Hello Planning a trip to Laos shortly and just posting to introduce myself

[Maximus]

My real name is David and I live out of Udon Thani with my Thai wife and luk sou
Heading Laos shortly with Friend who also owns a ER6N
We are both experienced riders and used to the thai driving styles and conditions

We plan to ride southern and central Laos over the next few weeks
I have been reading posts and see that we cant cross over to Laos on the bridges so plan to go to Khon Kaen and get Laos visa then on to Ubon Ratchathani for the night

Then we have to pick which crossing would be best (any current advice appreciated)

We will come back fron Vientianne to Nong Khai when we get there

will keep reading and planning but thought i would see if anyone had any advice.

2 questioins
I see we need bike insurance for Laos but i dont see where we buy (is it at the border?)
Can we buy the Gt-rider Laos map in Udon Thani, Khon Kaen Ubon etc before we go Laos? I see we can buy in Laos at many places (would order off site but probably wont arrive before we go) I see we can buy in Laos at many places

Anyway Happy biking and New Year to all
Hope to meet some of you in the next 2 months

 

[TonyBKK]

Welcome to GT-Rider! :happy1:

AFAIK you can still cross at the Friendship Bridge from Nong Khai to Vientiene?

Every Lao border crossing I've been to has an office that sells the required liability insurance. Ask around and someone will point it out to you.

I'm pretty sure the big Yong Yontrakarn Kawasaki / Honda dealer in Udon Thani still stocks and sells GT-Rider maps.

Have a great ride! Hope you'll take some pictures and let us know how it goes!

Happy Trails!

Tony

 

[DavidFL]

The Friendship Bridge at Nong Khai is open to motorbikes crossing into Laos.
Insurance you get on the right hand side, immediately after you have cleared Lao Immigration & customs; there is an insurance building just after the shelter - roof over the Lao bridge checkpoint facilities.
Sorry no map for sale in Udon or Nong Khai.
But in Vientiane go to Phimphone mini mart, opposite the Khopchaideu Pub.

 

[Maximus]

Thanks for the replies
We had a good trip and a part from some bad ferry decisions and a goat had no big issues
wish we had the gtrider map but we got around any way. Entered at Chong Mek and returned Savannakhet

 

[DavidFL]

Good to know everything went ok.
How did you go with insurance at the border?

 

[Poompui]

Davidfl;295877 wrote: Good to know everything went ok.
How did you go with insurance at the border?

Bugger the insurance...tell us more about the goat!!
Ahh,ok,tell us about the insurance then,will be needing some myself soon.

 

[TonyBKK]

Livestock on the roads in Laos is always a menace. Worst for me are those little black pigs. The adults are pretty predictable, but the piglets zoom all over the place! That said they are tough little buggers- saw one get hit hard, assumed it was toast, but it got up and ran away!

 

[Poompui]

TonyBKK;296460 wrote: Livestock on the roads in Laos is always a menace. Worst for me are those little black pigs. The adults are pretty predictable, but the piglets zoom all over the place! That said they are tough little buggers- saw one get hit hard, assumed it was toast, but it got up and ran away!

Pigs??
Sigh......had my brand new work ute for 2 days when a family of pigs ran out in front of me....hit all 3 and believe me...none of them got up and ran away!
Bit of roadside panelbeating and the ute was good to go.
This was here in Oz mind,but am well aware of the dangers of wildlife etc on the roads.
Only hit a kangaroo once on my bike.
Killed the roo,$6000 damage to my bike.

Question,if you damage/kill any farmers livestock which happens to be wandering the road,is the rider/driver liable to compensate the farmer for his losses??
In Thailand or Laos?

Ever happened to anyone?

Excuse the thread hijacking.

 

[TonyBKK]

Biggest thing I've ever hit and killed are chickens and I've never bothered stopping to try and figure out who they belong to...

Funny thing in SE Asia, liability is often based on ability to pay, not who is at fault. So, if you, the "wealthy foreign tourist" kill some poor farmer's pig or cow or whatever, even if that animal shouldn't have been on the road in the first place, and you've suffered a bigger financial loss than the farmer, it's expected you should still offer the farmer some compensation for the loss of their animal. YMMV :mrgreen:

 

[Poompui]

And don't forget that if the pesky farang wasn't riding around the countryside then the pig/chicken etc would still be alive,so it's the farangs fault!

 

[TonyBKK]

Poompui;296679 wrote: And don't forget that if the pesky farang wasn't riding around the countryside then the pig/chicken etc would still be alive,so it's the farangs fault!

Ha ha!! I can tell this isn't your first rodeo! You've nailed it! :lol-sign: