Border Closures to Motorcycles - All of Laos?
- Thread starter jimoi
- Start date
Ansmania
Depends on what you are doing. If you are seeing southern Laos, the borders along the Thai side should be fine, even the bridge at Savanahket for a Singapore registered bike. If you get to this bridge and can't get in, call me. 020 238 5562 and I can try to sort it out as I know the chief of customs in Savanakhet.
Friendship 1, 50/50 to get in. As David points out, Beun Kan is the other option. If you get past the Thai customs and tell them it's not a problem and so on, then you are stuck with the Lao Customs and you may or may not be able to talk your way in.
jim
Depends on what you are doing. If you are seeing southern Laos, the borders along the Thai side should be fine, even the bridge at Savanahket for a Singapore registered bike. If you get to this bridge and can't get in, call me. 020 238 5562 and I can try to sort it out as I know the chief of customs in Savanakhet.
Friendship 1, 50/50 to get in. As David points out, Beun Kan is the other option. If you get past the Thai customs and tell them it's not a problem and so on, then you are stuck with the Lao Customs and you may or may not be able to talk your way in.
jim
Pee
What are the road conditions there? are they suitable for my Tank??
some pictures would be nice, 1pic=1000words, easier to read :wink:
getting the idea doing Chiang Kong to Non khai,,later nex year, if i can ride with my BM LT
From the Department of Bad News:
The temporary export permit for Su's bike will expire soon, so I had the bright idea to try to get it extended or get a new one at the border near Pakxe. So, Su walks across to Thai customs and they drop a bombshell on her: not only will they not extend the permit, she can't export and import her bike here, because Thai bikes are not allowed to cross this border! Unfortunately, I had to stay in Laos to guard the bikes, so I couldn't ask pertinent questions. When we talked to Lao customs they first told us that bikes under 100 cc can't enter here, then it's under 150 cc. "Tourist bikes" are ok, meaning big bikes. But if the Thais let Su cross, then it's not a problem for them, as hers is a "big" bike. I decided not to push the matter, as we don't have any Lao paperwork anyway. Su is fairly certain that Thai customs were not aware that hers is a 'big' bike, as they didn't even look at the paperwork. We don't know whether they make any distinction, as the Lao do.
:arrow: No "small" Thai bikes allowed to leave Thailand at Chong Mek.
On the Thai side a huge border post is being completed. Nothing to match on the Lao side. However, heading S out of Pakxe we unexpectedly crossed a brand new dual carriageway. A motorway to Vietnam? I think this is what this is all about: build highways for trucks which make money for decision makers. Keep the pesky locals on their Honda Waves away, too much work for the officials. I'm guessing...
Cheers,
Peter.
The temporary export permit for Su's bike will expire soon, so I had the bright idea to try to get it extended or get a new one at the border near Pakxe. So, Su walks across to Thai customs and they drop a bombshell on her: not only will they not extend the permit, she can't export and import her bike here, because Thai bikes are not allowed to cross this border! Unfortunately, I had to stay in Laos to guard the bikes, so I couldn't ask pertinent questions. When we talked to Lao customs they first told us that bikes under 100 cc can't enter here, then it's under 150 cc. "Tourist bikes" are ok, meaning big bikes. But if the Thais let Su cross, then it's not a problem for them, as hers is a "big" bike. I decided not to push the matter, as we don't have any Lao paperwork anyway. Su is fairly certain that Thai customs were not aware that hers is a 'big' bike, as they didn't even look at the paperwork. We don't know whether they make any distinction, as the Lao do.
:arrow: No "small" Thai bikes allowed to leave Thailand at Chong Mek.
On the Thai side a huge border post is being completed. Nothing to match on the Lao side. However, heading S out of Pakxe we unexpectedly crossed a brand new dual carriageway. A motorway to Vietnam? I think this is what this is all about: build highways for trucks which make money for decision makers. Keep the pesky locals on their Honda Waves away, too much work for the officials. I'm guessing...
Cheers,
Peter.
I can confirm this now. We couldn't enter Cambodia (more in a separate post). So, we turned around and went straight to Vang Tao. We spoke to Thai customs about this and they confirmed the Lao version: small Thai bikes are not allowed in, but "tourist bikes" are, meaning > 150cc. Small foreign registered bikes are OK, too.
Checked out the new dual carriageway: it connects the Mekong bridge with H'way 13 South and the h'way to Vietnam, almost completely bypassing Pakxe.
Checked out the new dual carriageway: it connects the Mekong bridge with H'way 13 South and the h'way to Vietnam, almost completely bypassing Pakxe.