thani airport to Nong Khai

There is still a shuttle bus running from UT airport to Nong Khai. Cost is 200THB per person. Most punters want to go to the bridge, however, If you ask politely the driver will also drop you anywhere you want in town. If you are flying in from Phuket you will get in to Nong khai late afternoon and so I would suggest you spend an evening in a one of the cheap hotels along Soi One way with a view over the river. You can still get a nice clean fan room for 300THB, same price as 6 years ago. The entertainment strip along the river was as dead as a doornail. In years gone by it was busy with Thai families on holidays and a smattering of farangs. There were absolutely zero Thai tourists and just a few bottom feeder type farangs. Didn't go to any bars so don't know what the lady scene is like.

Renting a bike in Nong Khai

As per one member's suggestion, I rang the Nong Khai City hotel from my room and asked if they had bikes for rent. Yes they did, but all rented out...so I didn't ask the price. Bloke that runs Jing Joes apparently has a German mate that will rent bikes but wanted 200thb per day and 1000thb deposit. Asked if price was negotiable but answer was no. Rented a good newish Honda click from Mr Nui for 150thb per day. Friendly guy. When I complained that his helmets were too small he actually rode off and purchased two brand new helmets for us to use. Tips:

• Your Thai GF can use her Thai ID as deposit for a bike from Mr Nui. To find him just go to the Mut Mee guest house and ask where Mr Nui rents bikes. It is a short walk from Mut Mee.

3 day border pass or Thai passport

If your Thai GF does not have a passport she can get a 3 day 2 night border pass to go to Vientianne. Make sure you apply for it the day before you want to cross the bridge. The office is on the same road but before you get to the bridge. If you girl crosses with a passport she will have to buy a small credit card sized (tax) card. It is very cheap about 38 or 48Thb. She will then get stamped in to Laos for free.

Cheap way to get to the bridge

Avoid the taxis and tuk tuks. A motorcycle taxi from Soi One Way to the bridge is 50thb

Laos visa for Farang

The Laos visa is still a ridiculous big sticker that burns a full page in your passport. You (and your Thai GF) will require at least 6 months validity on your passport to enter Laos. Don't bother downloading the form from the Laos government website and prefilling it to save time. I did that, only to be told that the form was not correct. I was then handed a new one to fill out despite my protests that I downloaded it from their (bloody) website the night before. As usual you will not be able to find any Laos arrival cards. The touts have stolen them all to sell or to prompt you to use their service. You will have to walk up to the counter with the HUNDREDS of other farangs milling there and ask for a form and an arrival card. You hand your passport, money and paperwork in at counters 1 or 2 and then wait for your passport at counter 3 just around the corner. Tips:

• The price for most western countries is still 35USD. Make sure you bring some clean notes with you as if you pay in baht the price is 1500thb. At todays exchange rate that is a skim of nearly 10USD by Laos immigration. Do NOT pay the extra dollar for processing before 8.00am. The early passports just go on the bottom of the massive stack and you will be last to receive your passport at window 3. I can not stress enough how absolutely atrocious and 3rd world the service at the Laos immigration is. I was the third person to hand them my application at around 7 am and had to wait (along with about 100 other people) until well after 9 am to get my passport back. The guy holds each individual passport up at window 3. There are so many farangs milling about, like dogs waiting for a biscuit, it is impossible to see whose passport is being held up. My advice after being exposed to this circus is to go, at all costs, elsewhere for your visa run.

Bus and taxi prices (and a travel warning)

The bus across the bridge is still 20thb per person. If you jump in a minvan with other farangs the price to the consulate is still 100thb per person. Tips:

I have been travelling in SEA for over 40 years. This last trip to Vientiane the Farangs around me on the bus and mini bus trips were the most scruffy, desperate, one eyed, scagged out, tattooed riff raff I have ever encountered in all my travels. Perhaps the wheels really are falling off the bus back in Farangland and I have lost touch here in the jungle. But my tip here is this. Keep to yourself if you do this visa run, and watch your luggage and belongings very closely.

The consulate

Also make sure that you do not download the form from the consulate website. I did, the night before, and it was also refused. I also had to fill out their new form, but fortunately they saved my placed in the cue numbers. There are absolute hoards of people there, with the usual cue jumping morons. While I was at the desk receiving my number, one bloke crept up behind the girl that was serving me and tried to steal a cue number from her pile. I know...hard to believe...but true. But despite the morons, the consulate is actually dealing with the hoards fairly efficiently. Fill out your form, get your cue number pay 2000Thb and get a double entry tourist visa the next day. Tips:

• There is a photocopy shop upstairs at the consulate, but it was not staffed when I walked up there. I already had copies of my passport photo page (2 are required with your application) however you also require a copy of your Thai exit stamp, laos visa and laos entry stamp. You can do these in the restaurant just outside consulate for 5thb each. The building to the left where you pay for your visa is now airconditioned and has some plastic chairs in a small waiting area. If your girl is with you and the weather is hot, you can have her park up on one of the chairs in the payments building while you are cueing up with the desperate masses waiting for a cue number.

