Arcade Bus Station, Tickets To Udon Thani

[StevieH]

anyone ever been told that you can't buy tickets to udon thani on the VIP bus the day before you want to travel? went down there this morning to be told by the lady at the booth that i can't get tickets for the 8.30pm VIP bus tomorrow night until tomorrow morning. seems strange to me, is this usual?

[Ulysses G.]

This is how things were run many years ago, but I thought that had alll gotten better.

[StevieH]

yeah, seems an odd one to me UG. am sure my other half has been down a couple of days ahead previously and bought advance tickets.

[brycat]

anyone ever been told that you can't buy tickets to udon thani on the VIP bus the day before you want to travel? went down there this morning to be told by the lady at the booth that i can't get tickets for the 8.30pm VIP bus tomorrow night until tomorrow morning. seems strange to me, is this usual?

That's for sure a strange one. I bought a VIP ticket to UT (20.00 depart) the day before at the beginning of this month. Had no problem. I went around 12:00 noon the day before. The time you buy the ticket shouldn't make much of a difference unless, of course, there's a different teller at the counter. I was advised to purchase the VIP ticket the day before since they're usually sold out the day of departure. I'd try again unless you want to risk getting the 1st class ticket. There is a huge difference! Good luck!

[StevieH]

That's for sure a strange one. I bought a VIP ticket to UT (20.00 depart) the day before at the beginning of this month. Had no problem. I went around 12:00 noon the day before. The time you buy the ticket shouldn't make much of a difference unless, of course, there's a different teller at the counter. I was advised to purchase the VIP ticket the day before since they're usually sold out the day of departure. I'd try again unless you want to risk getting the 1st class ticket. There is a huge difference! Good luck!

thanks for that, i'm definitely going to have to go back down there today and try again. which is a pain in the arse. have to say that the teller wasn't the happiest nor most helpful, but then i suppose neither am i at 9am on a monday.

having not done this run before, what is the difference between the 1st class and the VIP? just standard of bus is it?

[StevieH]

as an FYI to everyone on this topic, having just been down to the arcade bus depot again it appears that the VIP bus service has been cut so that rather than run daily it now goes every other day. which frankly stuffs me right up and means spending the sodding weekend in vientiane. not happy.

[orang37]

anyone ever been told that you can't buy tickets to udon thani on the VIP bus the day before you want to travel? went down there this morning to be told by the lady at the booth that i can't get tickets for the 8.30pm VIP bus tomorrow night until tomorrow morning. seems strange to me, is this usual?

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun StevieH,

I was going to go from CM to UT (and then on to Vientiane) on the night of Nov. 4, but when I went there on the 4th. around noon : they were sold out for the 4th. and the 5th. I came back on the Friday the 7th. and bought an advance ticket for the 9th.

While I was told it was a 32 passenger VIP bus, I wasn't told it was a double-decker; seat space was pretty tight and I am not that "giant sized" a farang (about six feet tall). The bus was packed to the gills, and on the upper tier, where my seat was, there was no room for overhead storage.

I went on the bus in somewhat of a state of sleep-deprivation and, fortunatey, managed to sleep my way most of the to UT.

best, ~o:37;

[StevieH]

cheers O37. i went down to arcade again today and was able to purchase two tickets on tomorrow night's VIP bus as it goes. we're not taking a lot of luggage, only a smallish rucksack each, so storage isn't that big a deal. them not running a tuesday service from CM now though means that we'll have to try and do the 1,000 baht taxi run from udon thani to the friendship bridge in order to (hopefully) reach the thai embassy in vientiane ahead of it closing thursday lunchtime. pain in the arse this is.

[tom21]

last time i went to udon thani they would not sell return tickets . they said you have to buy the ticket in udon thani.

[StevieH]

last time i went to udon thani they would not sell return tickets . they said you have to buy the ticket in udon thani.

aye, we have to do that too. grrr.

[waveydavey]

cheers O37. i went down to arcade again today and was able to purchase two tickets on tomorrow night's VIP bus as it goes. we're not taking a lot of luggage, only a smallish rucksack each, so storage isn't that big a deal. them not runn.ing a tuesday service from CM now though means that we'll have to try and do the 1,000 baht taxi run from udon thani to the friendship bridge in order to (hopefully) reach the thai embassy in vientiane ahead of it closing thursday lunchtime. pain in the arse this is.

The last two times I've caught this bus I've then caught the public bus from Udon Thani to Nong Khai and on both occasions I've reached the consulate at 11am so if you want to risk it you can save the taxi fare....

[StevieH]

The last two times I've caught this bus I've then caught the public bus from Udon Thani to Nong Khai and on both occasions I've reached the consulate at 11am so if you want to risk it you can save the taxi fare....

cheers davey, think we'll see what time we hit udon thani first. don't really want to gamble and then be stuck in vientiane all weekend.

[waveydavey]

The last two times I've caught this bus I've then caught the public bus from Udon Thani to Nong Khai and on both occasions I've reached the consulate at 11am so if you want to risk it you can save the taxi fare....

cheers davey, think we'll see what time we hit udon thani first. don't really want to gamble and then be stuck in vientiane all weekend.

Last time we reached Udon at 8am on the dot and the public bus seemed to hang around for ages before departing. It then stopped for about 15 minutes somewhere else in Udon but we still made it ok.

In my case it didn't worry me as I wasn't bothered either way about staying an extra day in Vientianne. Might not be worth the risk in your case if it means staying for the weekend however.

One other thing - when I went last month I paid 701 baht for the bus ticket but when the bus set off from Arcade the stewardess went round and gave everyone a 100 baht note. Anybody know what that was all about? She just smiled and said it was a gift when I asked her.

Edited November 25, 2008 by waveydavey