Northeastern Thailand - Thailand - page 970

Information

10.30am-7pm) Keeps late hours. Bangkok Bank (Tesco-Lotus, Th Nittayo;

8.30am-noon & 1-4.30pm Mon-Fri) For visa exten- Immigration Office ( 0 4251 1235; Th Sunthon Wijit;

sions.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT; 0 4251 3490; [e-mail]; Th Sunthon Wijit; 8.30am-4.30pm)

Covers Nakhon Phanom, Sakon Nakhon and Mukdahan provinces.

Getting There & Away

AIR
Nok Air ( 0 2900 9955; www.nokair.com ) and Air Asia ( 0 2515 9999; www.airasia.com ) each fly daily
to/from Bangkok's Don Muang Airport with one-way prices from 1000B. Agencies such
as NKP Travel Centre ( 0 4252 0999; Th Apibanbuncha; 8am-6pm Mon-Sat, 9am-5pm Sun) sell tickets.
An airport shuttle drops passengers at any in-town hotel for 100B per person.

BUS
Nakhon Phanom's bus terminal ( 0 4251 3444; Th Fuang Nakhon) is west of the town centre.
From here buses head to Nong Khai (210B, 6½ hours, four daily); Udon Thani (170B to
220B, 4½ hours, frequent) via Sakon Nakhon (70B to 88B, 1½ hours); and Ubon
Ratchathani (229B, 4½ hours, 7am). For Ubon, most people use minivans (162B, four
hours, seven daily) which go via Mukdahan (80B, 2½ hours) and That Phanom (40B, one
hour). Most Bangkok (447B to 574B, 11 to 12 hours) buses depart between 7am to 8am
and 5pm to 7pm. VIP service is offered by 999 VIP ( 0 4251 1403) for 893B.
Sŏrng·tăa·ou to That Phanom (40B, 90 minutes, frequent until 5pm) park near
Kasikornbank.

GETTING TO LAOS: NAKHON PHANOM TO THA KHAEK

Getting to the Border Passenger ferries cross the Mekong to Tha Khaek in Laos, but they're for Thai and Lao
only. All travellers must use the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge 3, north of the city. Buses to Tha Khaek (70/75B
weekdays/weekends, eight daily) run between 8am and 5pm.
At the Border All immigration formalities are handled at the bridge, and Lao visas are available on arrival. Th-
ings get pretty chaotic when droves of Vietnamese workers, who don't appreciate the value of a queue, are
passing through.
Moving On The bus tends to wait a long time to get more passengers, so total travel time to Tha Khaek often
takes over two hours.