Isaan tour advice

[Becker]

I'm planning on doing a tour of the major Isaan cities and I'm thinking about flying to Khon Kaen and staying there for a few days before going to Udon. I guess the easiest way is to hop on a bus but what alternatives do I have? Are there any VIP bus alternatives available, and how many hours does the trip take?

Then moving on to Ubon I have tried searching Amadeus for direct flights but did not find any. Are none available?

Finally, if you had to scratch one of the three destinations off the itinerary - which would it be?

[Lite Beer]

You can always get the train from Khon Kaen to Udon.

Bus or Taxi is another option.

Takes less than 2 hours by road.

Nok Air fly from Bangkok to Ubon.

http://www.nokair.com/nokconnext/aspx/Index.aspx

So do Air Asia

http://www.airasia.com/ot/en/home.page

[citizen33]

There aren't any direct flights from Udon to Ubon, so it is either two flights via Bangkok or a aircon bus across to Ubon. If it were me I might change the order to Udon (many flights from BKK), Khon Kaen and then Ubon. Because of logistics, Ubon is the easiest to drop, but it is an interesting city.

Edited May 15, 2014 by citizen33

[Becker]

I might drop Ubon then this time around since I don't fancy spending a night on a bus between Udon and Ubon. I am looking for things to do (including fishing), places to eat and bars to have a cold one in Khon Kaen and Udon.

I'm travelling with my wife so am not into "that" but that does not mean we aren't willing to go to a place where there are "working girls" if the place is otherwise worth a visit.

I have done a search of the net and TV and gathered some info but a lot if it is not current so would be grateful if someone sent me a link to the latest info on each city.

[Martyjustice]

Becker. If fishing is high on your list Ubon is the only city with a large river right thru the middle. Maybe look a private van rentals. I took a NCA gold bus to Chaing Mia from Ubon. Almost froze to death, flew back. Private vans are the only ones that go point to point without stopping everywhere.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[thrilled]

For things to do at udon. Go udonmap. As far as ubon,good luck

[Bpuumike]

May as well get a VIP bus Mo Chit to KK around ฿500 per person and a 6 hour trip.

I know one leaves 06:20 every day and probably plenty more.

[ALFREDO]

If you have a partner or more partners there, or hope to find there a partner or more partners, or have friends there ok,

But if you just go for the trip, it would not be worth for me to go there.

And, I live, lived there, first 85 km south west from Khon Kaen city 10 years and now 12 years 85 km east from Udon Thani city

Was never in Ubon Ratchathani, but more than once in nearby Mukdahan city overlooking the Mekhong..

Edited May 15, 2014 by ALFREDO

[SantiSuk]

Becker. If fishing is high on your list Ubon is the only city with a large river right thru the middle. Maybe look a private van rentals. I took a NCA gold bus to Chaing Mia from Ubon. Almost froze to death, flew back. Private vans are the only ones that go point to point without stopping everywhere.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

And of course the Mekong - only 80k (ish - guess) away from Ubon. No serious fisherman could resist the Mekong!

[SlyAnimal]

As a suggestion, rather than just going to a major cities, goto some of the smaller ones as well in order to break up the travel and see more interesting things. As the big cities are just cities, the differences between them only warrant about a day or two worth of checking out temples and slightly different bars etc anyway. You can see temples and bars in the smaller cities as well, the only real difference is that the 3x cities you suggested all have good shopping centres (But the same owner, thus the shops inside are all relatively similar).

Or alternatively goto Vientiane in Laos, it's not far from Udon (It's probably closer to Udon than what Khon Kaen is), and a trip there could incorporate Nong Khai which is a cool little town/province to check out, it has this amazing garden of Bhuddist statues (Wat Khaek), a Crocodile show where you really will fear for the lives of the guys involved, the Indochina Market & of course the restaurants by the Mekong (Should definitely check out Nam Neuang). Even if you weren't going to Vientiane, it'd be worthwhile driving from Udon to Nong Khai, as it's only 1h away.

If you initially flew to Udon, then went to the Khon Kaen (Stopping at the Snake village on the way), then Maha Sarakham (Although stop in at Kosum Phisai to see the monkey forest, as it's on the way), then to RoiEt (Beung Phalanchai Lake in the centre of the city + a massive standing Buddha) then onto Yasothon (Biggest wooden Church in Thailand) then Ubon (At least 3x amazing temples that I've been to + you could maybe organise some fishing on the Mekong River). That way you'd visit around 1/3 of the provinces in Isaan, and see more interesting sights etc while you're there.

If you hired a van/car so that you had your own transport, that'd probably be ideal. Then you could more easily get to some of the temples, e.g. Maha Chedi Chai Mong Khon is roughly half way between RoiEt and Yasothon, it's a little bit out of the way, but of the temples/pagodas I've seen in Thailand, it'd definitely be in the top 5, there's another one which I'd put in the "Top 5" which is in Korat/Nakon Ratchasima, which is the other major city in Isaan. Wat Gung and Wat Bua are also not far from RoiEt city (20mins & 5 mins respectively), and both are definitely worth a visit.

You could either include Korat into this trip, or maybe incorporate that into a future trip, where you could then visit the southern Isaan provinces (Korat/Burriram/Surin/Sisaket/Ubon). As they all have some amazing stuff to visit, Surin has a pretty cool Elephant village (45mins drive) which puts on a show worthy of any of the tourist destinations (Although at 1/4 the price), Burriram has the best set of Khmer ruins in Thailand (About 1h+ drive from the city though), and Korat has the 2nd best set of Khmer ruins in Thailand (Phi Mai), Sisaket has some beautiful gardens and of course the temple in the mountains which Thailand is fighting with Cambodia for (Although it's probably still closed to the public).

