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2001

Bangkok

Jeremy Koh
2005-11-03 20:13:42

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and if you are afraid that you'll fall out bed, there're straps to prevent you from falling out. As it was night, there was nothing much to see and we decided to rest early to prepare for the day ahead.

Day 2- Nong Khai

We arrived at Nong Khai station around 7am after an 11 hour journey. It is 624km from Bangkok and is the major crossing point to the Lao capital, Vientiane, via the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge over the Mekong (Lonely Planet: Southeast Asia on a Shoestring). The weather here is rather cool. Once we came off the train, we were besieged by many tuk-tuk drivers eager to bring us to the Thai-Lao border. However, we thought that we can only pay for the Lao Visa in US Dollars so we decided to head to the town of Nong Khai and change our money at the banks there. However, the bank didn't open till 9am so we had some time to spare. We decided to head for breakfast. Nong Khai as i briefly saw it, has a small town feel to it although it does have fast food restaurants. When the bank opened, we were told that it was alright to pay for our visa using Thai baht. Thus, we decided to head towards the border. Our driver was very persistent in getting us to process our visas at 'Visa Processing' shops near the border and finally we relented. It cost us 2000B ! Once we got our exit stamps from the Thai side, a bus took us all the way across the bridge to the Lao border where it took some time for our visa to be processed. Thereafter, we were in Laos. (Read the Laos travelogue for more information)

Day 3- Nong Khai

We arrived at the train station around 4pm after walking from the border and bought our tickets back to Bangkok. However we would only set off at 7pm which means we have time to spare again. Thus we sat down and read our Vientiane Times and Lonely Planet guide to pass the time. We had our dinner at one of the many ...