Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(Th Song Nang Sathit; dishes 70-450B; 9am-10pm Tue-Sun; )
This fun place has all the ingredients
of a travellers' cafe - a mix of Thai and Western food, art on the walls, chill music, good
coffee - except a room full of travellers, though many of those who do stop in Mukdahan
longer than is needed to change buses do cosy up here at some point.
Information
8.30am-4.30pm Mon-Fri)
The office for visa extensions is
Immigration Office
(
0 4267 4274;
north of town by the bridge.
Krung Thai Bank
(Th Song Nong Satit; 10am-7pm)
The only extended-hours bank downtown.
Tourism Information Center
(Th Phitak Phanomkhet; 9am-4.30pm Mon-Fri)
You can pick up maps and
brochures here, but don't expect staff to be able to answer your questions. There's also
Thai massage and a crafts shop.
Getting There & Away
Mukdahan's
bus terminal
( 0 4263 0486)
is on Rte 212, west of town. To get there from the
centre catch a yellow
sŏrng·tăa·ou
(10B, 6am to 5pm) running west along Th Phitak
Phanomkhet. There are minivans to Nakhon Phanom (80B, two hours, every 30 minutes)
via That Phanom (40B, 45 minutes), Yasothon (84B, two hours, every 30 minutes) and
Ubon Ratchathani (105B, 2½ hours, every 30 minutes). Buses go to Khon Kaen (170B to
230B, 4½ hours, every 30 minutes) and Ubon Ratchathani (75B to 135B, 3½ hours, every
30 minutes). A few Bangkok buses (420B to 533B, 10 hours) leave during the day, but
most depart between 5pm and 8pm, including
999 VIP
(
0 4261 1478; 829B)
, with luxury
buses at 8.30am, 8pm and 8.15pm.
If you're driving to Ubon Ratchathani, Rte 212 will zip you there in three hours, but if
you have a whole day, take the Mekong-hugging back roads through a gorgeous stretch of
rural Thailand.
GETTING TO LAOS: MUKDAHAN TO SAVANNAKHET
Thais and Lao can use the boats that cross the Mekong from the city centre while everyone else must use the
bridge. Buses to Savannakhet, Laos (45B, hourly 7.30am to 7pm) depart Mukdahan's bus station and the trip will
take from one to two hours depending on the length of the immigration queues. A 5B surcharge applies before
8.30am, between noon and 1pm, and after 4.30pm weekdays, and all day weekends and holidays.
