G'day All, Crossed over the Friendship Bridge today. Quick update as Saturday there was a lot of speculation and various news reports about crossing the bridge. - No Laos can cross - Crossing Closed - Thai's can't cross - 150 People the military are after can't cross. Today was a breeze. - The border was very quiet.. Not the normal Sunday afternoon crush. - Lao vehicles crossing over - Thai vehicles crossing over the bridge the other way. Arrived at the Thai side.. Very quiet.. No change except a couple of soldiers checking your passport and confirming it really is you with the picture. No other military except for at the entrance on the Thai side.. Also checking documents then allowing the vehicles to proceed. The soldier smiled and said Thank you in English.. Done. 1.30pm left central Vientiane after lunch with the guys. 2.20pm riding out of the Thai side heading to Udon. 2.50pm arrived at Kawa Udon.. Cheers Brian
Good to hear an update from someone who's gone through the process first hand. Thanks for the update. Moto-Rex
Update October 29, 2018 Two of us tried to cross into Laos today from Nong Khai The Thai side was straight forward as always but did ask if we were sure that we could get into Laos. After clearing thailand went across the bridge to the Laos border control where we were stone walled. No non tour bikes are getting in and that we would have to go back. Well luckily we had a Laos speaking lady wih us and she tried everything to secure our trip onward through Laos. Only thing they said is we must be with a group of 5 or more to cross or be with a register tour group. We did not have either so we turned around and went back to Thailand. On a bright note Thailand immigration did tell us that we could cancel our departure stamp. And we were able to do so without too much problem
