What's a good way to enter Laos from North Thailand?

breadmonkey

As per title. I'm not set on ending up anywhere particular in Laos. Luang Prabang maybe? Boat ride?

Frank Grimes

I took a train from BKK to Nong Khai. From there it's a short tuk tuk ride to the border.
Nearest city is Vientiane. It's easy to get there from the border.

Norinoco

Hi Breadmonkey.

We were staying in Chaing Mai and booked the Slow boat from there to Luang Prabang. We also got the visa sorted through them.

If you are taking a boat, there is 2 options - the Fast Boat which gets you there in about 10 hours at deafening speed. You have to wear a motorbike helmet. Heard it is very dangerous but if you are stuck for time then a good option

The second option is the slowboat - this is the option I would highly recommend.
It was about a 4-hour bus journey to a town on the boarder of Thailand and Laos. We stayed there over night. Next morning we got a fast boat across a river to Laos. From here we got a tuk tuk to the slow boat.
If you are taking this option...get the seats down the back of the slow boat - the plastic picnic chairs are the most comfy. If you sit in one of the rows (church pews) you will regret it - very cramped and uncomfortable.

You spend the day going down the mekong river and at night, stop in a town called pekbeg - the electricity goes out at 9pm! The accomodation is awful here, but a talking point on the boat the following day!!
You will get asked back at the previous nights town if you want to book accommodation in advance...personally I would recommend it. Its not that much cheaper booking if you wait til you get there. All the accommodation is awful, so you are not missing out, and I have heard of people that have had to sleep on the beach as all the accommodation is booked out.

The next morning, everyone gets back on the boat - get there early for the back seats and another day on the boat down to Luang Prabang. Arrive there about 4ish in the afternoon. Most of the accommodation in Luang Prabang is very good - we got an excellent guesthouse.

The best thing about the boat is that you become very good friends will all the westerners on the boat, and they tend to be travelling the same direction as you around the rest of asia, so you have friends in every town you go to. It also gives you lots of time to catch up on your reading and diary writing!!

Will drag out the diary tonight and give you more information on the prices we paid and the places we stayed.

Luang Prabang was my favourite town of all the places we visited in Asia...you will love it.

PunyHuman

A friend of mine did the Luang Prabang - Pakbeng - Thailand route by slow boat and didn't think it was that great.

I flew Luang Prabang - Chiang Mai for about $60 I think.

Gotta agree with the last poster - Luang Prabang is fantastic, you'll probably want to spend a while there. We spent a week and it wasn't enough.

aviendha

I'll second the flying option...only 40minute flight versus 3 days via the bus/slow boat, which I heard from people I met in Luang Prabang was hellish.

Luang Prabang is great.

Eurorunner

As Frank Grimes said. If you go for this option you can set off from either Udon Thani or Nong Khai. You need US dollars for the visa (do a search for exact amount) and bring a couple of passport sized photos.

Norinoco

God...what ever happened to a bit of adventure, travelling around Asia is not meant to be easy, its meant to be an eyeopener - you are not going to see much of Laos sitting in an airplane seat.

Travel how the locals travel, see how life really is on the Mekong. Even though Pekbeg was a complete dump, it was interesting to see how people survived in such a remote place (and its only for one night).....and dare I say you might learn something

Forgot to check my diary for the prices...promise i'll remember it tonight!

PunyHuman

Norinoco wrote:

God...what ever happened to a bit of adventure

Ah, here, that's not fair. By the time I arrived in Luang Prabang I had been travelling by bus and boat around Asia having adventures for months on end.

So:

norinoco wrote:

Travel how the locals travel

Travel how you want to travel.

Norinoco

Breadmonkey, here are the prices we paid for a few trips and buses in Loas...might be useful as a guideline. There were 3 of us so we always tried to get a room with 3 beds.

• Chiang Mai - 3 day trek in mountains: 1500 baht (we met people that paid 4500b each!!!)
• Laos Visa: 1500 baht
• Transport (Accommodation and breakfast in Chiang Kong inc.) from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang by Slowboat: 1300 baht
• Accommodation in Luang Prabang (Namsok Guesthouse): US$8 per night for triple bed room
• Accommodation in Vang Vieng (Nana's Guesthouse): US$8 per night for triple bed room
• Bus Vang Vieng to Vientiane (4hrs): US$5
• Accommodation in Vientiane (Mixay Guesthouse): US$6 per night for triple bed room
• Bus Vientiane to Hanoi (24hrs): US$18

Dont eat anything before getting on a bus going from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng - 18 out of 25 people on our bus got sick form the bus rocking from side to side. Couldnt find the price we paid for it - think it was around $5.

breadmonkey

Thanks for the replies, especially Norinoco. We cant really afford to fly, especially now that it looks like we're staying an extra week (some of you may have seen my other thread about this). I think we'll have to take the slow boat since if they're making you wear a helmet over here (for the fast boat), it must be INSANELY dangerous!

I'm actually in Pai at the moment. It has been raining nonstop for the last 18 hours! We'll hopefully be doing a bit of trekking in the next day or two.

breadmonkey

Norinoco wrote:

Breadmonkey, here are the prices we paid for a few trips and buses in Loas...might be useful as a guideline. There were 3 of us so we always tried to get a room with 3 beds.

