I told you about my usual header not appearing on the top of the page didn’t I. Well,I got fed up of the pic that came up after I’d changed the format so I had another look to see what was on offer and came up with this, so I’ve changed again.
The header now is more appropriate with where I am, I hope you all (er, Flo n Ben, I think that has got everybody that looks at my blog, well, the only two that leave comments anyway!!!!) like it better than the last header.
Right then, moving swiftly on with no link whatsoever to the next subject.
I had been Shanghaied/ bribed (with the offer of a new T-Shirt reading Unseen (in English) อ้างศิลา Ang Sila (in Thai) to go on a Cycle Rally round Ang Sila, so last Saturday morning I went to the start point to meet up with the rest of the club (honorary member/token farang!) just before 8.30am to be told that there were no T-Shirts left, I was told that there were only 100 to start with, those the local dignitaries didn’t claim were handed to out to the riders at 7.30am, WAY to early for me!!!!
But more about the rally at a later date, I only brought the subject up to brag about having my picture taken with a
Thai TV SUPER STAR…….
(I really must find out what her name is!)
That’s all for this time, I’m feeling a little peckish so I need to go and cook (ting) my dinner (a Cornish pastie) now.
So bye bye for now.
********
P.S. Seen on the front of a t-shirt worn by a chunky Thai teenage girl,
I’m not fat, I am FUN SIZE!
~~~~~~~~~~
P.P.S. Don’t stop here. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.
I decided to change the look of the waterhole but NOT the header. I look through the page with the different formats, trying a few that said custom header. I decided I like the style of this one so I tried it. It came up showing the layout with my header on the top. I liked it so I clicked the accept button. Hhhmmm, when it came up MY header wasn’t on it, just the header you see now, so I hit the back button but my old page and header did NOT appear.
By a small oversight I didn’t write the name of the style I was changing from before I changed it so that was it, never again to be seen.
I spent a long time trying to see if I could find it but it was not to be.
And guess what, I couldn’t find the old Header I had made either.
Bugger Oh deary me, what a plonker am I then!
But I’m hoping to find a pic I like to put on top, eventually, with the aid somebody that knows what he’s doing. (technically speaking)
That’s that subject over then.
Now for the BEST bit.
Pix of Bens Birthday Party.
You have probably forgotten all about me telling you I would be posting them because I’ve been SOOOOOOOO long about it, but here they are….
But first let us all sing Happy Birthday (I know I know, it’s a bit late but never mind eh, better late than never as they say!
It’s been a long time since the last posting, did you all think I’d dropped off the planet?
The next project after my little jaunt up to Lao and back for my Ed Visa was going to be about Ben’s birthday party with pix and vids but I never seemed to have the time now that I’m going to Pattaya twice a week to school. There are vids on youtube that you can look at though if you have my user name, if you’ve not got it, email me and I’ll send it to you.
Never fear, I WILL make an effort to get the pix of Ben’s party up soon, I promise!
Anyway, to get back to why Life Ain’t All Beach n Beer.
In Thailand a U.K. driving license is valid for one year, after that you need a Thai license which is easy enough to get they say. But as I didn’t buy a car, and, up to now, only driven (a pick up truck) four times since I’ve been here I haven’t felt an urgent need to get one.
BUT, if you remember, I DID BUY a 125 Suzuki just after I got here.
Just like this.
Now the thing is, I didn’t have a U.K. motorbike license, so, if you want to be picky about it I suppose you might say I wasn’t really legal when I was riding it. But then again, neither are millions of Thai’s that hurtle about, some as young as 10/12 years old, (you should see ‘em when the schools are turning out!!) aren’t legal either.
I used to get big grief from Siri about it and then Ben started having a go at me, then Mink started as well. I’d had a word with other farangs and was told that there was no way I would be able to sort out a license on my own, I would need a Thai person with a good grasp of English with me as all the paper work and instructions of how to go about it is all in Thai.
So once again I didn’t feel an urgent need to get a license…..
Then Ben came up with the answer a few weeks ago……
Go to stay with him and Mink for a while, with help from Mink, sign in at the local immigration office, get the paper work I needed, then go to the driving center and book a test……….
Easier said then done!!
Monday.
