I did a Visa-run to LAOS

This post was originally written in January 2024

One of the things about staying in Thailand over the winter, is worrying about visas. Previously I've solved this by heading off to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam by plane. Exit the airport, and then go straight back in to catch my flight back to Thailand and I had my stay in Thailand sorted. Sort of.

But last spring I was stopped by the Thai Immigration at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, and they had some questions. And I had to agree to some terms before they would let me back into the Kingdom. One of these things would be to not return on a visa exemption again the next time I arrived to the country. And since you don't mess with the Immigration Officers, I of course agreed and got myself a actual Tourist Visa for my first 60 days in Thailand, which I extended with 30 days for a total of 90 days on my first Tourist Visa.

Fast forward to December, and plans had to be made to get another Tourist Visa to get me through to spring.... So off I went, to Laos!

I decided on being budget-focused, and got myself a bus from Bangkok to Nong Khai, close to the Laos border, and Vientiane. 12Go Asia has a pretty solid selection of travel alternatives. I booked my ticket through them.

The ride to Nong Khai was in itself pretty decent, if you don't count the stress of almost missing the bus entirely! Overall the bus stations in Thailand are notorious for not using a word of English in their announcements, and I was not informed that my bus was leaving from a different platform than my ticket stated. But with some luck and some staff members realizing I was waiting for the bus that got moved... they rushed me, and another Thai lady, over to the correct platform and we got on the bus. Lucky!

After arriving in Nong Khai in the early hours of the morning, it was just a quick TukTuk to the Thai-Lao Friendship bridge and the border to Laos! I had to pay a Visa on Arrival in Laos, this was not a problem. But I do recommend bringing your own pen for filling out the paperwork required.

Found a group of young French tourists going approx the same way as me, and we hopped into the same Songthaew and ventured towards the city of Vientiane, the capitol city of Laos

I'm not gonna talk about my hotel much, it wasn't great to be honest. And they tried some shady moved on me and another person trying to give is a smaller room than what we had booked. But we did get the room-standard that we ordered in the end, and the staff was overall pretty accommodating after this.... But I found a super dry, eaten corncob in my windowsill behind the curtains. So let's just leave it at that on how the hotel was as a whole. It was in a really nice location though, so it wasn't all bad.

The whole ordeal at the Embassy a couple of days after arrival was fine, but since I had misunderstood some of the requirements, I had to exit the queue, get some more documentation, and get back in line. Learning the hard way that the financial requirements does not mean cash in hand, but actual balance in the accounts you deliver statements from. Cash in hand was 100% irrelevant and was not taken into consideration at all. If I had had all my papers in order, this would have been a 30-ish minute ordeal. Which isn't bad at all. After accepting the documents they do make you wait for two days until you can go pick up your passport with the hopefully approved Visa, which is a huge sticker put in your passport. Pretty neat!

I picked up my passport two days later and headed straight for the border.

But my days in Vientane were pretty nice. Ate a bit too much lasagna from a place close to my hotel. Not local food, but it was good food. Expensive compared to local food, but no regrets!

Wandered around a little bit, looked at some things, said hi to some people. A lot of the buildings seem to have more of a European influence, which was a nice contrast to some of the more local looking buildings. Both are fine, they're just different. Which makes it a fun mix.

I did want to go down to the Mekong River and have a look, but it was much further away than it seemed to be, so I decided not to try to find my way there in the scorching hot sun and find my room and the aircon instead on this particular day.

As I said before, after I got my passport, I headed straight to the border again, to find my way back to Bangkok. Again I recommend bringing your own pen for filling out the paperwork. There is a lot of paperwork here in South East Asia. Just bring a pen. A good one that works, if you like your life to be stress free.

From the border to Nong Khai I was placed in an overcrowded TukTuk, in the front seat with the driver. Holding on to my baggage for dear life.

I celebrated my safe arrival at the bus station with a ice cream from 7 Eleven and a huge glass of ice and a coke zero. Later ate some local food, before I hopped on my bus to Bangkok. ... Again almost missing it since the platform was indeed changed, again. After being assured it would be at x platform.

Arriving at the bus station in Bangkok was a hassle, getting crowded by over-eager and scammy motosai-taxies that claim that there are no regular car taxis... You almost have to yell at them to go away. As a foreigner a lot of them see you are a easy target.
... but in a way they were right. There are regular taxis, but the line is looong. Solved this issue by hauling my luggage a few hundred meters down the street and got a taxi pretty easily. And to be honest, I would rather haul my luggage and keep moving, than stand in line for half an hour or more. Not sure if this is a ADHD thing or not. But standing in line kills me inside.

Thoughts and tips

If you plan on doing a something like this, I have some tips for you:

• Not all busses have toilets, prepare accordingly.
• Bring your own toilet paper and wetwipes! Toilet paper is just not really a thing here.
• Bring that pen.
• Don't be afraid to ask for help if you are a little lost. Most people will try to help you
• Google Translate is your friend, but short sentences are best.
• Smile a lot
• Enjoy your trip with a open mind!