Crossing at Chong Mek

[scotty007]

Tried to cross at Chong Mek into Pakse on the 10th of December, Thai immigration stamped the 2 of us out of Thailand whilst our Wives sorted the Customs paperwork out. At this point the customs guy refused point blank to let our bikes out, saying we required a bike passport, our immigration stamps were then canceled.

We enquired at the Ubon vechile licensing building the next morning only to find out there is now no such thing as a bike passport.

I think that possibly the fact that the bikes are registered in our Wives names may be problematic or the Customs guy does not know the current situation about the bike paasport.

Anyone entered this point recently?

It is a long way to ride from Chiang Mai to find out we cannot pass!!!! :cry:

 

[Rhodie]

Scotty had a similar problem at Chong mek in '06
when I crossed over with my son on the GS.
The customs demanded the purple doc which you have for 4W vehicles in Thailand when crossing borders.
I called DFL who confirmed it was not necessary as their confidence led me to believe that maybe the rukles had changed.
As we were going nowhere I insisted that they check further up the chain.
It took about 45 minutes during which time they served us drinks
before they had it confirmed that it was not necessary for bikes.
It may be an idea to get a letter from the head honcho in Ubon
explaining the situation to Chong Mek customs before heading out there again.
Bloody nuisance tho.

 

[BignTall]

Scotty - Sorry to see you had a hassle at Chong Mek. I just passed through Chong Mek into Pakse on 12/11/09 with no issues though this was with a Cambodian registered bike. HarrytheFinn said I would be close to meeting up with you guys at the border. Sorry i did not see you.

Not sure where your bike is registered but for all border crossings I always have copies of my bikes documents (Thai green book pages, insurance ,etc. and copies of my visa and passport). A friend had a bike in his wifes name, a signed letter from her authorising him to be able to take the bike across international borders. It took awhile but in the end it all processed through with only a bit of time wasted while they sort through things.

Once again sorry you guys had bad luck, as you say a hell of a long way to go and get turned around.