After Mink had got most of the papers I needed from the Immigration office (this had taken about two hours, (thanks Fav-B-D in L) I had to have a medical with a local doctor. This is where Ben came back on the job as Mink had other more important Charlie Dimmock (google her if you’ve no idea who Charlie Dimmock is) things of her own to do about 11am.
So, back to Ban Chang to find a doctor. Ben knew the general location of one so off we went looking, a quick check in a pharmacy confirmed there was a doctor just a few doors up. When we got in the office we (I) had a small problem. They needed my passport number and to check it was really me applying for the certificate.
Oh whoops, I’d left it in Bens car. He decided it would be quicker for him to go and fetch it because I might get lost between looking for the car and getting back to the Docs office. (very probably!!!)
After Ben had left I remembered I had a small photo-copy of my passport in my wallet, I asked the lady if it would do, it would so we started filling the form in.
By the time Ben got back I’d seen the Doc, had the check and was just signing the form. (I might be wrong, but I got a bit of a feeling that he wasn’t too impressed after going back to the car, it was the look on his face that gave it away)
The check up was a very thorough one, so Ben said when I told him what the Doc had put me through.
First of all he asked me how I was, I said fine, good he said, then he pumped my arm up, check the reading, good he said and let it go down again. He listened to my chest on both sides, good he said. I think he checked me for mumps coz he checked my neck, good he said. Then he looked into my eyes, I didn’t ask why, good he said.
The last thing he asked was my age, I told him 66, guess what he said to that.
Correct!
That’s it, all the paper work done, what do we do now, yes we did, well done, we went for a beer coz Mink was still at school earning brownie points towards her school certificate.
I had a couple of beers then went on to orange juice, I had my motor bike test in the morning so I didn’t need to be feeling ill or suffering with a hangover!
The Big Day.
Tuesday.
Up at the crack of dawn and heading to the driving license place in ระยอง (Rayong). (Ben didn’t come with us, he went to school in พัทยา, (Pattaya) we’re ALL at it being students innit!!!
Mink parked the car and we went to find out which office we needed to be at. The first office wasn’t the one. We went in another office and up the stairs, this was the office we needed. Mink went and queued up, and sorted the job out, now this was no easy job, a load of forms were needed to be filled in, all my papers were checked, checked again, then after another check I was told to sign on the line. I had NO idea what was being said, or what most of he forms were but it must have been all OK coz we were told to wait to be called for me to do the colour blind test. This was a very large round board on the wall, you had to sit about 3m away and call out the colours as they were pointed to you, there was nothing to stop you trying to memorise where the different colours were just incase you were colour blind. (that needed somebody to tell you the colours of course!)
I said to Mink, I’ve no idea what some of the colours were in Thai, she said call them out in English, which I did.
I passed that test OK.
Next it was the reaction test.
For this you had to sit on an ordinary chair with a wooden tray in front of you with a dummy accelerator on it and a brake pedal that you had to press down when the green light on the right hand side of the machine turned to red. On the left hand side there were two upright lines of green lights, you had to brake fast enough to keep them in the green, if they went into the red lights you’d not reacted fast enough.
I passed that test OK.
After that came the question and answer test on a computer. (the man in charge came across and changed the language from Thai to English for me, which I thought was very nice of him!)
This was hard work, whoever wrote out the question in English, English was not his/her first language. With some of the questions it was a case of picking a number, pressing the button and hoping for the best!
Ben had warned me about this.
I failed the first go, I can’t remember by how many now though, but the nice man came over to me and showed how to check which I had got wrong……. I wrote the right answers on my hand for my second go, but that bit of cheating didn’t really work, I didn’t get all the same questions the second time round……
But not to fuss, I passed on the second go.
That was all the theory tests passed, all I had to do was pass the practical now.
All the staff stopped work, Lunch time now.
We went across to the driving course to have a look at what was to be done. The driving test wasn’t taken on the public roads, it was taken in a compound. From a standing start you had to ride up to a raised (about 2inches) part of the road, I suppose you’d call it a simulated bridge, about two car lengths long, ride along it to the end without coming off it. Then you rode up to a white line, with a halt sign, and stop, after that you rode along and turned left then stop at a second halt sign at a cross roads, using indicators at all times for the turns. I’m not sure why because lights and indicators seem to be an optional extra here, the only thing you really know for sure is that the indicator that’s flashing only means that that bulb is OK and hasn’t blown! After the last halt sign you had to do a right turn then turn into where a line of cones were and drive in and out of them without hitting one or putting a foot down on the floor as you go through them, once through you had finished.