I don't know much about the northern provinces of Isaan, as I haven't been to them myself, but Loei is meant to have a great mountain trek which you can do, where you then stay up in the mountains for the night. I've never been myself, but one of my Thai mates went and loved it. Mukdahan has a pretty cool Indochina market as well, although that's the only thing I've really seen there, as have only been briefly (Did an English camp there, then we went to the markets afterwards).

If your wife is Thai, she'll probably know of all the places I've mentioned, and even know the names lol (I forget most of the names, although usually remember them when someone mentions them), she could then help you to sus out the details.

Isaan has so many awesome places to check out, they're all just quite far from each other.

[Becker]

As a suggestion, rather than just going to a major cities, goto some of the smaller ones as well in order to break up the travel and see more interesting things. As the big cities are just cities, the differences between them only warrant about a day or two worth of checking out temples and slightly different bars etc anyway. You can see temples and bars in the smaller cities as well, the only real difference is that the 3x cities you suggested all have good shopping centres (But the same owner, thus the shops inside are all relatively similar).

Or alternatively goto Vientiane in Laos, it's not far from Udon (It's probably closer to Udon than what Khon Kaen is), and a trip there could incorporate Nong Khai which is a cool little town/province to check out, it has this amazing garden of Bhuddist statues (Wat Khaek), a Crocodile show where you really will fear for the lives of the guys involved, the Indochina Market & of course the restaurants by the Mekong (Should definitely check out Nam Neuang). Even if you weren't going to Vientiane, it'd be worthwhile driving from Udon to Nong Khai, as it's only 1h away.

If you initially flew to Udon, then went to the Khon Kaen (Stopping at the Snake village on the way), then Maha Sarakham (Although stop in at Kosum Phisai to see the monkey forest, as it's on the way), then to RoiEt (Beung Phalanchai Lake in the centre of the city + a massive standing Buddha) then onto Yasothon (Biggest wooden Church in Thailand) then Ubon (At least 3x amazing temples that I've been to + you could maybe organise some fishing on the Mekong River). That way you'd visit around 1/3 of the provinces in Isaan, and see more interesting sights etc while you're there.

If you hired a van/car so that you had your own transport, that'd probably be ideal. Then you could more easily get to some of the temples, e.g. Maha Chedi Chai Mong Khon is roughly half way between RoiEt and Yasothon, it's a little bit out of the way, but of the temples/pagodas I've seen in Thailand, it'd definitely be in the top 5, there's another one which I'd put in the "Top 5" which is in Korat/Nakon Ratchasima, which is the other major city in Isaan. Wat Gung and Wat Bua are also not far from RoiEt city (20mins & 5 mins respectively), and both are definitely worth a visit.

You could either include Korat into this trip, or maybe incorporate that into a future trip, where you could then visit the southern Isaan provinces (Korat/Burriram/Surin/Sisaket/Ubon). As they all have some amazing stuff to visit, Surin has a pretty cool Elephant village (45mins drive) which puts on a show worthy of any of the tourist destinations (Although at 1/4 the price), Burriram has the best set of Khmer ruins in Thailand (About 1h+ drive from the city though), and Korat has the 2nd best set of Khmer ruins in Thailand (Phi Mai), Sisaket has some beautiful gardens and of course the temple in the mountains which Thailand is fighting with Cambodia for (Although it's probably still closed to the public).

I don't know much about the northern provinces of Isaan, as I haven't been to them myself, but Loei is meant to have a great mountain trek which you can do, where you then stay up in the mountains for the night. I've never been myself, but one of my Thai mates went and loved it. Mukdahan has a pretty cool Indochina market as well, although that's the only thing I've really seen there, as have only been briefly (Did an English camp there, then we went to the markets afterwards).

If your wife is Thai, she'll probably know of all the places I've mentioned, and even know the names lol (I forget most of the names, although usually remember them when someone mentions them), she could then help you to sus out the details.

Isaan has so many awesome places to check out, they're all just quite far from each other.

Thanks for some good advise! We have recently been in Vientiane and seen all the sight so am looking for something new. It sounds like the best way is to hope in the car and drive myself but I don't like to drive for hours every second day so will stick to airplanes.

[SlyAnimal]

Thanks for some good advise! We have recently been in Vientiane and seen all the sight so am looking for something new. It sounds like the best way is to hope in the car and drive myself but I don't like to drive for hours every second day so will stick to airplanes.

That's why I say to go to each province along the way

2h from Udon to Khon Kaen

1h from Khon Kaen to Maha Sarakham

30m from Sarakham to RoiEt

1h from RoiEt to Yasothon

1h from Yasothon to Ubon

So usually just a 1h drive between provincial capitals A bit longer if you take a detour to see some of the attractions along the way, but in general the travel times are pretty short, as it's double lane highways almost the entire way, so no traffic (and no idiots coming towards you either lol), just a nice and relaxing drive

[patongphil]

Thanks for some good advise! We have recently been in Vientiane and seen all the sight so am looking for something new. It sounds like the best way is to hope in the car and drive myself but I don't like to drive for hours every second day so will stick to airplanes.

That's why I say to go to each province along the way

2h from Udon to Khon Kaen

1h from Khon Kaen to Maha Sarakham

30m from Sarakham to RoiEt

1h from RoiEt to Yasothon

1h from Yasothon to Ubon

So usually just a 1h drive between provincial capitals A bit longer if you take a detour to see some of the attractions along the way, but in general the travel times are pretty short, as it's double lane highways almost the entire way, so no traffic (and no idiots coming towards you either lol), just a nice and relaxing drive

You must drive very different roads to me if you think there are no "idiots" coming towards you while connecting these cities.

[cooked]

The only idiots on the roads are the ones that expect everyone else to drive in a reasonable fashion. My foot is near the brake pedal all the time.