• Chiang Mai - 3 day trek in mountains: 1500 baht (we met people that paid 4500b each!!!)
• Laos Visa: 1500 baht
• Transport (Accommodation and breakfast in Chiang Kong inc.) from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang by Slowboat: 1300 baht
  
• Bus Vientiane to Hanoi (24hrs): US$18

Where in Chiang Mai did you organise your trek? I said above that we were going to do one here in Pai but I think it's a lot more expensive. We went to a good few places to enquire about prices and it seems the going rate is 600-700B per night with no elephants or rafts. A group of our friends organised one through a TAT office in Bangkok and paid 1300 each (rafts and elephants, 3 days, 2 nights). They managed to get a discount because their were 10 of them but the original price was 1500. I'd be happy with that since I would actually save money over the 3 days rather than have to stretch my budget.

Laos visa: Is it entirely necessary to get the visa in advance. Is 1500 the standard price or can you do it cheaper? Did you get yours through an embassy or through the boat package? How many days? From my Vietnam visa research in Bangkok, it was much cheaper to get it in the embassy than any travel office.

Where did you book the slow boat?

We're actually going to go white (brown probably) water rafting for 2 days starting tomorrow morning. One of the guide guys is from Laos so he said he'd give me some info. Does the slow boat go from Chiang Rai? I've heard of that a few times.

24 hour bus journey! That must have been bad. I hope that's not the only way to get to Hanoi from Laos (Vientiane or otherwise)?


P.S. It's STILL raining here: 25 hours and counting.

Frank Grimes

breadmonkey wrote:

24 hour bus journey! That must have been bad. I hope that's not the only way to get to Hanoi from Laos (Vientiane or otherwise)?

No, you can cross independently at the border crossings, you don't have to take one of those buses to get there.
I went from a town called Xam Neua in Laos to Hanoi 2 weeks ago. I crossed at the Nam Xao/Na Meo crossing.
Regarding the visas. You can get a visa on arrival at the Friendship Bridge crossing (I didn't check any of the other crossings as I'd only intended using that one) so it's not necessary to get one if you're crossing there. The main reason for getting a Laos visa in advance from an embassy is you'll get 30 days whereas the visa on arrival is a 15 day visa. The overstay penalty is $10 a day, I think it's $3 per day to extend it (has to be done before it runs out obviously). I got a 30 day visa when I was in KL because I wasn't sure how long I'd spend in Laos.

Norinoco

Hi Breadmonkey,

Hope the rain has stopped!!

Never made it to Phi, would have loved to have seen it.

breadmonkey wrote:

Where in Chiang Mai did you organise your trek?
Where did you book the slow boat?

We stayed in Julie's Guesthouse in Chaing Mai and booked everything through them, including the Laos visa and the Slow boat.
The trek included 2 nights, last day elephant riding, bamboo rafting and abit of white water rafting.
The reason we booked the Laos visa through them was that we heard it was a bit of hassle doing it yourself and would not work out much cheaper...and It was our last visa to get so we were a bit lazy about it!

breadmonkey wrote:

Does the slow boat go from Chiang Rai?

Im not sure that the name of the town that the slow boat leaves from. The place we stayed the night before was called Chaing Kong (in Thailand).

breadmonkey wrote:

24 hour bus journey! That must have been bad. I hope that's not the only way to get to Hanoi from Laos (Vientiane or otherwise)?

You could always fly, think the flights are around 100 dollars. We had to take the bus option as we were running out of money and couldnt afford flights either.

The bus wasnt that bad, other than not sleeping for 24 hours (I cant sleep on a bus). The westerners were given the seats down the back and the locals the front seats.There were regular stops - bring lots of food with you if you are going with the bus option.
The buses only issue was a flat tire in the middle of the night. It was in the mountains - never seen so many stars in my life - it was amazing.

P.S. If you are going with the slow boat option...bring a good book!

PunyHuman

Another two cents:

If you do bus it from Vientiane to Hanoi, or vice versa, make sure your bus drivers come through the border with you! The border crossing is up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere and there's about a kilometre of no-man's land through which you have to carry your own bags.

Our unscrupulous drivers abandoned a group of around twenty of us at the border and went back to Hanoi, so we had to negotiate our own way to Vientiane, which was a pretty stressful process as you might imagine.

humbleCounty

we got teh slow boat from huay xai(?) to luang prabang, via pak beng. easily the best single decision we made on our whole trip. Buy a few beer lao for the boat trip, settle down at the back of the boat away from those benches, and let the good times roll! Met a great bunch of people on the boat who we ended up travelling around lao with, had an awesome night in pak beng, though its a little bit of a dump, people are super friendly, food was good, beer was cold n great craic.

the scenes on the mekong are unbelievable, gorgeous country, n how often do you get a chance to cruise down a river with as much mystique as the mekong?

**** flying, bus or the speed boat!

fruitcake

I took that route as recently as a month ago..we got the speed boat at the Laos Thai border..I was having a bit of a heart attack getting on it but it was worth it, made the trip in 5 as opposed to 48 hours..a magical experience once your ears became accustomed to the noise, the scenery was breath taking..also those on the speed boat bonded too, all three of us:)