BKK to Nakhon Phanom province - Fly or drive ???

Hi guys, A quick bit of advice from the locals on the board if you would please ??

So, further to my post the other week re visting the BF's village that's all sorted except how I get there, so, I've to get from the Silom area, Bkk to Na Kae District close to Nakhon Phonom, Issan, so what the best plan, should I either :

a) Simply rent a car and drive from Bkk ( cost 10,000 baht plus fuel ), I'm guessing that's maybe a 13 hour drive ( maybe split it over two days ?) but I'm also aware that it maybe a dodgy enough drive accident and police wise etc and that there will only be me able to drive should I get tired and find it more stressful driving than usual and with the flooding etc that maybe not a "great" idea ??

or

b) ( and this was his suggestion ) fly to Nakhon Phanom and rent a car from there to drive to his village - cost for flight 13,300 baht and 10,000 for the car BUT I'm having NO LUCK whatsoever in finding ANY car hire companies anywhere near that general area - any suggestions there ? or maybe there just aren't any around that area at all perhaps ?

or

c) Fly to either Udon Thani (or Khon Kaen?? ), cost 6,000 baht and 10,000 for the car - and drive across ( or up if from Khon Kean) to his village (which from using my finger as a scale rule guide on the goggle map :-) I'm GUESSING from Udon Thani is about 150 miles to his village so maybe a 3-4 hour drive tops ? ( am I right about that time and distance guys ?? ) - I'm not sure about the distance from Khon Kaen to Na Kae at all if someone could roughly advise we of that too ? ( the reason I'm even thinking of Khon Kaen is that if it wasn't THAT much different from Udon I know an Irish hotel owner guy from Khon Kaen who that if I was passing I wouldn't mind calling with to say hello - but if that's a lot farther from his village than Udon then I wouldn't bother I guess - but again looking at the map and in my head Khon Kaen doesn't look "that" far from bkk ( maybe 300 miles ??) which I guess is a 6 hour day time drive - which when I take in the time assing about traveling to and hanging about in the airport maybe isn't THAT much worse than the overall time taken to fly there as I still have to drive anyway once I get there ( minus the added accident risk factor I guess) !

So, from the above, which would you recommend as the sensible choice guys ? all and any advice greatly accepted - and apologies if the above appears to be a stupid question to those that know the probably obvious answer as I'm "guessing" that option (c) is the correct answer perhaps but I just wanted to be sure and ask for some local knowledge to ensure I'm not being totally thick and missing some important but critical fact ( like the roads are totally flooded for example ! ) before I book this !

Thanks.

ha ha oh and for those that mentioned it on my last post re beware of the "party in my honour" at his village, well that of course is now arranged and I've been told don't worry "will only cost you 10,000 baht", so I said fine to that, then next day got the call......"sorry I made a mistake, maybe cost you 15,000 baht now" lol - but to be fair to the guy I dont think it's what it looks like ( ha ha even I can't believe I'm saying that :-) as I just dont think he's too aware of the cost of such things ( or maybe I'm just being hugely naive :-) - and when I mentioned hiring a "car" he said "hmmm, better we get a truck so everyone can join with us" lol - so, so far everyone's advice and predictions have been SPOT ON ! ha ha - but as he already volunteered the conversation about "dont worry I not think of you as an ATM!" maybe he'll not try to sting me for TOO much lol - mind you I guess as that lines up there with "I not want your money, I only want you!" we'll see lol - I should add in his defence that I think the guy IS genuine and not out to "intentionally" rob me (well so far anyway) otherwise needless to say I wouldn't be taking him - but ha ha I'll certainly let you know at the conclusion - as to whether it ended up one way or the other ! :-)

So, yes, any advice re the whole traveling end of things would be greatly appreciated guys.

Cheers.

[Smiles]

Take the bus from Bangkok to Nakhon Phanom, then rent a 'taxi' (plus driver) to take you out into the countryside.