The start of the practical was supposed to be at 1.30pm, but it didn’t happen. Those of you that have been here know about what is called Thai Time, for those that haven’t I’ll explain.
Thai Time is very very very flexible, I don’t think the word punctuality translates into the Thai language. It can be case of, if it happens it happens. If you’re lucky it will happen sometime on the day it’s supposed to happen!
I better mention before I forget again, that I turned up for a m/bike test without a m/bike.
I know what you’re thinking, the silly old bugger’s lost it all together now, who’d go for a m/bike test without a m/bike, the sun’s finally fried his last few braincells!
Let me explain, there are m/bikes to rent on site for 50bht a time, but there’s a problem, when Mink went to see about renting a bike, he’d only got one, and it had gears. My m/bike’s an automatic, and I hadn’t ridden a geared bike since around the early 70′s. I’m in a bit of a quandary now then. But once again, Mink comes to the fore, is not a problem dad, I’ll borrow one for you. I thought yeah right, I can see that happening! So off she went to borrow me a m/bike from somebody. She spoke to two people, the second said I could use his.
Can you see that happening in England!
The man in charge turns up and gathers all testees (it’s a good job I put two e’s in testees innit or you might have got the wrong idea, eh!) to him and started to explain what was needed to pass the test. This would be another drawback for a falang on his own, but luckily I had Mink with me telling me in English what he was saying.
OK, TEST TIME.
You have to see it to believe it, this is BULK testing. He tested in batches, he got six lined at the start line, blew his whistle and the first set off for the ramp , when the one on the ramp cleared it he sent the second off. He had them spaced out a treat at the different halt signs. When they had cleared the cones and left the test area he set the second batch off and so on until everybody had done it.
I was in the middle of my batch, they all went over the ramp and away, my turn next……..
I’m on the ramp now, about two bike lengths over it I wobbled and went off, oh dash I thought. But the nice man said I could go back and start again. Fantastic!
Away from the start line, up on the ramp, doing well I thought, but alas, just before I got to the end I went off, again! That’s me done then, no pass for me…..
The nice man had a word with Mink and told her I could go back the next day and try again, according to Mink you aren’t supposed to go back the next day, you have to wit for two days before having another go. And he didn’t give me a fail mark for some reason!!!!!
That’s it then, pride all in tatters I plunge into manic depression in a big way. Ben turned up to drive us home (he’d bussed it all the way from Pattaya to Rayong) But I didn’t go home empty handed. I went back with a Thai car licence, Mink sorted it out for me. All I needed to do was prove I had a full UK licence.
Wednesday.
Today wasn’t an early start, we didn’t need to be at the test center until just before test time to pick up my papers for the (2nd) test so I went off on the m/bike to practice riding in a straight line (without wobbling!) from a standing start. All told I must have been going up and down the same road stopping and starting for nearly two hours, much to the amusement of the locals in the shops and a road repair crew that were working just where I was U turning at one end of my run.
Time to go now. When we got there Ben and Mink went to eat and I went for a coffee to get the adrenalin going. Then we went up to the office to get my papers then over to where everybody for the test was waiting, Mink went off on a mission to borrow me a m/bike and got one off the first guy she asked, woooooooooo good on you Mink.!
The guy that rents the bike out was talking to the testees when we got there. Mink told me he’d told everybody that the test guy was not as nice as the other guy that was on yesterday. That’s ALL I needed to know!
Test Time.
He sent the first batch to the start line and started them off, nobody fell off the ramp, then the next lot went off, nobody fell off the ramp. Then it was the turn of my lot, off they went one at a time over the ramp, everybody did well. Then the lady in front of me set off, I’m next….
