1

Probably better to nip over Thai border from Pakse and take an Air Asia flight to BKK, should be cheaper as well. Book online.

2

oh really? i hadn't thought of that. what's the town? how far is it? should i just look it up on google?

3

oh, it's ubon. and the trip is about 3 hours long if all modes of transport coincide from pakse to chong mek to ubon.

4

Thought it was about 2 hours by bus here is some info: http://www.travelfish.org/transport/laos/southern_laos/champasak/pakse/all

MAke sure you get the right Ubon when booking on AA website as there are 2 Ubons.

5

Air Asia Ubon Ratchathani to Bangkok THB1296 not bad =)
Compared to Lao Airlines Pakse-Bangkok (with stop in Savannakhet) for USD165 (about THB5000)

No, one is UBon Ratchathani the other is UDon Thani. Same Same but Different ;-)

Late-Jan is still busy. I would decide which flight you want as soon as possible and not leave it to the last minute during high season if getting back to Bangkok is date-sensitive.

6

I thought I heard there was a direct bus now from Pakse now?

Thanks for the Ubon Udon info.

7

thanks!
you know, it's almost more worth it for me to take the lao airlines one to avoid a three hour bus trip to ubon. the flight leaves at noon or in the evening if i miss the noon flight due to delays, i don't want to arrive in bangkok at night.

the lao airlines leaves at 9:20 am and arrives at noon. for 165, cdn $ that's fine.

good point about booking ahead. bob, do you think 2 weeks ahead of time will be enough? i want to get a feel of luang prabang and see how long i want to stay up north before i commit to going south.

on the other hand, if i book my pakse flight now and decide to change my mind, i can maybe do a flight change from a different airport right?