BKK - Nakhon Phanom return cost of VIP bus about 1900 baht
http://www.csthailandguide.com/product- ... hanom.html (http://www.csthailandguide.com/product-en-488422-2254348-Bus+Ticket+To+Nongkhai+++Nakhonphanom.html)

You will have no problem renting a 'taxi' to take you anywhere in the Nakhon Phanom area. You won't get a 'meter' price, but the driver will give you a flat fee for the day (let's take a reasonable guess at 'around' 1000 baht). For a whole day trip you'll be expected to buy him at least one meal. Look for a young, good-looking Thai guy ... always a secondary pleasure :blackeye:
If he treats you well and is friendly, take his phone number and call him for the other day's trips during your stay in Nakhon Phanom.

Don't bother looking for a car with a 'TAXI' sign on the top . . . you won't find any. Just look for a pickup truck which has a back box converted into a cover-with-seats. If you book his truck for the day, you'll be on your own and able to sit in the front. Best is to try and find a 4-door pickup, which will make it as comfortable as any regular car.

WARNING: Don't rent anything like this!

[youtube:1d2i0eoa]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD8UdHzlO2o[/youtube:1d2i0eoa]

[cdnmatt]

Personally, I'd fly, unless you really enjoy the sight of swampland.

If you find yourself in KK on your return trip, feel free to drop by. I'll cook us up a nice steak and shrimp dinner. If your Thai friend doesn't like farang food, we can get a Thai BBQ going here too for him, Kim, and whoever else is here at the time.

Thanks Smiles - it's good to know that there is another way and I'll bear that in mind for again but I think the 10 bus ride or whatever it is would be more than my patience could stand and I like you idea of finding the young cute thai taxi driver but I dont think the bad looks and huffing I would get from my boy wonder would be worth the grief as he seems to have a nack of being about 10 steps ahead of every (usually fairly unsubtle) plan I lay to get myself in exactly that situation !! lol

Also while once I'm there I'm sure I'll see that your plan would have been perfect but as the car rental is actually only costing me 1200 baht a day ( http://www.lekcarrentaludonthani.com ) I'll think I'll probably stick with that option with this being my first trip, this is mainly ( and as others had suggested too) so that I have an escape route in case it all goes to hell and boy wonder catches me with his cousin and I have to leave town in a hurry ! ha ha - I AM joking there! :-) but seriously though just in case it all gets too much so that I CAN bugger off back to my hotel at a moments notice without having to beg boy wonder to call me a taxi (as I'll have no phone), plus I get the impression that boy wonder wouldn't be impressed at our turning up to his family in a "truck", he had already mentioned to me about a "crowd" of people maybe joining us on day trips etc and when I suggested I would then rent a brand new hi quality 4x4 truck, with nice leather front and back seats for us and his parents etc and a seated roof covered back area for all others etc ( my thinking being he can cram in as many as he wants then) he asked could I not rent a car ( and a red one at that apparently ?? lol ) and when I questioned about the numbers he said "oh no, it's ok there will maybe only be 8 or so of us or so !!!) - in a CAR ! lol so I gave up at that point and said "up to you" and I'll do what I'm told, but I'm guessing that there's more "face" in our turning up in a fairly average 1.5 toyota Viso rather than a top of the range SUV ? ( maybe he doesn't want his family to think that I'M a taxi driver in Bkk !! lol

And I can see how frustrating it must be to live with a thai guy already as EVERY conversation about every and any small detail take FOREVER !! - as you know in the west, you need a car, no problem look up the website, pick one and book it - with boy wonder......"hmmm, can you send me picture of which ones" " hmmm what colour are they" hmmm do they have other colour" "hmmm, maybe if you want SUV that's better" "no, SUV no good, maybe we take car" "what cars do they have" " can you send me picture" if you want SUV, ok" "ok order SUV" "I think Red car maybe good but up to you" "maybe we order SUV just" - and I'll not even bother going over how long it took when we were debating what time of flights we might get i.e early morning or lunch time - god I don't know how you guys all get anything done there at all :-) as every small decision seems to be like a United Nations conference :-) - and I know he's just being nice and trying to be considerate and stuff but "sometimes" you just want a choice / a decision and enable you to move on ! - or maybe that's just my guy ! :-)


Oh and Matt - thanks very much for the kind offer !!! - and I hope you meant it as hey stranger things might happen !!!! lol as my guys telling me that he's got lots of trips planned for our duration but when I asked his about that they seemed to revolve around temples (yawn) or ( strangely) playing basketball a lot !! lol - I'm 42 and fat , SO that just isn't happening ! lol , so if it all gets too much a one or two day detour or early departure from his village via KK might just be the perfect excuse for a getaway ! :-) hey can I just check - IS there much difference mileage wise from Udon to his village compared to if I were to fly to KK and go from there ? I know on the map it doesn't look like much but I'm guessing in reality there's maybe a few hundred miles in it ???

Thanks a lot guys.

[Hmmm]

10,000 to 15,000 for a party ? I reckon you're being played. If you want to be the "big guy" throwing your money around then fine. And are prepared to do that every time you visit ... which will be often if that's what the locals can expect from you. In most cultures, when a guest comes to visit the locals put on the party, not the guest. Granted this is tad different. But a big meal for his family should set you back a few thousand at the most (whisky excluded ... which it should be). You buy the food, they cook it. He'll know EXACTLY how much food costs at the local markets.
I'd go for the Vios. If more than will fit in the Vios want to come along on outings, there will be a local village guy with an open backed truck who will take them for a few hundred baht. They'll be delighted at the free trip.

Thank you hmmm ( what a strange profile name :-) for your very concise view :-) and yes it did cross my mind that 10-15,000 might have been a bit was excessive and I suggested same to him, although to be fair to him ( and I bow to your knowledge here perhaps) he simply said "look, i don't know, you asked me how much might it cost to lay on something for my family and whoever else turns up without an invite ( which he concedes will most definitely happen) so I don't know if it's 5 people or 40 people we're talking about and I'm not exactly sure what everything costs", plus I know that he WAS including Whisky in his rough calculation at those prices, so all in all whilst I'm sure you're right "for now" he's getting the benefit of the doubt....and trust me the second I think otherwise he'll get a polite but short two word answer, although to be fair to him he did suggest out takin the bus to save money and picked the cheapest car option etc etc ( and yes i know some may say "yes, to leave more for them money later" and maybe they you could be right, but hey we'll see eh, at the end of the day it's not the end of the world and whilst I don't intend to be the "bog guy" as you put it a couple of bottles of whisley here and there isn't the end of the world and it's not like I'm marrying the guy so I just put it down all being part of lifes rich tapestry - and in my experience sometimes the night crack that you have in a situation like that is worth every penny, but as I said....we'll see :-)

[martin911]

!!!!!!!!!!!!

15,000 for a party ?????
Thats an awful lot of money !!
AND for what??????? -- Have you actually met this guy before ?? If you were in an established realationship with him them mabye a party would be justified (but NOT at 15k --thats crazy money )
Its only them going to the local market ,buying food (which the family will cook,and some whiskey /beers --even a restaurant meal for 40 x 200b would be 8000 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
your been taken for a ride -- and for me it would not be the money that bothered me its the princple !!!

One other thing that would cause me to think a little harder -- i run a buisness and over the years when getting quotes for repairs, machinery etc etc i am als suspicious when some body quotes a round figure like 10k and then moves to 15k -- its a figure that smacks of way too much padding if you know what i mean !!!!

The fact that he has even alluded to you that you are not an ATM would be ringing alarm bells for me
And i think you are starting on the wrong foot with him by showing this level of genorosity --- you will be milked in the future at that rate !!!

Look its your money ,and of course its to you to spend as you see fit -- but i abs hate to be taken advantage of (unless its 5am and Dave is closing soon,and the boy that was als accidentily bumping into me is cute ,then i dont mind !!)
--and its a sometimes the case here that" genorosity will be taken for as weakness " (another poster said that before and i think its true to Thailand )

ok guys, I take all of your comments on board with thanks and in the genuine advisory manner they are meant, as I said needless to say if I feel that the srew is simply being turned "too much" then trust me I will be the very first person to say "that's it" and actually I've already had that very conversation with boy wonder and he's VERY clear about that so he's been told clearly not to think of me as some stupid weak willed Farang ( which I'm not), so as I said, we'll see and as I promised I'll will let you all know how it all pans out ( maybe not as acurately as Christian lol but within the general ball park, one way or the other :-)

[cdnmatt]

I don't think 15,000 baht is too bad for a party. Obviously, this is a special occasion, and basically a village wide party. He'll probably get to the village, and there'll be 10 - 20 tables setup, nice decorations all over, food & booze galore, maybe they will have setup one of those huge 10 foot tall speaker systems, etc. Who knows, maybe the gays and ladyboys of the village will even get all dressed up, and put on a morlam dance!

This obviously isn't just a meet the family, and privately eat together type of party. It'll be more of a come-one, come-all party for the village, and in those cases, 15,000 baht can go quite quickly. And if it was my first time in the village, and I was on vacation, I'd prefer the 15,000 baht version over the 3000 baht version anyway. Much more fun, and far more difficult to get bored. :-)

Matt, I'm hoping that you've got it in one there !! in that it was actually MY fault at the beginning of things as to be fair to him he didn't and hadn't even brought it up or mentioned doing ANYTHING at all - even for his family and when I asked him why not he said clearly that he didn't want me to think he was "at it" ( my words not his) after my saying it was fine he then suggested a meal out with his family and a few (several) cousins perhaps and then "I" said that seeing as how it would be Christmas day that day (and yes i KNOW they're buddhists but I'm not :-) that it might be nice gesture for us ( me) to help his family throw a party ( and enable them to gain face etc) - and also if I'm being totally honest so I for the very reason Matt suggested would be sure of a good old knees up on Christmas day and not find myself stuck round a table in some crappy restaurant somewhere bored out of my head), so it was ME that then said ( in my stupidity and thinking he lived in a small village "sure we can invite more people, (assuming that would just mean some more whisky and food etc) to which he then pointed out there were about 400 people in his village !! and he immeditaltey stoped me and said "but we not invite everyone, but maybe some more people, like the head of his village etc and some other people who will just call by with no invite" to which I said "fine" as by that stage I'd sort of committed myself - so when I asked him later, so how much will all of that cost he said "hmmm maybe 10,000" which I didn't comment on but and the next morning when we were talking he then said "hold I dont think 10000 would be enough, maybe batter allow 15000 I not know" and after after a brief "here hold on a minute" conversation from me telling him to ensure that things didn't get out of hand and my ask himing to roughly break down his thinking re costs the only definitive cost he could give me off the top of his head was that a bottle of white whisky in their local store cost about 70 baht - so even by my simple maths, say 100 bottles of whisky @ 70 baht and some beers and food for 100 people @ 300 baht ? is just about 11-12000 ?? and I think his ball park figure was meant to give me an idea of cost rather than him actually handing me a bill - so "hopefully" Matt your estimation is the right one - as if I turn up and there's three people all necking 10 or 15k worth of whisky there will be words :-)

OK as an addition to the above and rather than my leaving things up in the air I've just managed to politiely ask him EXACTLY what he WAS thinking / planning ( which was like pulling teeth to get a stright answer as I don't think he actually knew yet) however he now said he was thinking of having a party "somewhere" ( I'm guessing a restaurant) for up to around 25 people - so even by rough maths 25 people all eating and drinking well ( as it is a party as far as I'm concerned and not just a take them out for food and straight home) so say what maybe 400 baht a head, so there's 10,000 before we start and then whatever else happens / whoever else turns up ( which I think is what he's worried about perhaps) so a figure or another 5k doesn't sound too excessive for me as an off the top "guess" on his part -or may I am just being niave, anyway, as I said, we'll see :-)

[cdnmatt]

Not sure, but quick bit of advice? From what you posted, sounds like this is the time you need to be more, err... "firm". In other words, be more of a dick. I'm not saying he's trying to take advantage of you, because it doesn't sound like that at all. But he sounds kinda like Kim, so I wouldn't trust what he says too much, because there's a decent chance he doesn't have the slightest clue as to what's going on either, and is just giving you answers to make you happy.

