When I was a young kid growing up, I remember our teachers telling us that

"there were no stupid questions" and, later-on I realized this was just a cheap

ploy to get us to embarrass ourselves in public. Well anyway, here goes:

I need to take a bus from Udon to Nongkai and the friendship bridge. At the bus

station the first departure is 11:00 platform 6 ? This is what I was told. And, also

what the schedule they have written down indicates. Surely this cannot be correct?

Is it possible to catch that Rayong-Nongkai vip bus when it passes through town

earlier in the morning? Or do you just get a mini-bus from the airport?

I'd really rather get moving earlier in the morning, the Thai-Lao international bus is

now only boarding those foreigners who have pre-obtained a Laos visa (basically, it

is now a bus for only Thai/Lao nationals) Any helpful ideas about all this?

You can go to the Lao consulate in KK to get a Lao Visa.

Bob4you, you're right of course about the consulate in Khon kaen. What I wanted to do

was leave from downtown Udon and go straight to Nongkai. What I found out after asking

is that the company (บ. 407) that runs the vip service from rayong to nongkai will take you

from Udon to Nongkai for 50 baht. They leave from Udon starting at 06:00-07:00-08:00.

It's a double decker vip, but the only service that leaves in these early hours. Their office

is on Rungsun rd (ถนน รังสรร ) about 20m down from the 7-11 on the same side of the street.

Which, I should say, is just the very front of the whole bus terminal plex, thingie, dome.