Laos: Anybody was there recently ?

Will be in Vianchian next week, and tried to look for some information here from the board, but when I searched for LAOS, I got a lot of topics, but none of them was that kind of a travel-report I hoped to find.....
has anybody been to Vianchian lately and can share his experience here ? or if there has been any posts in the past, can someone link me to them please....
oh and yes, of course I checked the UTOPIA site already.....
thanks for any assistance...


edited: okay, I was a bit stupid..... now after I seearched for "Vientiane" and not only "Laos", I found some interesting posts.... nevertheless, any recent and updated information would be appreciated anyway....

[Smiles]

Not sure if you've checked the Resource Forum, but there is a topic there which includes links to some long articles on Laos by Dale1. The articles are not that recent ... at least a year old, perhaps a bit more. But they are worth reading nonetheless: http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/fo ... php?t=2201 (http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2201)


Cheers ...

... (a few weeks ago) but I didn't visit any bars. I'll confine my comments to the "getting there" bit

I flew to Udon Thani (50% of the price of flying direct but that wasn't my purpose - I had things to do in Udon on the way back). There's a bus service direct from the airport to the border - 100 baht. From the border into Vientiane you're on your own. The trip took just over an hour

The border crossing was a shambles. There are no clear directions until you get close up to the window you need to go to in the first place. You need a visa for Laos so if you don't have one you must complete the visa application form and pay USD30. The forms sit on a window ledge immediately outside the window where you lodge them. The tray is often empty and you have to knock on the window to get them to fill it up. To get to the window ledge you have to fight your way through the queues waiting to lodge their visa and then collect their passport. There are no pens available. On completing the form you queue up to lodge your visa application. You should have a passport photo with you. There is nowhere nearby to have one taken (there's a point to that!). This is what happened

I queued. There were two Americans in front of me - she talked at me non-stop. They didn't have passport photos. No problem! Just one dollar each would "fix" that. Corruption? Indeedy-doody. They paid. I handed over 2,000 baht - I would get my change when they gave me my passport back

I moved to the next queue, to collect my passport. Passports were not handed out in the order in which they had been received - there seemed to be a tour operator who was able to "facilitate" queue-jumping! Never mind. 15 minutes later I had my passport and 500 baht change. Hang on. USD30 is around 1200 baht. No, no - not at the unofficial border exchange rate, peculiar only to immigration officials. Between the three of us - the two Americans and me - the immigration staff had just pocketed USD2 plus 300 baht (say USD10) - a nice little earner in a country where their monthly wage is around USD50. The visa itself is an inconsequential little stamp, squarely in the middle of one of the blank pages of your passport

And then I queued up to get through one of the two (count them) immigration counters. And waited. The queues moved at about the speed at Don Muang airport ie. slowly. More than 50% of those queueing were non-Thais (at USD30 a pop) - you'd think they could afford to put on more staff. But why should they - they've got your money already

Finally you get through - or do you? Every so often there's a pocket of disconsolate travellers who, having cleverly got their visas before they reached the border and thought their queueing time would be shorter, have discovered a "gotcha". Yes, there's an Immigration arrival/departure card to be completed. The supply of them exists - where? Oh yes, back at the window where the visa application forms are available. The immigration officers also have a supply, of course, but then the unknowing stand there, no ledge to rest the form on, trying to complete the form, no pen - a great sight to see

Finally everyone is through. But the bus from Udon Thani airport dropped us at the border. How to get to the hotel in Vienitiane? Rickety cabs are available at inflated (fixed) prices - all in Thai baht. I sometimes fantasise that I will be killed in a speeding taxi in Bangkok. To that can be added - or Vientiane

Leaving by land is (relatively) so much easier. There's an air-con bus three times a day to both Udon Thani and Nong Kai (ie. 6 buses in all) - two in the morning, one in the afternoon. You need to book - or get there hours beforehand - in order to get a seat. The only hiccup on the way out (which is very quick) - Thai Immigration don't have a ready supply of forms when you enter Thailand and you usually have to ask