Then you get there, it's his home village, he wants his family to be proud, wants to show off to his friends, he himself doesn't even really know what's planned, there's loads of people around he hasn't talked to in ages, etc... then the peer pressure and requests start coming in from everyone. He doesn't like it either, but doesn't want to disappoint, so comes to you with these beautiful eyes saying you guys should get another couple boxes of beer, or some more food, or whatever. And you're in the middle of a party, everyone's having a blast, you're on vacation, so what the hell, right? Another 1000 baht here and there can't hurt. Then you wake up the next morning, and realize you spent 30,000 baht.

He's not being an asshole, or trying to take advantage of you or anything, but has just simply succumb to peer pressure. That's why you need to be a bit more firm that usual when up in Issan. He's not going to stand his ground and say no, so you have to do it for the both of you. heh, and this is one of many examples of why if you live in Issan, you eventually turn into a grouchy cunt who everyone's scared of. :-)

But yeah, from what you posted, you may want to have a firmer tone with him. It'll make things easier on everyone that way. You don't get berated with requests, and he knows exactly where the limits are. It sucks you need to do this type of thing, because in places like Canada people just use common decency, but trust me, you do.

[Brad the Impala]

Matt, I'm hoping that you've got it in one there !! in that it was actually MY fault at the beginning of things as to be fair to him he didn't and hadn't even brought it up or mentioned doing ANYTHING at all - even for his family and when I asked him why not he said clearly that he didn't want me to think he was "at it" ( my words not his) after my saying it was fine he then suggested a meal out with his family and a few (several) cousins perhaps and then "I" said that seeing as how it would be Christmas day that day (and yes i KNOW they're buddhists but I'm not :-) that it might be nice gesture for us ( me) to help his family throw a party ( and enable them to gain face etc) - and also if I'm being totally honest so I for the very reason Matt suggested would be sure of a good old knees up on Christmas day and not find myself stuck round a table in some crappy restaurant somewhere bored out of my head), so it was ME that then said ( in my stupidity and thinking he lived in a small village "sure we can invite more people, (assuming that would just mean some more whisky and food etc) to which he then pointed out there were about 400 people in his village !! and he immeditaltey stoped me and said "but we not invite everyone, but maybe some more people, like the head of his village etc and some other people who will just call by with no invite" to which I said "fine" as by that stage I'd sort of committed myself - so when I asked him later, so how much will all of that cost he said "hmmm maybe 10,000" which I didn't comment on but and the next morning when we were talking he then said "hold I dont think 10000 would be enough, maybe batter allow 15000 I not know" and after after a brief "here hold on a minute" conversation from me telling him to ensure that things didn't get out of hand and my ask himing to roughly break down his thinking re costs the only definitive cost he could give me off the top of his head was that a bottle of white whisky in their local store cost about 70 baht - so even by my simple maths, say 100 bottles of whisky @ 70 baht and some beers and food for 100 people @ 300 baht ? is just about 11-12000 ?? and I think his ball park figure was meant to give me an idea of cost rather than him actually handing me a bill - so "hopefully" Matt your estimation is the right one - as if I turn up and there's three people all necking 10 or 15k worth of whisky there will be words :-)


Interested in following your exploits, and might even be able to give advice, although you seem to be getting quite a lot already. However interminable paragraphs, of which the above is a prime example, with stream of consciousness phrasing and absence of sentence breaks do make it hard work to read!

Yes Matt again I'm guessing your view on the situation is about right and is closer to my own view of things as that's fairly much what I'm reading into things.

As you said I'm not sure that he has much experince (or is that capable) of pulling together a particular plan for this as yet and so is just winging it, but I do believe in his head he has my best interests at heart as to be blunt he would of course like us to perhaps be more than we currently are together, so he knows it's certainly not in his best interests to screw me over ( well not yet anyway) and he fully gets that.

