Latest road condition from Huay Xai to Boten

[phuah]

Hi All:
I will be riding with a group to China next month.
And we schedule to clear the Thai-Laos border at Chiang Khong-Huay Xia in the morning and also clearing the Laos-China border at Boten-Mohan in the afternoon.
So like to know anyone have travel this stretch of the road from Huay Xia to Boten recently.
As we will be clearing this stretch within less than 1 day. So any latest information on this stretch of the road will be appreciate.

Thanks!!phuah

 

[Auke]

Hi Phuah,

Was there about a month ago and the road is generally good. However, the first 80-90 km or so from Huayxai to Luang Nam Tha the road is being repaired (lots of potholes, asphalt missing, etc.) but after that the road is in very good condition. It took me in a pick-up truck about 3 hours from Houaxai to Luang Nam Tha but I stop quite often and make many small detours to GPS all kind of things. From Luang Nam Tha to Boten took me 1 hour.

Much depends on how fast you can cross the river and clear customs and immigration on the Thai/Lao border as well as the weather conditions - there has been quite a bit of rain lately - but I think you should have no problems to be in Boten sometime in the afternoon. From the Lao/China border it is about 40 km. to Mengla where there are hotels.

 

[phuah]

Auke:
Thanks for the sharing the information.

You know what time the Thai custom office open in the morning?

Plan to be there early to clear the custom

Thanks...phuah

 

[Auke]

Hi Phuah,

I assume that they start officially at 8 o'clock in the morning till 5 or 6 in the afternoon (closed on Saturday and Sunday). While important to know the opening time of the offices, it is more important is to know when the ferry leaves and that is a kind of gamble. If there are enough cars, the ferry will leave soon (more or less once the ferry is full) but otherwise you may be in for a wait. Rex and HTWoodson had to wait till 11 o'clock before the first ferry left (chiang-khong-houei-xai-border-crossing-t6209.html).

If at all possible, I would try to cross in the afternoon and spend the night in Huayxai so you can have an early start to the China border or you can cross with your bike using the smaller boats but with big bikes that will be quite an operation getting the bikes in and out of the boat.

 

[SilverhawkUSA]

Auke wrote: Hi Phuah,

I assume that they start officially at 8 o'clock in the morning till 5 or 6 in the afternoon (closed on Saturday and Sunday). While important to know the opening time of the offices, it is more important is to know when the ferry leaves and that is a kind of gamble. If there are enough cars, the ferry will leave soon (more or less once the ferry is full) but otherwise you may be in for a wait. Rex and HTWoodson had to wait till 11 o'clock before the first ferry left (chiang-khong-houei-xai-border-crossing-t6209.html).

If at all possible, I would try to cross in the afternoon and spend the night in Huayxai so you can have an early start to the China border or you can cross with your bike using the smaller boats but with big bikes that will be quite an operation getting the bikes in and out of the boat.

The ferry, and the amount of time clearing Customs and Immigration, is always unpredictable. Another option is to cross over and do the 2.5-3 hours to Luang Nam Tha. Even a late afternoon crossing can still give you time to get there this time of year. Then, overnight in LNT and Boten is "just around the corner". An early start from LNT and you will be crossing into China in the morning with time to spare. :thumbup:

 

[phuah]

Dave:
Thanks for the information and suggestion.

 

[Auke]

Hi Phuah,

From the ADV rider board with 4 Malaysian guys crossing from Chiangkhong and on to Mohan in 1 day - something you want to do also.
Source: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthre ... 811&page=2
==================================================

Chiang Kong - Houei Xai (Laos) - Boten - Mohan (China)

Woke up early and by 7am we are ready to settle border crossing as soon as possible. Unfortunately the Custom office opened at 9.30am.....arrrrrrgggghh! 2 hours wasted.

Cleared the Thai custom and immigration within 30 mins.

Searched for the ferry services to cross the Mekong River... ahhhhhh it was on Sunday. No ferry services.

Only a small boat which is can accomodate up to 10 people is only available. Can accomodate 1 bike per trip. No choice have to go. Dismantle all the stuff and boxes and ready to board...

Thank GOD! Out of sudden... 1 big ferry just arrived out of nowhere. Approached and asked for their kindness to bring us across. Yessss... the pilot, agreed! Solved our problem.

Dangg! They charged us THB4000 (USD140). So what...we just paid.
Took us 15 mins to cross the Mekong River.

Rushed to Houei Xai, Laos immigration and custom. Again, GOD helps us!!! It took us less than 1 hour to settle all the documentation.

Left Houei Xai at 12 noon heading toward Boten (Laos-China border). I've rode on this sector in 2008, supposed to take us less then 3 hours.... but... OMG.. less than 2 years this road became so bad....45% are gravel!!

Managed to reach Boten at 4pm, cleared all the Laos documentation in 40 minutes.

Thank god we managed to be at Mohan Port (China) border before 5pm.
Border close at 5pm.

What a relief!!!!!

Took us 1.5hrs to settle the Chinese immigration and custom.
Left Mohan to Mengla arnd 6.30pm. Mengla is 60km away from Mohan.

 

[SilverhawkUSA]

Of course the question begging to be asked (I'm surprised someone hasn't asked already); How are you guys getting in to China? :?:

I read the link that Auke posted (interesting). Their statement is;

To enter China??

It is very easy as simple as A, B, C.... once you pay them.

enggage the travel agent. they will guide/handle everything for you from entry point until exit point.

How much?? theres no fix rate. What i can say... we can buy 2 new R1 in US

Sounds similar to our Vietnam Trip. :crazy:

Phuah, how did you arrange it? :think:

 

[phuah]

We get a China tour agency to do it for us.
In fact, we will be riding to Tibet.
So all the legal clearance, getting the bikes registered, get a China driving license, Personal and bike insurance, permit to Tibet, accommodation, etc all handle by the tour agency.

 

[SilverhawkUSA]

Thanks Phuah. Many riders ask about Vietnam and China. I hope you keep posting on GT-Rider as you travel. It sounds like a great trip. Good Luck on your adventure. :thumbup:

 

[phuah]

Dave:
Some of the group members that are going for this trip, has done their trip to Vietnam, 2 years back.
They also done it in a similar way we are doing it for this China trip.
They get a Vietnam tour agency to help them handle all the clearance in Vietnam.
Will try to update all in this board when I have done the trip.

Phuah

 

[harrythefinn]

The key here was "buy 2 new R1 in US" . So not cheap MSRP $12,390 (2009) times 2 , so by simple deduction approx $25k USD (I assume it was all 4 bikes for this price), roughly $6K per bike. By the sounds of it (I didn't count the days) they were there less than 14 days.If they were in China 14 days the tour /rego/licence bundle would have cost approx $425 a day! Still a bit steep for the average motorcycle tourist. :thumbdown: :crazy: :crazy: