Aug
22
You can catch the bus from Pattaya to Mukdahan every day of the week. The Pattaya to Mukdahan bus service is available in the evenings each day and leaves the Pattaya bus terminal at 7pm, 7.45pm and 8.30pm. However, the bus to catch is the 8.30 service since it is the VIP bus which allows you to stretch out for the duration of the trip from Pattaya to Mukdahan, the current cost for the VIP bus is 657 baht one way. The earlier buses that leave the station have much less leg room than the 32 seat full size VIP bus service.
The bus trip from Pattaya to Mukdahan takes approximately 12 hours and travels up through the middle of Thailand to the northern town of Mukdahan which runs along the Mekong River that borders Laos. This is the bus you want to take if you are interested in doing a border run to the Thai/Laos border.
A new bridge, the Friendship 2 Bridge, has just recently been completed that crosses the Mekong River in between Mukdahan in northern Thailand and Savannakhet in southern Laos. This is a popular destination for tourists to make a cheap border run from Thailand to Laos as there is a conveniently located Thai Embassy just over the border in Savannakhet, Laos. In fact the Thai Embassy in Savannakhet, Laos is only about 15 minutes by taxi or tuk tuk from the border.
To get a new Thai tourist visa in Laos it is very convenient to take the bus from Pattaya to Mukdahan since the bus arrives at about 8.30am. It takes only 15 minutes by bus to get from the Mukdahan bus station to the Laos border and another hour or so to get through immigration and into Laos. Then take a short ride to the Thai Embassy in Savannakhet to drop off your passport in the morning before 12 midday and then pick it up the following day after 2pm with your new Thai tourist visa or non immigrant visa. After picking up your visa, head back to the border and into Thailand and catch the 6.30pm VIP bus from Mukdahan back to Pattaya, arriving at approximately 6am the following day.
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