Korat to Vientiane

[PeteC]

Perhaps good for a visa run. I think Thai's cross by just showing their ID card? Don't know what will happen to any foreigners on the bus, perhaps dumped out to perform immigration formalities both sides and then have to taxi into the city. Doubtful the bus will wait. Pete
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Bus service from Korat to Vientiane
By The Nation
Published on November 22, 2009

A bus service from downtown Nakhon Ratchasima to Vientiane in Laos will kick off later this month, just in time for the 25th SEA Games in the neighbouring country.

Four trips per day will be run under the government-to-government project - two from the Thai side and two from the Lao side, Wattana Pattarachon, director of the Nakhon Ratchasima Transport Office, said yesterday.
The fare will be Bt380 for the seven-hour journey over 382 kilometres, he added.

[STEVE G]

That's how it goes Pete; I see the roads near our place in Issan full of buses going to Cambodia, but they cross the border at places where falangs can't cross.

[PeteC]

The Nation is an English language newspaper, read mostly by foreigners. Would be nice if they could have expanded this article (and many others), indicating how farangs will be handled at the border if passengers on this bus. There is a fare issue as well if they get dumped out at the bridge. Pete

[Spitfire]

The Thais or Lao people usually have to get a border pass, piece of paper with their photo on it, costs 100 baht and that gives them 3 days on the other side of the border and also restricts how far into the other country they can go, for example, if a Lao person gets a border pass to Thailand and goes over the Friendship bridge then I think that it only lets them go as far as Udon Thani, not allowed to go any further. If they want to stay longer or travel to Korat or Bangkok then they have to get a tourist visa. This makes it easy for the flow of goods both ways as many Lao people come over for a couple of days to buy stuff that they cannot get in Laos etc.

Back to the SEA Games point, then there might be some special arrangement for the duration of the event but don't think that will include foreigners as they will probably still have to get the usual 2 week visa on arrival and go through that slow process at the faceless white office with the small window to hand in your application and money.

I would have thought that this service idea is with the locals in mind and I doubt that anything will be done to ease things for foreigners. Although, I'm happy to be stood corrected but I bet that consideration of foreigners using this service probably has not even entered in their heads.

[Wanderlust]

spitfire,
Of course it hasn't! Everyone knows that farangs are so rich they fly everywhere, so why would they take the bus?

On another note, how on earth do the Thai authorities check whether someone has only been to Udon Thani, or wherever the restriction is? I am guessing that they are relying on the Laotian being honest about the trip, and that they are sufficiently scared of being caught by police not to break that?

[STEVE G]

In our village there are quite a few Cambodians who cross over for farm jobs such as cattle herding and they just come through the forest where there isn't anything to stop them.
They're generally older men who haven't got any ID to get in legally and seeing as the locals speak a Khmer dialect anyway, they're just like any other farmer.

[Spitfire]

^^ Yes WL, I reckon so too. They (Lao people) get into a lot of trouble if caught without a visa or floating around in Khon Kaen or somewhere like that just on a border pass. You do notice that the closer you get to the border the more of these police stops and checks there are. I remember a long time ago going to Mukdaharn by bus at night and that bus does go down through some remote areas, the police checks where pretty frequent and everyone had to show their passport or ID card etc on the bus. It's unusual to get to the border without going through one or more of these, regardless of which road you take.

One of the ways the cops try to catch them out is by speaking to them in BBK Thai and not Isaan or Lao, if they can't answer properly or don't understand the cop then it's a red flag because most Thais understand BBK Thai even if not so good at speaking it. They also ask questions about wherever the person claims to be from in Thailand as there are plenty of fake Thai ID cards out there.

All the roads from Laos to BBK are watched carefully at a lot of points, especially just after two of them merge at a junction, not just checking for Lao workers sneaking in to Thailand to earn decent money but there's the drugs factor as well, not to mention the usual "harvesting" of motorist's wallets.

What the farmers are doing in STEVE G's post is common but it's risky for them if they get into trouble, upset someone or are randomly stopped then it would be the old case of having to pay I would have thought.

[Rider]

^^ Yes WL, I reckon so too. They (Lao people) get into a lot of trouble if caught without a visa or floating around in Khon Kaen or somewhere like that just on a border pass. You do notice that the closer you get to the border the more of these police stops and checks there are. I remember a long time ago going to Mukdaharn by bus at night and that bus does go down through some remote areas, the police checks where pretty frequent and everyone had to show their passport or ID card etc on the bus. It's unusual to get to the border without going through one or more of these, regardless of which road you take.

Ditto that.

I've been in Chiang Mai living there and I can tell you I've seen 2 Burmese guys being shaken down outside my apartment complex.
We're talking strip-searched down to their undies and interrogated by a lone cop.
He just happened to be cruisin' the streets and spotted them. Just like that!