What are the latest border bounce procedures from Nong Khai to Laos?

@Maxim **********

Really? That's new because you couldn't do it before Covid.

@Henrik ***

sounds like you're bored....I'm just correcting your misinformation, that's all.

@Paul ******

, ok, so you are bouncing back to me like a baby. I said nothing wrong and you add nothing relevant for the OP. Just massive waste of time.

@Henrik ***

There is no agent at that border. Only thing they have is some "fixer" that will hold your hand in the process and then drive you to Vientiane. But the numbers of people paying for such useless service is very low (only some first timer). Nobody is losing time over not doing this.

Second, if you take a group bus you won't save any time at the border, unless you don't know the process at the border to begin with. You follow the queue like everyone else, you do not skip line. In fact, the reason why the queue can be long is if you arrive at the same time as a few of these buses that go from Udon to Vientiane. If you are unlucky you arrive at the same time or slightly after and can be a lot of people ahead of you. But if you plan ahead and know went these buses usually arrive, you will be fine.

And on top of that, OP is talking about a border bounce, not visa run. Border bounce mean u cross the border, turn around, and come back immediately to Thailand 10 min later, or few hours if you want to shop around. You do not go to Vientiane went you border bounce.

@Maxim **********

, maybe the wrong word, but I guess you understand? I have been using the bus from Udon. They opened a dedicated line for the bus at the border. You are right that the OP is talking about a bounce. Actually, a border run would be the same in usual terms. You won't need to go to Vientiane for any of those if you do not want to. However, he was also talking about crossing the bridge, which is not needed for a bounce or run.

@Henrik ***

You absolutely need to cross the bridge to border bounce/run. To enter Laos, you need your visa on arrival which is on the other side of the bridge. To go there, you need to take the 35 baht bus like everyone else. There is no way around it. Then, when you have the visa, you turn around and leave Laos. Then take the same 35 baht bus back over the bridge. Then, you enter Thailand with visa exempt entry.

Also, those dedicated line I've not seen that for a very long time. And this is part of what I said about not arriving there went group bus are also there.

@Maxim **********

, are you sure that you have to cross the bridge if you have the Lao visa already? The very first time I actually got the Lao visa on the Thai side. I will always go for the eVisa if possible instead of queueing up somewhere.

@Henrik ***

It doesn't matter where you get what. You need to be stamped out of Thailand, and in Laos. You can't get back into Thailand if you are stuck between two countries.

You can also go by plane but expensive.

@Maxim **********

, it still looks very much that you can go from Udon to Vientiane by bus and minibus.

@Henrik ***

I don't get your point? You can go anywhere you want by bus. You still need to be stamped out of Thailand, and in Laos.

@Maxim **********

, the point is that when I did it by bus, the border crossing took half an hour. When doing it myself it took many hours of queuing up at the border. It may depend on the time of day.

You probably havent cross that border in years.

I left Khon Kaen by car in the morning so I dont know exactly, somewhere between 11am and 1pm.

@Henrik ***

I did it 2 months ago in 10 min.

@Maxim **********

, what time at day?