Visas and border crossings forum

Hi Steve,

It's very easy to cross there -- here's the relevant text from the Pakse transport section:

"The Chong Mek/ Vangtao Border
The Thai side of the border is a short, 20B songthaew ride from the Chong Mek bus terminal, and is open from 06:00 to 18:00 daily. Vangtao, on the Laos side, has regular working hours from 08:00 to 16:00, Monday through Friday. From 16:00 to 18:00, weekends, and official holidays are all considered 'over-time,' and an additional 70B fee is levied. People are constantly pitching fits when they find out about the extra charge, but there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, so just smile, pay it, and move on with your life

One-month visas are now standard: US$35 or 1,500B for most foreign nationals (Canadians pay more apparently). Keep walking down the road from the border into Laos, and songtheaws and taxis are available at a small, dingy terminal 200m down on the left. Both leave when full -- 50B for a songthaew, 12 passengers, 70B for a taxi, 5 passengers. The trip is 45km and takes about 40 minutes. All vehicles drop off at the Daoheuang Market which is 2km from most of the guesthouses near the river -- where we found only tuk-tuks and no samlors available -- should cost about 20B per person after bargaining. You won't have to worry about any of this if you book a through ticket to/from Ubon Ratchathani for 200B."