She was about halfway along when she went off in a big way. She went over on her left, smacked her head ( if she hadn’t got a crash helmet on she’d have been very badly hurt) on badly on the ground, the bike dropped over on to her leg then set off up the road on it’s side. Some people stood were she’d fallen off ran over to her and some guys grabbed her bike and stopped it going up the road. She was a bit dazed and had hurt her leg but she wasn’t as badly hurt as she would have been had she not had a helmet on!
Call me selfish, call me calloused, but as she was helped away I thought I didn’t need her to do that, I was next after her.
Here we go, up on to the ramp doing well and YES, I’ve done it, ALL THE WAY TO THE END WITHOUT COMING OFF IT!!!
I stopped at the halt sign, looked round for traffic then went round the left hander to the next halt sign, he waved me on, I went to the next halt and just as I stopped he waved me on to where he was and stopped to give him my test paper. He was telling me something, I didn’t know what he was saying so I looked for Mink, oh dear, I can’t see her…
Then he said in English that I should have waited until he told me to go at the first halt sign, not go without his signal….. I thought I was in deep trouble now and was going to fail but he sent me back to do that bit again. Not such a bad geezer after all.
I did the left turn and the halt signs and the right turn again, but waited at them until he waved me on. When I stopped along side of him he took my papers, looked at them and told me to go to zig zag cones and leave yard. So I did. No problems in and out of the cones, I didn’t hit one or put my foot down.
I was a Happy Bunny.
But I still didn’t know if I’d passed or not.
I spotted the lad who’d lent me his m/bike and stopped and gave him it back. I asked if he’d passed, with a very large grin on his face he showed me his new licence. He was a Happy Bunny too.
I went to look for Ben and Mink, Mink looked at my papers and confirmed I got pass. YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
Ben then told me he’d watch me all the way round but turned his back my way when I got to the cones in case I looked at him and it put me off, I said I’d no intentions of looking at him once I’d left the start line. He knew I’d gone through OK though because the couple sat next to him were watching me and talking about how I was doing as I went through, when I’d left the yard Ben asked them how I did, They told him I’d done it straight through no probs.
We went back to the office, handed the papers in and waited for my turn to have my pic taken for the licence.
Job done, time to go home..
Mink asked Ben if we were going out for a beer to celebrate me passing my bike test, we talked about it but neither of us were very interested with the idea. So we didn’t go. I think we both must have been too shattered by the ordeal of my test.
But the day didn’t end there, oh no.
Mink cooked us dinner when we got back….
Home made cheeseburgers and real chips made with real tates.
Proper mustard, Heinz red sauce and pickled onion vinegar (by Garners!) to spinkle on the chips.
Aroi MAK mak.
It had been a full day one way or another, I’d passed the m/bike test and (by default if you like) I’ve also got a Thai car licence.
(don’t forget to click the pix to bigger them)
Car licence by default.
Bike licence by test.
A Happy Bunny.
Time to go eat now, then I’m thinking of going out for a ride round the bike dealers because now I’ve got a licence I can get a bigger bike. I can’t make up my mind between a Harley D Fat Boy or a Honda Gold Wing. I’m leaning more towards the Honda GW. What do you think?
TTFN folks.
P.S. If you are wondering what temporary licence means, it means they last for one year from issue, then you need to renew, that licence lasts for five years.
~~~~~~~~
The Harley D Fat Boy model.
These are the choices
Shall I go for the macho biker image, or the more sedate Grand Tourer image?
Awake at 06:00, not quite raring to go, I gave it another 10mins then struggled out of bed and staggered to the shower (I do a good impression of a wooden soldier for the first yard or two (you work it out, I’m still on proper measurement!) first thing these days til I get going.
When I went for a coffee just after 7am there was a guy sat there not looking too good drinking a large Beer Lao, that’s what you’d call an early start eh!
Out came the manager guy with his bike and off we went to the Consulate, when we got there about 10 to 8 there was a bloody great long queue stretching off into the distance….. The gates were opened at 8.30 and the stampede started.
Here came the first hic-up of the day, I’d been sat there about 10 minutes when an English guy sat next to me, he’d got a ticket with a number on it. I asked him if I needed a ticket, yup he said, and pointed to the machine. So I went and got one, number 251, NOT a good start!
We were sat under a canopy outside, no air-con and it was getting warmer by the minute. There was an electrical numbers board showing the ticket numbers and the window, just two of them, to go to, numbers 37 and 42 showing.
