Prev Page 3 of 61 1 2 3 4 5 Next » 1507 replies to this topic

[Fred Sanford]

I'd pay that guy 400 baht in a heartbeat if it meant not standing in that insane line out from of the consulate twice. I take it you spent zero time in that line? if so then you did 3000% times better than us suckers grinding it out for 2 hours

[bangkokgas]

Chris,

I'll expand. Whilst it is obvious in Penang that agents can be used (and in deed I have used them before), there is a scary sign outside the embassy in Laos saying that every applicant must apply in person or....else? Words to that effect anyway. I'd have used one and sat by the mekong and had a beer rather than go, just was'nt on I was told.You experienced otherwise and good luck to you. Apologies if my wording was a little "strong".
Cheers,
Gas

[Fred Sanford]

I certainly wasn't about to trust the dude out front who asked me but power to anyone who can pull off using a dude successfully

[brahmburgers]

When the Thai visa office in Vientiane was at the former place - it was easier - although the tiny room with no open windows was horrible place to wait for hours.

At least for awhile, there was a bright young man helping out. I think he was a Thai working in that department.  He acted as a liaison for big dumb farang like me.   He would come up to the people who were close to getting their #'s called and would quietly ask them what type of visa they were going for and advise them in a pleasant manner what their best options were.

Such methodology is miles better than what usually happans a Thai embassies.   The usual way has the farang confused and worried.  When he finally gets to the counter, his blood pressure is pounding and he's hoping he has all the documents perfect and he says the exact correct thing in the precise polite manner, and his appearance is neat, and he's clean shaven and debonnair.  Hoping upon hope that the person at the counter wil look upon him kindly and allow him decent service.

The whiz kids who stay abreast of this section of the Thaivisa forum - are at an advantage, because they keep up on much of the latest twists and turns.  But the average joe feels like he's a fish floundering in a turbulent sea - at the mercy of the person at the desk counter.  

It doesn't have to be that way. The process could be so much smoother if there were one or two liaison people interacting with the farang waiting their turn.  Farang would be ecstatic to help fund the salaries for such people - perhaps one at each foreign Thai consulate - particularly the offices which perfunctorily turn down requests - because there's a piece of paperwork missing or the wrong box got checked by mistake, or some little thing that could be fixed - but the workers often don't have the patience to allow for such unpreparedness on the part of farang.

All indications are Thai Imm dept doesn't want things to run smoothly.  they appear to want farang to be on edge and unsure of procedures.  Perhaps it makes it easier for the desk worker to say, "no visa for you. Next please."

[funfun]

bangkokgas, on 2007-12-21 18:29:33, said:

Chris,

I'll expand. Whilst it is obvious in Penang that agents can be used (and in deed I have used them before), there is a scary sign outside the embassy in Laos saying that every applicant must apply in person or....else? Words to that effect anyway. I'd have used one and sat by the mekong and had a beer rather than go, just was'nt on I was told.You experienced otherwise and good luck to you. Apologies if my wording was a little "strong".
Cheers,
Gas

No worries gas, and it is, horses for course's, people are out there to rip us off, and that is where thai visa forum helps 100% keeps us upto date with scams etc and all this that we write on here will unfortuatly change again in a few months cos we'll all prob be going back to pennang again or cambodia or somewhere else!
if ya ever in Pattaya call in soi 6 corner bar ill get you a beer, wont be beer laos (shame)!   
chris

[tod-daniels]

Just an FYI...

Anyone who may be contemplating the trip to Vientiane for their visa.  
I peruse Air Asia's site regularly to snap up cheap fares. Right now they are doing a 99baht (++) one way to Udon Thani and have the same price for return towards the end of January 2008.  It works out to 1,442.36 THB r/t with all the taxes and miscellaneous surcharges.  

I called Air Asia to see if they gave a discount if I would buy ‘X’ number of tickets.  They told me unless I could guarantee to take EVERY seat on the plane they wouldn't budge on their pricing and to look for their promotions.  Perhaps I didn’t talk to a person high enough up on the food chain, but after 20 minutes of being routed thru person after person, presumably going higher up the ladder of responsibility I gave up.

[tropo]

tod-daniels, on 2007-12-22 11:42:51, said:

Just an FYI...

Anyone who may be contemplating the trip to Vientiane for their visa.  
I peruse Air Asia's site regularly to snap up cheap fares. Right now they are doing a 99baht (++) one way to Udon Thani and have the same price for return towards the end of January 2008.  It works out to 1,442.36 THB r/t with all the taxes and miscellaneous surcharges.

These fares change at a moments notice for different flights on different days. I bought 2 free tickets to Udon Thani last month. How do they survive with such low prices?

