Can some of you please tell me the best way to get to Nong Khai? WHat is the cheapest, most scenic, enjoyable, or fastest? I am aware of the cheap flights on Air Asia from BKK to Udon Thani, but what about from there to Nong Khai? I am not in objection of taking any form of transportation, save for walking, mule, or bike. Thanks in advance.

There's a booth at Udon Thani airport just to the right of the main exit doors as you enter the arrival area. They have a service that goes to Nong Khai, for I think 200 Baht. I don't recall off-hand if it goes to Friendship Bridge and or Nong Khai proper. I don't know what kind of vehicle it is as I've never taken it. Alternately, you can pay them 60 Baht for a trip into the city and they'll drop you off at the bus station and you can purchase a regular bus ticket from there to Nong Khai. If you want to pay for a private car/van to take you, they'll ask for 800 Baht for as many people as can fit, but you can probably bargain them down to 600, maybe 500 Baht. Don't know of any other good ways of getting there other than walking.

Presuming you are in Bangkok then why not take the train?

VIP (999) bus from Mo Chit departs daily at 20:30, total trip time is 10:00. Fare is 700 baht. These buses only have 24 seats and typically sell out. You can buy a ticket at least two weeks in advance.

The Standard Bus #1 (40 seats) departs daily at 21:45 and the fare is 450 baht.

The Standard Bus #2 (47 seats) departs daily at 08:30 and 20:40 and the fare is 350 baht.

You can view the train schedule here: http://www.railway.co.th/English/Time_HTML.asp

Train...you get a very good night's sleep, plenty of space in which to stretch out and food onboard (if you're into Thai specialties)

Just to follow up; I ended up sending my GF on Air Asia for 1100 baht (including taxes!) and 100 baht for the bus to Nong Khai, total trip less than 4 hours.

I took a flight with air asia to Udon Thani. Like Soju said, they have a little booth their that sell tickets to the friendship bridge.

I booked the evening flight and read that the bridge shuts before I could make it, but that turned out to be crap. This was my first overland boader crossing and was amazed how easy it was.

Also, I ran around bangkok for a day searching for US dollars to pay for my visa, but then asked when I arrived if I could have paid in Baht and they said no problem.

Enjoy!

I took a flight with air asia to Udon Thani. Like Soju said, they have a little booth their that sell tickets to the friendship bridge.

I booked the evening flight and read that the bridge shuts before I could make it, but that turned out to be crap. This was my first overland boader crossing and was amazed how easy it was.

Also, I ran around bangkok for a day searching for US dollars to pay for my visa, but then asked when I arrived if I could have paid in Baht and they said no problem.

Enjoy!

If you pay in Baht, you're paying a lot more than if you pay in USD. You would have been much better off to get USD at BKK airport.

What time does the bridge close?