Vip Bus Chiang Mai - Udon Crashed 12/27

[PlanetX]

Put my TGF on the VIP bus to udon thani Dec 27th

Got a call at 4am with her crying - bus crashed, many injured, driver fell asleep

I know there are two companies - used the one furthest on the right if looking at the ticket window (dont remember which one it was)

I feel completely sick because I told her to take that one -- she is staying with family in Udon

[JimSiam]

My wifes niece went on Suksa tour to Udon about 2 weeks ago and the bus broke down once, had a small crash and had to stop to pickup passengers from one of thier other buses that had broken down, making it a 13 hour trip. Sorry to hear of your story.

[Ulysses G.]

Very sad. I hope that your girlfriend is OK.

[neverdie]

Hope your GF is OK planetx. Try not to beat yourself up about telling her to take that bus, there is NO WAY you could of known. Tommorrow it will be a completely different bus.

[eek]

I wish all the passengers well in their recovery. Must have been very scary.

[gotlost]

Sorry to hear this. Hope all is well your GF and other passengers. No fault of yours PX. It does burn my arse that this happen on Dec. 27 and this being Jan 1.. 6 days for this to come out. Yes TV is our only solid news source for Chiang Mai.

[bangkokcitylimits]

Again that same company - same route ??? tsss.....

The one on the right is Suksa Tour, last time there was one killed.

They have the only reasonable bus, the other one on the left side, Tsjakkapong Tour's busses are a claustrofobic nightmare.

[onnut]

I Hope your Girlfriend is ok.

I saw the bus full of Russians that ditched sideways just outside Pattaya. I think that is my fourth bus I've seen on it's side in a ditch since living here. Not to mention the one parked on top of a motorbike in Bangkok.

Terrible.

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun PlanetX,

Very sorry to hear this news on day one of the New Year ! Very glad that, apparently, she was not injured.

I am sure you will "let yourself off the hook" for the choice of bus-line soon: this could have happened with any company. But, imho, to feel guilt temporarily is also natural.

Note to Khun BangkokCityLimits: we believe that as you face the two adjacent companies that sell VIP CM=>Udon at the Arcade station, that the one on the left is Oosuksatour, and the one on the right is Chakrapong, but we could be wrong on the one on the right: very confident though that the one on the left is Oosuksatour, have used them many times. In November this year: went to Udon on Oosuksatour, and came back on Chakrapong: was willing to use Chakrapong because of several reports here on this forum that they have upgraded their buses (and they have).

best, ~o:37;

[thrilled]

I've heard so many horible stories about that route.When I travel between the two,I fly even though it might paying double the price,switching planes at bangkok.I hope you'll be ok.

[nikster]

Glad she's fine & thanks for the warning.

[SantiSuk]

Maybe you guys in CM will be able to fly to Buriram with Air Asia in 2011. They seem to have been flirting with direct a route from CM into Issaan for a year now (first it was Ubon). Can't understand why they don't go for a CM to Khon Kaen to Ubon route. There are so many buses on that route and so many Thais, not to mention falang that are peed off with dangerous bus journeys that I'm sure they could make a go of it a few times a week.

We are rather looking forward to such a link in Issaan as well.

[IanForbes]

Like others here, I'm sorry to hear of the bus crash. I don't like those long haul bus rides. Anything over 5 hours is too long. But, if she was crying at least that means she survived okay. Anything that doesn't kill or maim us is an adventure.

I can't understand why there isn't a flight to Udon from Chiang Mai. You would think a twice a week trip would be cost beneficial. There's always someone wanting to go and flights would be full. Maybe there are some payoffs going on between bus companies and the authorities.

[PlanetX]

Thanks everyone. She is ok and staying with her family for a few weeks.

I hope everyone else is - she said that people were only hurt

I just wanted to let everyone know because I know it is a very common route for anyone going on visa runs

[StevieH]

have to say the last udon - chiang mai run i did a couple of weeks ago i was sat in the front row upstairs seats on the bus and woke up at about 2am to find the driver belting around winding mountain roads at about 120km. not very pleasant at all. was like being on a bloody rollercoaster rather than a supposedly 'luxury' bus.