Tuk Tuk from consulate to town

There are taxi and tuk tuk touts in the Consulate grounds quoting ridiculous prices for the trip into town. Walk out the gate and to the right and down to the intersection. You will see some scruffy old tuk tuks there who will take you to town for 120thb.

Which hotel in town?

I stayed in town because I wanted to do some restaurant hopping with the girl. Apparently there are some cheap hotels around the consulate but cant comment on those. Upon PhuketRichard's recommendation I stayed at the Mixay Paradise however the room was WELL past its use by date. Paint peeling off the walls, vents cracked and missing on the aircon, exposed electrical wiring repaired with tape, sheets and towels grey and smelling of smoke. Horrible cold communist regime vibe from the staff. Free orange juice dispenser was empty. Young lad at reception charged my girl 40thb for a small bottle of water and gave her 1000kip change. Lucky for him I found out about this after we were on a bus back to nong khai!. Tip:

• After the first night we checked out of the Mixay and moved next store to the Sports guest house. It was an old hotel but they have renovated downstairs very nicely in a modern theme. The rooms are much bigger than those at Mixay, clean, but dated. They are also much cheaper then Mixay at 100,000 kip for a double with air. There is no lift however. The internet sucked the big one at both hotels.

Good cheap food

I was rather shocked at the price of food in Vientiane. Street food is priced similar to what one might pay in Patong. For example a fried rice can run you 100thb or more. We had a nice, albeit expensive nosh up at Kop Chai deu which is walking distance from the street where Mixay and Sports guest house are located. It is a big up market ishhh double storey place. Tip:

• If you walk down the street from the sports guest house toward the Mekong river you will come to a road. Turn right and walk down a little and you will see a 7 eleven (style) minimart. In front of it after dark is a little husband and wife street food stall with yellow metal tables and chairs. They do a fair fried rice with fried egg on top for about 60thb.

Final word

To be honest I couldn't wait to get back to Nong Khai. Hated Vientiane. The taste left in my mouth from Laos immigration was just so bitter I could not enjoy myself. As a result, I cut the Laos trip short to spend more time dossing about in Isaan. Had a great time with the girl's family. They have a nice big patch of land with some huge old growth trees. Went to a 100,000 THB cock fight. Stepped on a cobra while walking around drunk at night in a paddy. Ate far too many barbequed pork ribs...and not nearly enough keeyat tort. Getting a double entry TV at the consulate is easy. Dealing with Laos immigration at the bridge is like chewing razor blades....for three hours...

Edited July 11, 2015 by Bulldozer Dawn

[paz]

Nice report

You (and your Thai GF) will require at least 6 months validity on your passport to enter Laos.

Thai ppl don't need a passport but just their ID card at all to enter Laos and stay in the border area up to three days. Which usually is enough for a visa.

Edited July 11, 2015 by paz

[TerryLH]

You could get the Lao visa in advance and skip dealing with it at the border.

[phuketrichard]

Good report for those on the cheap; I have never gotten a visa in Laos so no idea about that.

i guess, goes to show you to each their own.

i love laos and Vientiane, its laid back an easy walkable city

great food and lots of it

nice night market on the riverside at night

very friendly people ( at least all those that i met on my many road trips thru there)

The Mixay, it all depends on the room. I get a double room and it faces the wat in front, very nice

You can also get a shit room with no windows.

I did mention i am sure, a 2nd hotel (the Souphaphone) around the corner, cost a bit more but nicer room a bit more no breakfast....and said there many in the area.

There i could use my ais sim card in my mobile an cable it to my computer and got faster internet than theirs LOL

[bigt3116]

You could get the Lao visa in advance and skip dealing with it at the border.

Can you get it online or do you have to go to the Embassy ?

[ubonjoe]

You could get the Lao visa in advance and skip dealing with it at the border.

Can you get it online or do you have to go to the Embassy ?

At the embassy in Bangkok or the consulate in Koen Khen. Laos does not have an e-visa.

[ubonjoe]

Nice report

You (and your Thai GF) will require at least 6 months validity on your passport to enter Laos.