[funfun]

tropo, on 2007-12-22 21:14:03, said:

tod-daniels, on 2007-12-22 11:42:51, said:

Just an FYI...

Anyone who may be contemplating the trip to Vientiane for their visa.  
I peruse Air Asia's site regularly to snap up cheap fares. Right now they are doing a 99baht (++) one way to Udon Thani and have the same price for return towards the end of January 2008.  It works out to 1,442.36 THB r/t with all the taxes and miscellaneous surcharges.

These fares change at a moments notice for different flights on different days. I bought 2 free tickets to Udon Thani last month. How do they survive with such low prices?

"I bought 2 free tickets to Udon Thani"

how can you buy somthing for free!!!


"How do they survive with such low prices?"

tropo'
Your flying it!!!!!!!

I came back with air asia on 13/14 dec all i paid was  1,400 all in
air asia have an annoying little habbit of putting fares on really cheap maybe start frr then 99 bhat the fuller the plane seems to get the more it goes up!
you can call them from border to enqure if they have seats the reply might be yes sir we have 39 avaible seats and they 1450 bhat
you can call on the way to airport cos if full ya might as well go udon, yes sir have 15 seats 1695 bhat!!!!


I like air asia in as much as they frequent and prices good, but ever a problem your getting tret like dirt!
chris

[tropo]

funfun, on 2007-12-23 07:58:56, said:

"I bought 2 free tickets to Udon Thani"

how can you buy somthing for free!!!


"How do they survive with such low prices?"

tropo'
Your flying it!!!!!!!

Because if you don't buy them, you don't get them.

As you know, even if the ticket is free you still have to pay fuel surcharge and taxes etc. My final price was 1241 return.

[Lippy]

hi all

Very helpfull thread in these turbulent times at Penang.

I usualy do go to Penang but,after reading all the posts about it and speaking to a malaysian agent on the phone,i am definatly heading to Laos

I've only ever been to Laos one time and that was years ago.At that time i had to apply for a Lao entrance visa through an agent in Bkk,but i understand now you can just go to the Nong Kai border and just pay for a Lao visa on entering the country is that correct? If so what would be the cost in BHT?

I think i did see that you could do this but the post was a little vague so could someone please take the weight off my mind and confirm that for me please

Also can anyone recommend a few cheap places to stay as i am on quite a tight budget.

thanks.

Lippy

[eek]

You CAN buy a visa at the border, yes (although in hind sight i would next time probably get one in advance to cut on waiting times). The cost is in US Dollars only (to my knowledge) and cost me $45 (at least thats what i recall. I was pretty tired after taking the bus from CM). Just make sure you have a supply of dollars as well as baht as Laos likes both of these currencies as well as kip.

Whilst there i didnt use kip at all. Dollars for hotel, baht for tuk tuk etc.

Thai consulate asks for baht tho.

Cant recommend a cheap place to stay though, as i treated myself to a pricey place after such a long bus trip.

Edited by eek, 2007-12-23 17:40:01.

[cali4995]

Lippy, they have a sliding scale for visa fees based on you nationality. At the
border you can pay in baht or $ for visa-on-arrival but I think the Lao embassy
in Bangkok only accepts Thai baht.(apparently dollars a rare advantage here).

http://www.bkklaoembassy.com/

Resources on accommodation are  sketchy, even the travel books are hurting in
this area. This one link below has some of the better information.

http://www.travelfis...e/vientiane/all

[Lippy]

Thanks eek and Cali for your quick responses.

I'm not too worried about the time it'll take,it just takes the pressure off me knowing i can do it that way.

I'm in the South and plan to book both trains in advance and arrive in bkk on a weekend and thought id have to hang around till the embassy opened but now i should have alot more leeway.

The info is much appreciated.

Cheers

Lippy

[JoshBKK]

eek, on 2007-12-23 17:39:11, said:

You CAN buy a visa at the border, yes (although in hind sight i would next time probably get one in advance to cut on waiting times). The cost is in US Dollars only (to my knowledge) and cost me $45 (at least thats what i recall.

Right, you can buy a visa at the border, just some days ago I bought mine at the Friendship Bridge I (Nong Khai) and it just took a couple of minutes to get the visa issued. I only had to provide one picture, the visa fee (see below) and the address of the hotel where I intended to stay in Laos.

You can pay the fee in Thai Baht as well (what I did), but currently it seems favorable to pay the fee in U.S. Dollars. In my case, being a German citizen, they would have charged $31 and I paid 1,340 Baht.

At least at this particular Friendship Bridge, Lao Immigration also asked for an "entrance fee" from foreign passport holders. It was $1, and when I asked how much it is in Thai Baht (as I didn't hold any U.S. Dollars), they told me it's 10 Baht. Quite a difference!

