Your Visa Run Experiences to Vientiane

I've never got round to putting together a visa section for Thailand on this website. The main reasons for this are the fluidity of the visa rules in this country, the ambiguities and the constant updating I'd have to do, besides which, everything you need to know is already on the Thai government websites.
However, I am writing a few skeleton pages for each visa run destination (example: Vientiane visa run ) and would like to compliment them by having a thread for each destination where members can describe their experiences, offer hints and tips and generally speak of good hotels to stay etc etc.

Who will start the ball rolling for Vientiane?

A Vientiane visa run is a fairly simple process. I assume that this doesn't mean the standard visa exemption which only requires crossing the the border to renew, but the process of applying for a visa at the Royal Thai Embassy in Vientiane.
I've only applied for a 60 day tourist visa here so I'm not familiar with the process of applying for the various non-immigration visas there. I received my latest non-imm B in Adelaide Australia where it was a very simple process.
First you must get to Vientiane which means the bus from where you are to Nong Khai or the plane from Bangkok to Udon Thani then the airport bus to the border.
I advise to get there early, if you land at Udon at 8am you'll be at the border by 9. It's often busy on the Lao side and can take more than half an hour to get through, then another half hour get to the embassy by taxi. Don't forget you need 30USD for your Lao visa.
The fee for the visa at the embassy is a 1000 baht and it can be collected the next day. There are a full range of hotels and guest houses in Vientiane.
I wrote a comprehensive report of my Lao Visa Run here.
To Lao and Back
I forgot the train, Bangkok to Nong Khai, over night and slower but more comfortable than the bus.

This post has been edited by sceadugenga: 19 October 2007 - 02:47 PM

I wanted to visit Vienchan and see Wat Mahathat Luang, and stay a few days longer in Thailand than my 30-day tourist visa permitted. I went with three Thai friends from Udon Thani. We drove by truck to the border and then got a taxi for the rest of the day to Vienchan and returned in the evening. This was inexpensive although if you are spending Lao kip it seems like a lot of money is leaving your pocket. The biggest delay was at the border crossing to Laos from Thailand as you have to fill out a number of forms (well, 2) and go through a couple of checkpoints. Crossing the Laos side into Thailand was much faster.

I just remembered something that happened when I was returning to Thailand from Vientiane some time ago.
The Laos visa stamp is almost identical in shape and size to a Thai Non-Immigrant visa stamp issued at Thai honorary consuls in the UK. When I was going through Thai immigration, he wanted to give me a 30 day stamp but I pointed out my Non-B visa to him and suggested he give me 90 days. Disgruntled by my impertinence, he replied that it was a Lao visa and I should accept 30 days.
Obviously I tried to be diplomatic and refrained from telling him he should disengage moron mode and look more carefully. He went to see his superior and 5 minutes later returned, stating that he had never seen such a visa before... yeah, right.

Got my 90 days of course and a chuckle that I made a border guard look stupid.

Always check your stamp before you leave immigration.