However in light of some of the earlier contributions on here re this subject I have now called him ( about other "normal" daily things too not just this) and it turns out that he was more concerned that I might be annoyed at the idea of a possible 25 plus people turning up / latching on (which I'm not) so now that some cash boundaries have been established I think he's much clearer on my thinking and me on his and I do believe . hope that he "gets it".

He does seem like a genuinely nice guy and I've known him for a while now and he has never put any pressure on me to spend anything over and above what would be considered the norm so I'm hoping it'll be fine - and yes Matt you're absolutely right how that "one more case of beer" can turn in lots more cases of beer.....and usually after a few of those beers I'm the worst offender for that !! lol

Also from just talking to him again there he did actually volunteer the fact that "sorry if you think 10 or 15000 is high, but I have to think of mother and father" and when I asked him to explain that he informed me that he was worried that I'd thought his initial 10 or 15k figure as given to me was taken as a "TOTAL" figure ( "for everything" as he put it - and he then explained that he was quietly concerned as he knew that he would be expected to leave some or as much money as possible to his parents, so it appears that whilst he's been trying to plan a party ( without knowing who or how many village people he needs to invite to help his family later after he leaves apparently) or without knowing numbers or without knowing where it's to be being held that he was also trying to formally factor in leaving some money over for his parents, which was freaking his head out somewhat lol, of course if he had of said all of that from the beginning then things would have been a lot clearer and easier to understand perhaps but hey I guess that's one of the "joys" of being with a Thai guy ?? lol - so now that I've explained to him he doesnt have to think about every baht over 5 days and worry about leaving something for his parents he is needles to say much more relieved needless, so hopefully I'll get more sense out of him now re everything!

And Brad - yes point taken, I do tend to write how I think, plus as I'm in a busy office every time I've been managing to get a line typed here and there some one comes in and interrupts me and my train of thought which perhaps then comes across as somewhat disjointed thinking or whatever, but hey sure as long as you get the gist of what I'm going on about and I promise to try harder for you lol then I'm sure we'll all just be fine :-)

[martin911]

Look at the end of the day you will have a ball / great experience
I didnt know that it was a party for xmas day -- so that explains a little about the size of the gig

i would tend to agree with Matt in that this is where you need to start to be firm with him re plans or it will very quickly get out of hand ,and the last thing you want on the day is for your guy to be coming to you all sheepish looking asking you to pay this bill and that (that had not been expected by u ) --you wont want to embaress him on the day so will have to fork out etc etc

It will def be a different xmas day than what your pals at home will be having !!!!

[pong]

Unless I understand wrongly-but 1000 bt/day is more the going sum for a rental car-Toyota-taxi type or so. Not 10.000. Easy to get discount for more days. The ride will also take you 10+ hrs-buses run express and only stop once-for rest+free dinner. Flights to there are quite rare and do require advance planning-not daily even, I think. And DO look at a map-if that ban nok is closer to f.e. Sakorn nakhon-fly there.
I see CDNmatt is even welcoming passers by to his place? I might even be tempted to get to Udorn then oce more-very old friend retired there-with Thai wife and call by? I usually go by bus or train though.

Hi Pong, Thanks for the input you are correct of course that a car is about 1000 a day (1200 to be exact) and I'd written "car" as that was in my head as that was what I'd finally booked whereas at the time of getting costs I'd been looking at a high end SUV @ 2000 a day for 5 days which is where the 10K came from.

Re the flights, yes I'm told that Nakhon Phanom was the closest airports and while there were flights there no problem, my problem was connecting with any form of suitable car hire, hence we're flying to Undo Thani and driving across, which I don't mind at all actually as I'll see a bit of countryside and get some peace both being dropped into village life!

So, as I'm sure you know and as we're going via Udon Thani flights were then no trouble there at all, several flights a day by at least two airlines ( Air Asia and Nok Air) total cost ( for 2 passengers) was only 6100 or so and just a one hour flight so all in in this case for me anyway much handier than the 10 hour bus trip on this occasion, I think if I lived there the bus would be fine, but as I'm on holiday where time is tight and my boredom levels rise quickly flying for me I think the best option.