Vientiane - Nongkhai - Udon Thani

[meadish_sweetball]

I will be flying in to Vientiane on 6 June, 15.00.

Will it be possible for me to make it to Udon Thani the same day, or will it be better to spend the night in Vientiane and leave in the morning?

What are my best travel options from there to Udon?

[mogster]

yes quite possible to get to udon in 2 hours from vientiane. i did it myself recently but i was driving. from vientiane to the border about 30mins, cross border 10 mins, down to udon less than an hour.

taking public transport and taxis etc will take you a lot longer i imagine and probably worth taking the whole day to do it comfortably.

you may want to try taxi/bus from vientiene to border. walk across border. taxi/bus to udon

sorry i have no idea of schedules

B&P hotel in Vientiane is good. Think it was 1200 baht per night

Chock Dee

[PREM-R]

If you are arriving in Vientianne at 3.00pm you will be able to get to Udon on the same day. Take a taxi from the airport to the bridge and cross over to Nong Khai. Here you can get a "private" mini-bus to Udon (expensive) or take a samlor to the the bus station and catch the bus to Udon (cheap).

Buses of all kinds (air-con - fan) leave at reular intervals and all stop at Udon.

The overnight train to Bangkok leaves Nong Khai at about 6.30 PM and stops in Udon so that is another option (Very Cheap). It is only 50 odd kilometers from Nong Khai to Udon

[AsiaWolfie]

I dont know what is the reason u wanna go back the same day, if you are under time pressure or dont like Laos, but its definitely less hassle to stay at VTE overnight, enjoy a nice French dinner in one of the numerous excellent restaurants there, have a yummi baguette with cheese and ham at Scandinavian bakery near the Fountain (Naam Phu) the next morning, and then take the DIRECT bus to Udon Thani from VTE's LOCAL bus station (next to the big market) for as low as 100 Baht (as far as I remember). well, all depends on your schedule of course...... if u wanna go back the same day, it will be pricey, the taxi from airport to friendship-bridge isnt cheap (35 km approx. and they charge much more than in Thailand) and then u have to charter an expensive private van or taxi to Udon, or take the sawngthaew to bus station, then wait there for another bus to Udon and so on...... and what I understand from your posting, u LEAVE BKK at 15.00, this means, arriving around 16.15, go through immigration, then take a taxi, takes another 45 minutes to the border at least (roads are very bad and dusty), another immigration check (unpredictable in Laos), then look for a sawngthaew to go to local bus station..... dont know what time u will arrive there and when the last bus for Udon departs.... could be a tight itinerary.....

Edited May 29, 2006 by AsiaWolfie

[meadish_sweetball]

Maybe my first post wasnt clear enough. Either way 15.00 is the scheduled arrival time. But since it is Lao Aviation, I guess nothing is certain though.

No, I don't mind Vientiane at all - I have been there before and really enjoyed the sleepy pace, the genuinely friendly people and the good food. But since I have been there before and I doubt things have changed very much, I'd rather check out Udon, which is the main goal of the trip.

But your suggestion of taking a local bus from the Vientiane bus station to Udon Thani sounds good to me - do you or anybody else have any more info about this?

I'd imagine there is more than one big market in Vientiane? Are you talking about Talat Khua Luang?

[AsiaWolfie]

Maybe my first post wasnt clear enough. Either way 15.00 is the scheduled arrival time. But since it is Lao Aviation, I guess nothing is certain though.

No, I don't mind Vientiane at all - I have been there before and really enjoyed the sleepy pace, the genuinely friendly people and the good food. But since I have been there before and I doubt things have changed very much, I'd rather check out Udon, which is the main goal of the trip.

But your suggestion of taking a local bus from the Vientiane bus station to Udon Thani sounds good to me - do you or anybody else have any more info about this?

I'd imagine there is more than one big market in Vientiane? Are you talking about Talat Khua Luang?

its behind Talat Sao, and the bus station is known at the "Talat Sao bus station" its actually a local bus station, but the Udon Thani ExpressBus departs from there.

I am not sure about the schedule though, ours left at 9.30 in the morning, dont know if there are many daily departures, I doubt that. but you could take the taxi to Talat Sao from the airport, then, if no bus to Udon leaves from there in the afternoon, u still can charter one of the many TukTuk's waiting around there to send u to friendship bridge. or ask the airport-taxi driver to wait for u at the bus station until u checked the schedule and then let him send u to friendship bridge ( but dont tell him ur plans before, OF COURSE he will tell you there is no bus to Udon in the afternoon )

Edited May 31, 2006 by AsiaWolfie