Laos border bounce experience @ Chiang Khong crossing.
As background, I have a US passport and have been in Thailand on a combination of exempt stamps (2), COVID extensions (3) and one Thai Tourism visa with a few 30 day extensions. Needless to say, my options for short term approvals are becoming very narrow.
The Chang Khong border is actually quite nice. Very quiet, and not more that 20 travelers there at the time of my crossing. Getting stamped out of course was no problem. You take a bus across the Friendship Bridge that takes about 5 minutes, but it's only running once an hour, so you can find yourself waiting for quite awhile if your timing is unlucky. 20 baht there and 25 baht back for the bus ride. I don't know why the prices are different.
The man at the Laos border was helpful(?) But I feel like he scammed me. I read online that it was $40 USD for the Laos visa, but then he told me it was $45 USD or 1900 baht ($55 USD). He refused to take my USD when I told him I had both currencies. I think he just knew that the baht was a better deal for him. Nonetheless I got the visa and got stamped in and out of Laos in 5 minutes. NO visa photos needed since I wasn't entering the country. Super easy, just more expensive than was expected.
Waited 55 minutes for the bus back to Thailand.
When I arrived back to the Thai border, I was slightly nervous about re-entry even though I had read that you get two land border bounces a year. I was surprised that they required us to fill out the old TM6 card that to my understanding is no longer used. Not a big deal though. I waited for 5 minutes. The Thai border agent was very nice and professional. He double checked where I said I was staying in Chiang Mai and made sure that the address matched the building name, to have a very quick look at my stamps and let me back in with a 45 day exempt stamp. No issues at all thankfully. Hope this helps some people. The entire process took about 90+ minutes and cost 1995 baht.
TLDR : Answer Summary
A US passport holder shares their experience with a Laos border bounce at Chiang Khong. After multiple extensions and exemptions in Thailand, they crossed over to Laos via a bus. They found the process straightforward but felt slightly scammed by the Laos visa fee. The return to Thailand was smooth but included filling out a TM6 card, despite uncertainty about its current use. Overall, the experience took about 90 minutes and cost 1995 baht.