So I'd say it would be best to pay the visa fee in U.S. Dollars and the entrance fee in Thai Baht.

[bangkokgas]

funfun, on 2007-12-22 10:40:37, said:

bangkokgas, on 2007-12-21 18:29:33, said:

Chris,

I'll expand. Whilst it is obvious in Penang that agents can be used (and in deed I have used them before), there is a scary sign outside the embassy in Laos saying that every applicant must apply in person or....else? Words to that effect anyway. I'd have used one and sat by the mekong and had a beer rather than go, just was'nt on I was told.You experienced otherwise and good luck to you. Apologies if my wording was a little "strong".
Cheers,
Gas

No worries gas, and it is, horses for course's, people are out there to rip us off, and that is where thai visa forum helps 100% keeps us upto date with scams etc and all this that we write on here will unfortuatly change again in a few months cos we'll all prob be going back to pennang again or cambodia or somewhere else!
if ya ever in Pattaya call in soi 6 corner bar ill get you a beer, wont be beer laos (shame)!   
chris

Take you up on that one mate - feb perhaps!

[Lippy]

thanks too josh

[zeusbheld]

FYI i'm going to Vientiane by bus from bangers tomorrow; i'll post how it goes. i'll probably spend a week or so in Laos so if i don't post right away it doesn't (necessarily) mean i've been kidnapped.

bus ticket is 900 baht one way straight to Vientiane. last time i went to Vientiane i took the train and tuk-tuk'd to the border crossing.

[sjaak327]

tropo, on 2007-12-20 15:39:39, said:

tod-daniels, on 2007-12-20 13:34:47, said:

one girl from the Philippines in line was only charged 1000 even though she'd written '2 Entry' on the form, but I cannot tell you why.

I wonder why she paid 1000. Usually Filipinos and all other ASEAN citizens don't pay for a tourist visa or a Laos visa.

That's obvious, she was getting a tourist visa at the embassy, they don't come free of charge for ASEAN citizens. My Lao partner also had to pay for his 60 day tourist visa back in KL, but it saved a trip to Cambodia, so cheaper then doing a visa run.

Of course most ASEAN citizens can indeed get 30 days free exempt stamp. (Cambodians excluded).

[TBWG]

Hi

If anyone is contemplating driving to Laos, don't expect to see many road signs either in Lao, English or Thai!

Only recall seeing 1 sign in english in Vientiane pointing in direction of Friendship bridge. The bridge itself is not exactly well signposted!

I think they really need to tidy up their act especially as they have the SEA games in 2009. Thai roads and signage are spectacularly good in comparison.

But still worth a visit.

TBWG

[tropo]

JoshBKK, on 2007-12-23 21:00:36, said:

eek, on 2007-12-23 17:39:11, said:

You CAN buy a visa at the border, yes (although in hind sight i would next time probably get one in advance to cut on waiting times). The cost is in US Dollars only (to my knowledge) and cost me $45 (at least thats what i recall.

Right, you can buy a visa at the border, just some days ago I bought mine at the Friendship Bridge I (Nong Khai) and it just took a couple of minutes to get the visa issued. I only had to provide one picture, the visa fee (see below) and the address of the hotel where I intended to stay in Laos.

You can pay the fee in Thai Baht as well (what I did), but currently it seems favorable to pay the fee in U.S. Dollars. In my case, being a German citizen, they would have charged $31 and I paid 1,340 Baht.

At least at this particular Friendship Bridge, Lao Immigration also asked for an "entrance fee" from foreign passport holders. It was $1, and when I asked how much it is in Thai Baht (as I didn't hold any U.S. Dollars), they told me it's 10 Baht. Quite a difference!

So I'd say it would be best to pay the visa fee in U.S. Dollars and the entrance fee in Thai Baht.

Do you know if they give change for US dollars, for example if you paid with a $50 bill? In Cambodia they try their hardest not to accept US dollars to take advantage of the higher baht price.

[tropo]

sjaak327, on 2007-12-29 20:22:13, said:

tropo, on 2007-12-20 15:39:39, said:

tod-daniels, on 2007-12-20 13:34:47, said:

one girl from the Philippines in line was only charged 1000 even though she'd written '2 Entry' on the form, but I cannot tell you why.

I wonder why she paid 1000. Usually Filipinos and all other ASEAN citizens don't pay for a tourist visa or a Laos visa.

That's obvious, she was getting a tourist visa at the embassy, they don't come free of charge for ASEAN citizens. My Lao partner also had to pay for his 60 day tourist visa back in KL, but it saved a trip to Cambodia, so cheaper then doing a visa run.

