Day 2 Pua - Hongsa: 123kms.
Routes 101 - 4A - 4B.
A lazy day to pay attention at the border & to check out the roads.
R101 North from Pua to the border is 82kms,
It is one of the North's great roads & dare I say it, potentionally the greatest road / ride you can do in the North - once they have finished the road improvements!
There is a lot of truck traffic on the road, taking fuel & cement to the Hongsa power planet, such that the old road is too narrow, tight & steep in places. But the trucks still do it, slowly!
North from Pua the new improved road, alternates between 4 & 2 lane for 48 kms to Pon, where R101 crosses the Nan river.
Government
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From Pon the road gets exciting, it soars up & down through the mountains.
There are 34 kms of road works where they are cutting a wider road through the terrain, & you probably wouldn't want to be here on a road bike in the wet season.
It may look ok, but imagine in torrential rain all that dirt washing down over the road, or being on some snot dirt sections for a few kms.
The cut through the mountains.
I can well imagine a petrol tanker or cement truck getting stuck somewhere on a bit of snot - no traction - and scores of vehicles get blocked.
It is what it is & will be frustrating fun for many drivers in the coming wet.
Impressive it will be when finished & they will need a minimum of 2 wet seasons to get close to finishing the job.
The first border turn off is a dirt road.
H3J2+PPG, à¸à¸²à¸à¸«à¸¥à¸§à¸à¹à¸à¹à¸à¸à¸´à¸à¸«à¸¡à¸²à¸¢à¹à¸¥à¸ 1080, à¸à¸¸à¹à¸à¸à¹à¸²à¸, Chaloem Phra Kiat District, Nan 55130, Thailand
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If you want to skip the dirt section, & ride on asphalt, take the 2nd border turn off here
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The border
âââââ · Immigration & naturalization service
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Exiting Thailand here on a bike you get asked
1. Do you have a visa for Laos, because sadly there is no Visa on Arrival, or eVisa accepted.
Muang Ngeun on the Lao side used to have Visa on Arival, but unfortunately this all stopped on 1st January 2020.
Had an exit on Sunday, to my knowlege I didn't have a permit, unless the gave me one in Chiang Khong. I had aother paper unknown to me, but didn't check it. As Chiang Khong customs and immigration seems to make their own laws anyway.
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2. Do you have a permit to enter Laos?
Yes, was the answer to both questions.
Lao Visa: I had earlier flown to Bangkok & got a Lao visa at the Lao embassy. 1,600 baht & done in an hour. Simple & straight forward, but they only do single entry lao tourist visas, plus you should apply in person. The return flight cost me 4,500 baht, much more than the visa, but I wanted to have a crack & working out a system for entering Laos via Xayaboury province to make quick & easy trips to Luang Prabang.
Bike permit: originally, I thought I would bluff my way through, but after speaking to multiple contacts in Laos I was firmly advised you won't get in without a permit. And so it was a friend set it up for me in advance - leave a generous tip for the police on the Laos side. No contact, friend of a friend, or no tip = no go!
Clearing the formalities on the Thai side was interesting, because two of the Thai customs guys recognised me from the Song Khwae local border crossing off 1148 / Ban Mai Chai Daen Border R1279.
Most amphurs / districts in North Thailand (if not Thailand) have a weekly "Talad Nut" where there is an open market set up for the district. Many of the traders come from out of town & / or professional "Talad Nut" vendors who travel on a Talad Nut circuit in a province, going from one town to...
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Chatting to the Thai customs guys we laughed how difficult it was going to be for the petrol tankers to get up the 101 road works from Pon in the wet. Please take note for the wet in 2024.
As I was starting the Thai formalities 3 Thai guys on bikes were also entering Laos.
They too had used an agent in Luang Prabang for their bikes permits, costing 1800 baht each.
Fortunately for them they did not have to get a visa, so their entry was considerably cheaper.
At the border on the Thai side there is a photocopy shop on the left-hand side.
It is the last shop / building before the official immigration/ customs booths.
Then on the right-hand side, the last shop is a coffeeshop with WiFi.
The WiFi was useful for me with no Dtac phone signal & it was time to check messages before popping over the other side & getting a Lao sim from the next town.
Arrival time at the Thai border was: 12.18PM.
Departure time was: 2.40PM.
I had a very leisurely time exiting Thailand.
Entering Laos, make sure you stop by the boom gate & the policeman in his box.
Then get approval from him to proceed to
park before the Lao customs / immigration offices.
The Lao immigration staff were a bit surprised by my appearance, but yes, I did have a visa.
Whilst getting my passport stamped, a policeman came over to confirm I was Mr David, & that I would be leaving a tip for his boss. Yes, indeed I was Mr David & would be leaving a tip. Good thank you sir, please proceed to customs.
10 minutes later my papers were done, no police green permit, just the customs vehicle stickers.
Nothing could have been easier. Done & dusted.
Arrival time at the Lao checkpoint was 2.10pm.
Departure time was 2.45pm.
Route 4A to Hongsa.
At 3.45pm I was in Hongsa city in awe of that controversial power plant.
My check into a gh in Hongsa was delayed trying to get a Lao sim to work in my phone at a phone shop by the market.
Unitel was the choice available, but under the new system in Laos, your ID needs to be confirmed first, before the sim is opened to work.
That means photo of your ID, plus your good self, holding your ID clearly so it can be read.
We lost an hour & I gave up. They couldn't get it to work & register after an hour!
The Souphaphone was my cheap charlie place of stay.
250,000 kip = 400 baht.
Souphaphone GH A smll 12 room gh with lots of parking. Some limited undercover parking. Basic, clean & everything works. An amusing bathroom door. 250,000 kip = 400 baht. https://maps.app.goo.gl/VCfrebSm3cb59TrZ9
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