Southeast Asia forum

marian, wow. i wish i could get the time to travel at that time of year as you have. it is absoutely the best time to go. one thing to keep in mind on your intinerary is your visas. for example, a holder of a U.S. passport typically only gets a 30-day visa on arrival in thailand and 15-days in laos. so, depending on what your nationality typically gets, you'll either want to sort out the longer tourist visas in advance, or plan your itinerary to account for those shorter visa on arrival limits. one thing you might want to do is hang out in thailand a bit before you head into laos, visiting places like ayutthaya or kanchanaburi or even an island. another thing many folks do is break up the trip into laos by crossing the friendship bridge into nong khai thailand from vientiane to renew their visas. that also gives you a chance to hit an ATM, mail a package home, etc. you can then re-enter laos at vientiane again, or farther down the river at savannakhet, etc. it is a bit of a pain and extra expense, but probably no more than sorting out your visas ahead of time. hope this helps.

hi again. there is a lao consulate in khon kaen, thailand, but not in chiang mai so far as i know, so you'd best apply for your 30-day lao visa from the lao embassy in canberra before you leave home. you can also get a 30-day visa from the lao embassy in bangkok, but why spend holiday time sorting out visas and such if you don't have to. the visa on arrival is definitely for only 15 days, and since the cost is the same as the 30-day advance visas (about USD 30 or so), it makes sense to get it before you leave. keep in mind that either way is a single entry visa only. the ONLY reason i mentioned crossing back into thailand at nong khai is that it makes for a great logistics stop to sort out money and mail a package back home. plus, i really like nong khai :). but it does add costs to your trip, including having to buy a new 15-day visa on arrival when you head back into laos. now, the only other thing i was trying to point out is that you want to arrange your itinerary so that when you pop back into thailand for the last time, you don't have more than 30 days to go before you fly back to australia. australians are eligible for 30 day on arrival visas in thailand. there are warnings posted on the talk of asia website that while it is normally not a problem to overstay a visa in thailand, it can be a problem if you are caught somewhere other than at the airport on your way out of the country. the fine is rumored to be increasing to as much as 500 baht per day of overstay. sorry to be so long-winded here. enjoy your trip. regards.

great info. the visa stuff is tricky. hard to anticipate needs and timing ahead and out of the country. once we leave cambodia only expect to spend a few days in bangkok so husband can experience a large asian city. personally i would prefer to skip it, we live in small country town of 3000 people. best wishes