Of course most ASEAN citizens can indeed get 30 days free exempt stamp. (Cambodians excluded).

There absolutely nothing obvious about anything. Filipinos can and do get free tourist visas at embassies. My girl got FREE single and double-entry tourist visas from the embassy in Penang.

Filipinos only get 21 day visa exempt entry stamps in Cambodia. As I said, don't use "that's obvious" terminology when it comes to visas etc.

[sjaak327]

^ Let's put it this way, it's not very logical that your girlfriend received a free tourist visa, as they are providing a service to her. Ie. in stamping that visa into her passport. This has nothing to do with any visa exempt status whatsoever. I have heard other people stating that they indeed got a free tourist visa, but it's highly likely that most people have to pay, including ASEAN citizens. (as I pointed out with the above example in KL, and Lao citizens have mutual visa exempt, and aren't even limited to 90 days in 6 months, but they have to pay for their tourist visa as everyone else).

[sjaak327]

tropo, on 2007-12-29 16:54:45, said:

JoshBKK, on 2007-12-23 21:00:36, said:

eek, on 2007-12-23 17:39:11, said:

You CAN buy a visa at the border, yes (although in hind sight i would next time probably get one in advance to cut on waiting times). The cost is in US Dollars only (to my knowledge) and cost me $45 (at least thats what i recall.

Right, you can buy a visa at the border, just some days ago I bought mine at the Friendship Bridge I (Nong Khai) and it just took a couple of minutes to get the visa issued. I only had to provide one picture, the visa fee (see below) and the address of the hotel where I intended to stay in Laos.

You can pay the fee in Thai Baht as well (what I did), but currently it seems favorable to pay the fee in U.S. Dollars. In my case, being a German citizen, they would have charged $31 and I paid 1,340 Baht.

At least at this particular Friendship Bridge, Lao Immigration also asked for an "entrance fee" from foreign passport holders. It was $1, and when I asked how much it is in Thai Baht (as I didn't hold any U.S. Dollars), they told me it's 10 Baht. Quite a difference!

So I'd say it would be best to pay the visa fee in U.S. Dollars and the entrance fee in Thai Baht.

Do you know if they give change for US dollars, for example if you paid with a $50 bill? In Cambodia they try their hardest not to accept US dollars to take advantage of the higher baht price.

Yes they give change for 50 USD, sometimes you even get lucky (like I was at Nakhom Phanom/Thaek Khaek) where they didn't have exact change, so I got in for 30 USD, as opposed to 35 which is the normal visa fee for NL citizens. This was also listed on that particular border crossing, but they are not that scam happy as the border officials at some cambodian borders.

The entrance  fee is something Friendship bridge specific, and started with this nonsense about a year ago. Of course you could also be charged for overtime, the fee is 15.000 kip for foreigners and 5000 for Lao citizens (yes they do pay !) In fact at Thak Khaek, all visa free citizens (like Vietnamese, Thai) have to pay an new entrance fee of 15.000 baht and guess what, even Lao citizens have to pay this

[tropo]

sjaak327, on 2007-12-29 23:24:06, said:

^ Let's put it this way, it's not very logical that your girlfriend received a free tourist visa, as they are providing a service to her. Ie. in stamping that visa into her passport. This has nothing to do with any visa exempt status whatsoever. I have heard other people stating that they indeed got a free tourist visa, but it's highly likely that most people have to pay, including ASEAN citizens. (as I pointed out with the above example in KL, and Lao citizens have mutual visa exempt, and aren't even limited to 90 days in 6 months, but they have to pay for their tourist visa as everyone else).

It has nothing to with logic, or what might seem obvious. It's a fact, and that fact is that Filipinos DON'T pay for tourist visas in Penang. I can show you 3 different tourist visas obtained there, one is a double from August 06, and the other two are singles from May and October this year....all for free.

This is the reason why I was curious about Tod-Daniels comment earlier. I'm particularly interested in this because she will be heading there next month to get a tourist visa.

Obviously there is a tit-for-tat thing going on amongst ASEAN countries. I know a Filipino gets 21 days visa free in Cambodia and 30 days in Malaysia. I did see on the Laos Embassy site that they charge Filipinos 600 baht for a visa to enter Laos.

[Lodestone]

zeusbheld, on 2007-12-29 19:32:37, said:

FYI i'm going to Vientiane by bus from bangers tomorrow; i'll post how it goes. i'll probably spend a week or so in Laos so if i don't post right away it doesn't (necessarily) mean i've been kidnapped.

bus ticket is 900 baht one way straight to Vientiane. last time i went to Vientiane i took the train and tuk-tuk'd to the border crossing.

Is this out of Morchit with the ticket purchased there. Do know the departures time(s) and stops?