ryanfisher
longtail driver
Posts: 6

#1 Posted: 8/8/2008 - 14:22


i recently found out that i can't travel south through laos to cambodia, via veon kham crossing, without a prearranged visa and i am not sure i want to spend 5 days in vientiane waiting to get a visa for cambodia. so, does anyone know if it is difficult to go via nong khai to the aranya prathet/poipet border directly east of bangkok without going into bangkok?

thanks

somtam2000
admin
mahout
Posts: 2968

Located in:
Indonesia

#2 Posted: 8/8/2008 - 15:30


That's news to me -- Cambodian visa on arrival at that crossing have been available for some two years now. What was your source for the information on them no longer being available?

ryanfisher
longtail driver
Posts: 6

#3 Posted: 8/8/2008 - 19:29


some border crossings are open for a visa on arrival, while some of the less used ones are not. as far as i can tell the one from south laos to cambodia is not ones of these.

somtam2000
admin
mahout
Posts: 2968

Located in:
Indonesia

#4 Posted: 9/8/2008 - 09:13


If you're travelling from Laos to Cambodia, visa on arrival is available. If you're travelling the other way, a Lao visa on arrival is not available.

In answer to your original question, the overland route is not difficult -- you need to transit via Nakhon Ratchasima if I remember correctly, however, if you're doing this route solely because of the visa, you don't need to, as Cambodian visas on arrival are available at that crossing and have been for years now.

Hope that helps.

ryanfisher
longtail driver
Posts: 6

#5 Posted: 9/8/2008 - 12:17


thanks a ton for the info. i guess that i either read the cambodia visa site wrong or simply misunderstood. i will just go south through si phan don to steng trung like i originally wanted. thanks again.

ryanfisher
longtail driver
Posts: 6

#6 Posted: 9/8/2008 - 12:40


admin,

are you absolutely sure that the border crossing is open for visa on arrival when crossing from laos, via voen kham crossing, to cambodia? i continued to look online and everything tells me that only two border crossings with thailand and one with vietnam issue visas on arrival. is this all old information? thanks again, and sorry to be a bother with the same question.

ryanfisher
longtail driver
Posts: 6

#7 Posted: 9/8/2008 - 12:41


and yes, the route through thailand is only a back up to being able to easily cross through from laos to cambodia. i think in the end i can arrange a cambodia visa in luang prabang anyway, so this makes it possible to that route no matter what. thanks.

somtam2000
admin
mahout
Posts: 2968

Located in:
Indonesia

#8 Posted: 9/8/2008 - 17:23


Well it's been some time since I've personally been to that border, so there's no guarantees, but we've had a notice on the visa and border crossings FAQ saying Cambodian visa-on-arrival is available at the land crossing there for a few years now and nobody has complained...

We've also got a story on the overland route here