Guest Posted April 19, 2003 Report Share Posted April 19, 2003 Based on the suggestion of Zman Z28 who very kindly sent me a private message I took another tack on my most recent visa run to the Laotian border. Roundtrip airfare BKK - Udon Thani - BKK 3570 baht I left home at about 0530 and easily made the 0650 flight which touched down in UTH an hour later. After a few minutes to honor the raising of the Thai national colors at 0800, I negotiated with the taxi pimp for a private car. Private car to Nong Khai and return to UTH 1000 baht The trip each way took under an hour. I also gave my driver 100 baht to get something to eat while he waited for me. While he spoke very good Vietnam-era English, his word for eat apparently includes a large bottle of Chang. At the bridge I used my usual visa service and for 2000 baht got my customary package including Lao visa, photos, transport and walk-through service. Despite the crowds at the bridge we were stamped-out and stamped-in in good time as my guide is an old hand and quite an operator. This really was the way to go and my thanks go to Zman Z28 for his suggestion. Conducted at the height of frenzy -- Songkran and SARS-related -- this was truly a comfortable alternative. The only disappointment was returning to UTH at 1115 to find a 3-hour wait until the afternoon flight for BKK. As with most Thai airports there were no shops open between flight times and the air-conditioning was switched off. Total time away from home was a shade under 11 hours. Total cost including taxis to and from BKK was 7200 baht. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilli13 Posted April 20, 2003 Report Share Posted April 20, 2003 sounds like good clean efficient visa fun :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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