LAOS INTERNATIONAL BORDER CROSSINGS

[Lone Rider]

Regarding the Huay Kon (Nan) crossing, Auke showed some pix from 2011 where the old building was demolished and temporary ones put in place. The old building looks identical to the one at Phu Doo, which I assume will also eventually be converted into something new (on the Lao side the Phu Doo crossing has new buildings). Going through Huay Kon in 2015 I saw the temporary ones. I am assuming they are planning on constructing a new customs/immigration complex on the Thai side as well as on the Lao side. When are these likely to be finished?

New buildings at the Huay Khon crossing - There is a new Immigration building as well as a new customs building (a bit west of the Immigration building) at the Thai side but these apparently are being used by the administrative staff. I think that the main problem is the location and layout of the roads at the border crossing. Around 2011 there were drawings of the new border crossing buildings to be built on the Lao side of the crossing but since that time almost nothing has happened with regard to the Immigration/Customs building at the Lao side.


The new Immigration building at the junction of the road to the village (Chalem Prakiat) and the shortcut to road 101

 

[The Bigfella]

I would like to share (with his permission) a post that Grant Griffin posted on the Ulysses Thailand site yesterday:

With all the stories of the new 5 bike rule and increased fees for big bikes wanting to cross over to Laos via Vientiane, I was advised to do the border crossing at Chiang Khong.

Thanks to Michel Bayot for the safe escort to the border via Nan...

Entered the Thai Border control at 8:40am and out of the Laos Border control at 10:20am...

It was so easy; enter the Thai border control and follow the car sign and park in line, I was second in line, proceed to the Immigration office on the far right, once in there they will direct you on what to do.

You will need 3 copies of all the relevant pages in your passport, your green book translation (with the original stapled in your book) all the relevant copies of pages in your green book and 1 passport size photo. You will need 2 copies for Thai Immigration and 1 copy for Thai customs.

Once the immigration office is finished with all the paperwork, they will give you a copy, pay 200 baht and then proceed to the Blue immigration booth in front of where you have parked.

Once you clear immigration, ride your bike to the Green customs booth, hand over all the other copies and answer all questions…I want to exit via Nong Khai and this was no trouble to do.

Once finished, ride across the friendship bridge over to the Laos border control. This was also easy, except for the 2 farang tour busses just ahead of me, this just meant I had to stand in line for some time, if I had been a bit earlier, I would have breezed through.

First thing to do is get your visa on arrival, fill out the 2 forms, 1500 baht and the passport photo. Then pass Immigration, 200baht, then report to customs, 100 Baht (tell them where you want to exit from and make sure you get 30 days on your bike import papers), then 30 day insurance at 500 baht.

All very straight forward….The Tourist police came to see me at customs and asked if I could come to their office for a chat….Mmmmmm…what’s going on here…they wanted me to assure them that I wasn’t on a non-Laos organised motorcycle tour and if caught, there is a US$5000 fine.

They took copies of my passport, while I told them I was a solo motorcycle tourist, also telling them where I am going and what I will be up to, once this was understood all was good, cheers all-round and I was on my way….Hooray!

 

[2wheels]

Thanks Grant and Ian for the detailed update.

 

[bsacbob]

Word from a friend is you can exit at the Nan crossing of Huay Khon by motorcycle with no issues as of last week, entering to Laos at this point is still not possible unless you are prepared to pay 20 k for guide paperwork, was a quoted figure.