Laos - some less travelled parts

[Alex]

By common sense, it should be possible to pay in THB or Kip, but I didn't want to be wait half an hour in the queue to be told that only USD are accepted (I don't know if that is the case, but from experience I know that my common sense doesn't work in Thailand). So I changed THB to USD (at an unfavorable rate, but if you are from US it's no problem for you).

As it's illegal to take Lao Kip with you when leaving Laos and as you cannot officially get Lao Kip anywhere in the world outside Laos, I'd be surprised if you could actually pay for the visa in Lao Kip. Selling visas is one way for the government of Laos to "earn" foreign currency. It's definitely possible to pay in Thai Baht, but as pong has pointed out, it's significantly more expensive than using US dollars. So people who've got a chance to get USD from a bank or money exchange in Thailand before heading to the border (or in their home country) can save some money.

[Bob]

As it's illegal to take Lao Kip with you when leaving Laos

Out of curiosity, where did you hear that? I've visited up there (Laos) and saw nothing indicating you couldn't take kip out of the country. And I did (kept a 1000 kip note, a 5,000, a 10,000, and a 20,000 - all of which, I think, was worth less than 100 baht then).

[Alex]

As it's illegal to take Lao Kip with you when leaving Laos

Out of curiosity, where did you hear that? I've visited up there (Laos) and saw nothing indicating you couldn't take kip out of the country. And I did (kept a 1000 kip note, a 5,000, a 10,000, and a 20,000 - all of which, I think, was worth less than 100 baht then).

See, for example, http://www.iatatravelcentre.com/LA-Laos ... etails.htm (Currency rules, Currency Export regulations).

As a rule of thumb, there's usually no customs inspection when you leave the country, so it's unlikely that they'll find any Lao Kip you might still have on you. I've also taken some small-denomination kip notes along as a souvenir when visiting Laos in the past. It's probably no big deal, unless you're caught exporting truck loads of kip.

I wouldn't worry about the illegality, my point was that the currency is non-convertible outside Laos and therefor you'd most likely baffle Lao Immigration if you attempted to buy a visa using kip, as you're not supposed to hold that currency before entering the country.

[Gaybutton]

exporting truck loads of kip.

If you take out about one dollar's worth of Kip, that's pretty close to what you'll be doing . . .

[christianpfc]

As it's illegal to take Lao Kip with you when leaving Laos and as you cannot officially get Lao Kip anywhere in the world outside Laos, I'd be surprised if you could actually pay for the visa in Lao Kip.

I didn't know this.

My point was that for someone who dosn't use USD, it doesn't make a difference whether you change THB (or other currency) into USD at an unfavorable exchange rate at the border or pay the visa in THB at an unfavorable rate (compared to USD).

[ceejay]

My point was that for someone who dosn't use USD, it doesn't make a difference whether you change THB (or other currency) into USD at an unfavorable exchange rate at the border or pay the visa in THB at an unfavorable rate (compared to USD).

Even changing baht into dollars in Thailand is probably better. What they charge when I crossed over was way out of line - if I remember right, 1500 baht or 35 dollars for my visa. That's close to a 50% surcharge.

I noticed it everywhere. Contrary to what I have seen on the message boards, you can spend baht just about anywhere, not just at the borders and in Vientiane.The only place I had trouble getting baht accepted was a petrol (gas) station in the middle of nowhere (on the Paksan/Phonsavan road). They had no change so I (more exactly my driver) had to persuade them to take a mixture of baht and dollars. However, the rate for baht is a lot worse then you would expect from the baht/dollar exchange rate. I don't know why - I'd expect the reverse to be true if anything.

Try gold shops for exchanging baht. The best rate I got for baht was in a gold shop in Phonsavan Market - a very smart shop in a very run down building. You could probably have bought the rest of the market with the stock in that shop!

[christianpfc]

As it's illegal to take Lao Kip with you when leaving Laos and as you cannot officially get Lao Kip anywhere in the world outside Laos, I'd be surprised if you could actually pay for the visa in Lao Kip.

On my recent visa run (two weeks ago, just back in Bangkok), I found a flyer from the Bank of the Lao PDR which says

Residents and non - residents of the Lao PDR coming in and going out of the Lao PDR may bring in or out the Kip of on (sic) more than 20 million kip. Bigger amount shall be approved by the BOL.

Furthermore, I found out that you can pay for visa on arrival at Nong Khai boarder crossing in Baht, in my case it was 1300 THB (I had exchanged THB to USD before in Bangkok, but the officer didn't accept the USD notes because they had significant signs of use).

(Details about this trip will be posted in my blog soon.)

[Jun]

1 Visa. Agreed, you are much better off paying in dollars for the Visa.

2 Shops & hotels. On my last trip to Vientiane, I got the impression Thai baht might have become the most favoured foreign currency for shops & hotels & the exchange rate seemed competitive with the dollar rate.

3 Forex booths. When buying kip at the best exchange rate booths, the GBP:KIP rate was reasonable in the capital. So no need for the British visitor to get too many USD before going there, if starting in the capital. Obviously Euros, Yen & AUD were also amongst the currencies widely offered at exchange booths.

4 ATMS. These serve up KIP, unlike the machines in Cambodia which dish out USD usually.