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Published: December 15th 2010
We left Pai on our minibus at 4 pm and got to Chiang Mai around 7:30. The ride was fine, the bus nicer, but our spots were in the back so we didn't have as much room as we did on the way to Pai. When we arrived at the bus station we took a tuk tuk to our guest house to pick up our bags and then got a red taxi truck to take us to the train station.
Our train was scheduled to leave at 21:00, and we were told we needed to be there 40 minutes before, so we were scrambling to get there in time and made it there around 20:30 where I promptly made a mess -- I had put a bottle of beer in the side pocket of one of my bags and it fell out and smashed on the floor with a loud crash. Luckily we were not reprimanded and they just cleaned it up and we kept walking to the platform.
The train arrived about 30 minutes late, then the people on it deboarded, they washed the train, and then we could get on. We left almost an hour late and got to Phitsanulok around 4 or 5 am. When we got there, Ronald stayed with the bags and I went to the information man who told me the only way to get to Non Khai was through Udonthoni and the bus left at 8:30 and I had to buy a ticket at window #28. I went to window #28 and it was closed. The woman on the other side told me it would be open at 9:30. So basically nothing made sense and we were told different things by different people various times (including the angry man who told us 7:00 and then "You listen to me! 8:30!"...) and ended up just lying on top of our stuff for about 3 or so hours.
When 8:00 rolled around I went up to #28 again because we saw that it was open and people were standing in line. I bought two tickets to Udonthoni for the bus that left at 8:30. We got there around 3ish, got off the bus, and were told by the station helpers that to take a bus to Non Khai we had to go to a different station and that we had to take a tuk tuk. So we did and when we got to the other place our bags were immediately transfered to the belly of the Non Khai bus. This bus (35 baht) stopped whenever someone wanted to get on or off, so it took a lot longer than it should have to get there.
Once at the Non Khai bus station, we were offered to be taken to the Laos embassy, or something to that effect, to get our visas. We were taken in tuk tuk to a little agency where we paid $37 and 400 baht plus 100 baht for 8 photos (4 of each of us). That included a tuk tuk to a minivan that would take us to the border and a minivan after we crossed. When our tuk tuk driver dropped us off, another man we didn't know asked us for our minivan tickets, which we didn't have but told him we had already paid for, so his boss made him buy us tickets (I think...).
When we got to the border we went up to the window to hand over our passports, picture, and forms, and waited for about five minutes before we were given them back (the agency didn't tell us, but the woman took $2 from what we paid and kept it as her fee). Ronald's was only $30, so he was given $5 back. You
CANNOT pay in Thai baht there, only in US dollars, so I'm really glad we'd found that information earlier. When we got through that portion, Ronald and I were taken by the same man with a couple of women to a different minivan.
Anyways, after a really long day we finally were heading towards a hotel and the end was in sight. Our driver didn't speak English and he took us to the Budchadakham Hotel which had a yellow sign and was outrageously expensive for the quality. Our wooden door had a hole in it, there was mold in the bathroom, the windows and doors to the patio didn't close, and it was just overall dirty. Basically we paid the 800 baht because we were too tired to search for anything else.
That night we took a tuk tuk to the Mekong River area where all the main stuff is basically. We had dinner at two different places (I still wasn't feeling 100%!,(MISSING) so I couldn't eat the curry that I didn't know was going to be on my salad, so we went to another place to get a sandwich) and met our tuk tuk driver at 21:00. We had forgotten to write down the name of our hotel so we didn't know how to get back and just asked him to meet us at the same spot after an hour and a half to "go home". Thank goodness he showed up. After that it was bedtime with strict plans to wake up in the morning in search of a cheaper place to stay.
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Same same but different
I did nearly the exact same thing as you, but a couple of days later. However, I paid 1300 Baht for my Laos visa at Friendship Bridge...not US$. I've heard that US$ is a must if you arrive via the airport. Stayed at the same hotel...yes, lacking bleach and a scrub, big time! Paid 650 Baht I think? So with you on the ' too tired to search for anything else', we struck the hotel from hell on the Thai side of the bridge.