Thai ppl don't need a passport but just their ID card at all to enter Laos and stay in the border area up to three days. Which usually is enough for a visa.

Without a passport it requires applying for a border pass. It is not a matter of just showing the ID card.

The application can only be done from 8 am to about 4:30 pm. That can delay crossing in the morning or spending the night in Nong Khai if arriving late.

[chaawlepcha]

On Thursday, I applied TR visa In Vientiane and I noticed several changes compared with my past experiences made in last August. I would like to add the following details:

- getting a que number: Two consulate staff sitting at the desk in the non-air-conditioned waiting area, situated to the left of "group tour only" window-counter, were distributing que numbers. I initially thought that they were taking care of group tour people, but were actally checking application documnets from non-tour indivisuals and giving que numbers. I used the form that I used last August. They gave me a que number anyway, but told me to fill out a new application form. I was also asked to add one more copy of passport photo page (in total 2 required). I went around 09:50 and got a que number around one houndred. I guessed that the last que number for the day would be around 140.

- after applying at the window-counters in the waiting area: Two window-counters were open for indivisuals and one for group tour people. As consulate staff found no issues nor questions on my application, thye gave me back:
A) a copy of passport photo page stapled with my que number paper,
you passport, and
C) rest of application documents stapled (with some messages on the "official use only" part, but I forgot to try to read it) .
I had to bring them to the air-conditioned building to the left where payment was to be made.
(The gourp tour line was moving soomthly on the day, but the non-tour indivisual line was moving slowly mainly becuase of langugae teacher non b visa applicants. They were faced with a new regulation to produce "Police Clearance Documnet" and were having rather lengthy discussions with consulate staff. Later, it was found that this additional requirement introduced earily the week was intended mainly to kick out applicant having child sex abuse recoords)

- Submition of passort and application document: I had to submit again my passport and application documnet (B and C) to the window-counter 4, if I remember it correctly (anyway the counter most nearest to the entrance from the waiting area).

- Payment: Two staff from a Thai Bank were stationed at window-counter 6 in the building. I gave my visa fee together with the que-number-paper-stapeled copy of passport photo age. They stapled a receit of visa fee to the copy of passport photo page, instaed of the original que number papar. Bank staff wrote my que number on the receit. Ten bath processing fee was not charged although an annoncement to do so were still posted on the winndow near the counter.

- Returing passport: Next afetrnoon, you will get your passport back. When returning passports, the application que numbers were used. They colleced the receit-stapled copy of passport photo page and asked me to sign for receiving my passoprt. I only got my passport with visa back, without any reciet for the fee (anyway my visa indicats fees collected). It started around 13:28. It took 10 mintues to handle 25 applicants, so I got mine around 14:10. For group tour people (around 170 people, I guessed), they did not show up and thier agents were collecting many bundles of passports, so the area was not so crowded.
(I reached the consulate section around 13:00 because I had nothing to do, hoping that I would get my passort back early. But, the same application que number was used for returing passports, so my earlier visit there did not make any merits to me. There was a guy with a tight travel schedule on the day, so he came there quite ealier than myself, but in vain. His que number was bigger than mine by around 20)

Hopes this would be of some help to some applicants.

[Bulldozer Dawn]

Thanks Chaawlepcha.

I didn't mention the collection the next day but it was a complete zoo. They have led numbers displayed above counter 1 and 2 to the right but for some reason they were not using them. There was just a mosh pit of HUNDREDS of people waiting. I stood at the back of this pack and waited to see what would unfold. I had already arranged with a minibus driver outside for a return trip back to the bridge for both my girl and me for 100thb each. She was waiting in the van and so I knew regardless of how long it took me to get my passport back he would still have to wait for me.

At one stage, I couldn't see why, or what happened, but there was a great rush of people charging at the two windows. Crazy stuff. Then, they did not use the LED numbers but rather called out in broken english on a speaker now serving number 1 to 20 and then 20 to 40 and so on. There was just total and absolute confusion and so I just waited at the back of the mosh. It took me about 1 and a half hours to get my passport back. The aforementioned taxi driver came in to check on me about 5 times...and on the last two occassions he went from a happy go lucky chap to a snarling nazi telling me to hurry up. The trip to the bridge was uneventful and the crossing through both laos and thai immigration smooth. A final tip, if you are staying in Non Khai or want to go to the bus station there, once you get back into Thailand on the Thai side of the bridge, walk past all of the taxi and tuk tuk touts and down the road a bit. You will see a 7 eleven on the left. In front of it are a few old ladys who work as motorcycle taxis (they have their coloured vests on). They will only charge you 50 thb to go into town or to the bus or train station.