Hello everyone at Gt Rider. My name is Tim and am living in BKK. I have been riding an AX-1 250 in Thailand for two years. I should have read the GT- rider board before my last trip,,550 kilometers out of BKK and can,t get into Laos. That part of Thailand on the Mekong, West of Chaiang Kahn was some the best riding I have ever done. As I was saying, the Thai -laos bridge was closed, but you can walk across the bridge AS LONG AS IT IS BEFORE 6 PM.. First of all, I want say, WHAT A SHAME YOU CANT CROSS WITH A THAI BIKE INTO LAOS. That ruins half the fun. New plan, flying to ventiane, renting the bike there and then touring. Same with Vietnam( just going to buy one of those chines bikes that people ride there). As far as motorcycles shops go, I got my bike from Terra Motorcycles near MBK in Bangkok, three chinese brothers run the place and they have a of nice japanese import second hand bikes there, they have always been fair to me, not Thai prices, but ones a Falang can deal with, plus have done some maintenence for me and located parts. Don,t try to order parts over the phone, show up, tell them what you want done to your bike and plan on taking a cab home if they can,t get the parts that day, that,s how,s it worked for me, nice guys. This website rocks, touring SE asia rocks! Thanks for all the info, especially bike rentals in Vientiane. Peace out! Tim
Thai-Laos Friendship bridge closed etc
- Thread starter enduro250
- Start date
Tim
Why not ride downstream to Bung Kan, 150 kms past Nong Khai & cross into Laos at Pakxan?
Davidfl
Keep The Power On
Why not ride downstream to Bung Kan, 150 kms past Nong Khai & cross into Laos at Pakxan?
Davidfl
Keep The Power On
David, you rock! I was under the impression that Laos was closed to Thai motorcycles. I will try Pakxan, but one little problem, absolutely no paper work, I have been getting by with 100 baht a road block. This is great news about Pakxan, I will try it on my next holiday. I never finished the book, zen and the art of motorcycle maintenence, but the point of getting onto the smaller roads and getting lost is so true, you don,t know what waits for you out there. In just the last week I started to get interested in a China ride, seems like it is wide open up there. Have you rode into Burma? Tim
I don't believe you can walk across the bridge before or after 6pm. You can walk out to the middle on the footpath and then must turn back. It is blocked. The only way I know you can cross without your own transport organised is on the shuttle bus. 4,000Kip from the Lao side.
Mike
Tim
I bet the real problem was that you could not even get out of Thailand with the bike -it was unregistered and therefore illegal!
My tip is to check out the main gt rider site
www.gt-rider.com
and go to the Crossing Borders
https://www.gt-rider.com/crossingborders.html
section & see what you have to do to get out of & into Thailand with a bike.
It's not that difficult but you must have a legal registered vehicle, & a visa where there is no visa on arrival.
Cray pot, I am talking about the crossing about 80 kilometers west of Chiang Kahn near a town called Tali. I was told by Thai border agents that I could walk across, but not after six, and it was like already 545. There was definetly locals crossing and a lot of activity. But really, I do not know. At Chiang Kahn, there was no boats to put my bike in and no way to get my bike down the bank of the river. David, yes you are right, I do not have the paper work to go into Thailand, but I do have a plate, and I was denied crossing before they even asked for papers. If I was to be let across the bridge I would have had problems getting into Laos. I realized that it probally is not as easy as I had imagined it, just grease the wheel a little here and there, and your away laughing. A registration, I am told is near 40,000 baht. So I am stuck in the water until I get that. Plus by the time I get to Laos out of BKK my arse is sore and I am road worn so for the time being the plan is to fly to Vientiene and renting the bike there, and starting the tour fresh in Laos. Thankyou very much for the information. Your website rocks! Tim
Strange i drove over the bridge but stop when i saw the Lao flag and man in different Uniform. Just whated to see what is is a bout, will have paper work and passport next time i ride that way, he didnt mention any money but with out passport figured he didnt have to. Was very helpfulll,l and mention the items i would need but dont be dumb enough to go west on 2195 more pot holes than road for over twenty time, go out to Tal Li and go east from there, and find out for l;your self, both sides of the boarder were helpful to me plan on trying it a gin some time after the ride to chaing Mai arrea first. I is proper brdige, but tey have cement pilings drove into the groun on the approach, but have a red arrow to the right of the intrnace so i just drove over, very help full people but english very llimited.