Nok Air Shuttle Bus From Service From Udon Thani To Ventiane Is A Waste Of Time....

[kimamey]

hey guys thanks for the update. i didnt knew there are direct flights right now, im pretty sure they didnt have it about a year back

will be heading this monday, and see how it goes! im have yet book my return flight as im not certain in the returning date, my first time in laos. any idea if they accept baht for food and hotel over there? or should i just change to kips?

I don't know about the whole country but in the border areas they accept Thai baht. We've never taken kip but I don't know what exchange rate we get. I'm in the UK at the moment and the wife is on a bus coming home from Bangkok but I'll try asking her when she get home.

The last time we were there I did wonder if getting kip might be a good idea though. Maybe you get better service if you pay in baht as they get more out of it if they use their own exchange rate.

[GuyL]

hey guys thanks for the update. i didnt knew there are direct flights right now, im pretty sure they didnt have it about a year back

will be heading this monday, and see how it goes! im have yet book my return flight as im not certain in the returning date, my first time in laos. any idea if they accept baht for food and hotel over there? or should i just change to kips?

According to my experience, most (maybe all, I never have been in one where it was not the case so far) hotels accept payments in Thai Baht. But it's better to have some kips with you for food and drinks. In Vientiane, you will easily find numerous places (banks, currency exchange booths, etc.) in the center of the city where you may change all the major currencies into kips.

[barefoot1988]

im in laos now. had brought forward my journey for a long weekend in laos! the amount of touts is really crazy and today seems to have a really high amount of people entering vientiane. i rarely complain, but the dude in red giving out the thai departure for those who lost it seems to be broken down completely and being a total douchebag, he was pushing everyone indiscriminately and alot of people in the que was cussing him

had the almighty laos baguette as my first bite of course. was alittle skepital at the pork floss and i believe sliced ferment pork (moo yor) toppings but it taste alot better than i expected, and spicy! had walk past quite afew indian cuisine restuarant, seems very promising as well! definitely would try it out. will be looking out at the night market along the river tonight

[barefoot1988]

the que for the electronic gate was up till here . . .

Edited August 11, 2013 by barefoot1988

[Cnxforever]

Everyone always talks about the excellent, cheap van service from Udon Thani to Vientiane. But nobody talks about the return service going back to the Udon airport. This is where I've always had problems. Going to Friendship bridge from Udon I paid 200 baht per person. However, going back I was forced to pay 1,500 baht for a different van service, since I never could find the same van service I came to Friendship bridge with. How do you find the same van service for the return trip?

You are right I was in the same situation - It's been a few years back now but I think they try the same thing on all returning passengers.

Like you said they tried 1500 Baht first - a joke really as a flight to Bangkok does not cost that much from Udon. It was about 11 AM I was alone no other passengers for Udon airport around to share the taxi.

Anyway I don't like it if people try to take advantage of me and I had time - so I talked to a Thai who was about to get into a tuk tuk to go into Nong Khai.

The driver - a woman - told me she would take me to the bus station in Nong Khai where you can catch a bus to Udon - I chatted with her on the way - we had not gone far really and that's when she found out I actually wanted to go to the airport not Udon town.

She turned around and went back a bit into the direction of Udon Thani - and stopped at a travel agent by the side of the road which was the starting point for the "Thai Airways" shuttle to Udon airport - I think it was 150 Baht on a minibus. I bought the ticket to the airport - I had about 2 hours to kill and on the other side of the road down the Soi was a little restaurant Thai and even some Farang food. I had lunch there before walking back to the travel agent.

That would be an alternative if you have time - if you need to rush to the airport you don't have much choice then to pay the price they ask - you can of course haggle them down a bit - I heard 800 Baht is possible.