Depression started to set in.
42 changed and went upwards pretty fast,we wondered if the board was stuck on 37, the same guy had been sorting out for long times waving his arms about and getting louder. Not good said the guy next to me, he’ll get nowhere shouting at her. Then a security guy came up, I noticed he’d a very large hand gun on his belt, spoke to girl then led the guy to one side and spoked quietly to him. He was still sat quietly waiting when my number (251) lit up!
All of a sudden the numbers went up very quick, The info we got was that sixty people had come in on a couple of buses, the leaders had gone and grabbed all their tickets all at the same time, but for some reason all the people were taken to another office round the side of the building.
The number came up for the guy next to me so off he went. Up came 251 so I went to the window, gave the girl my papers, she looked at them and gave me another form to fill in. With all the paper work I’d got I didn’t fill in the usual entry form they need. She was very nice about it, she told me to go straight back to her window when I’d done it.
By the way, did I tell you it’s getting melting hot by now?
Back to the window, she looks at it and tells me I hadn’t filled in my address, I was ready for her, I gave her a bit of paper with my add written in Thai, that made her smile as she filled it in for me. I thought as it was for an Ed visa I better not put in some vague hotel in Bangkok down like everybody else does, I used to do that on the Cambodia run, it was easier.
She said I had not ticked the box for which visa I wanted, I told there wasn’t a box for the Ed visa, she agreed with me and wrote on it Ed visa, gave me a smile and told me, ‘Not lose number, go office over there for wait’
I went office over there for wait and not lose number on the way.
You should have seen the crowd waiting for their number to come up……
Watching the numbers board and waiting waiting waiting, again.
Whoa, it’s gone from 249 to 258, it’s missed me out. I went across and asked why has it missed 251, the guy checked through the folders next to him and told me my papers hadn’t got as far as that office yet.
Hmmm OK then (?), I went and sat down again. All of a sudden the boards stayed at the last number called and they all cleared off from behind the counter, vanished they had.
They close for lunch at 12.00, it’s only 11.30, what’s the game like.
This is Desertion In the Face of the Oncoming Enemy!
Moans heard all round in various languages about this, so what do we do now?
We wait, that’s all we could do, wait.
Then they all filed back and started again.
The first number up was 251, woo woo woo that’s me, up to the counter and paid my money, got a receipt then I cleared off outside.
The time now?
11.55,I’d been there for3hrs 50 mins.
I was melting, wet through and very near dehydrated, it’s time for a beer now methinks.
I battled my way through the ever present horde of tuktuk drivers outside the gate and shot across the road to the bar opposite. A very nice young lady welcomed me and asked what I would like to drink. She came back with the large Beer Lao I’d asked for and told me, it very hot day waiting do visa, I fully agreed with her.
The very nice young lady
(Oh to be 4o odd years younger)
OK, that’s the visa sorted until tomorrow. After all the tuktuk and taxi prices quoted in telephone numbers to me I thought I’d check out the price of the local bus, as recommended by BTTs (GettingBackToTheBorderCheap Div) so I went to the bus station to see what I could find out.
I’d looked at a map in the GH before I’d left that morning so I knew more of less where it should be.
Marvellous, The bus station was just where it should be.
Town Map.
Blue arrow, digs, green, bus, red, Consulate, red dots my route to the bus station.
I’m sorry to say here, but BTTs had slipped up, I wasn’t given the bus number that went to the border, I learned that from a Canadian guy at the GH, I needed bus 14 to get me there. I told him I’d only been on a bus once here, we went to the Buddha Park. He told me it was the same number, it goes passed there. I remembered where it was parked when we went in it to the park, so I went to the corner of the bus park along side the market stalls, bus 14, just the bus I needed to get back to the border.
By now I was getting a little tired, what with the heat and the ambling about so I decided to head back to the GH for a shower and perhaps a short nap ready for another hectic night out along the waterfront (hah!)
Later, feeling all clean and refreshed I went to look who was sat at the tables out front, six in all, two Norwegian guys and their girl friends who were heading north in the morning, Simon and a Welsh guy name of Owen Owen (he showed us his p/port) from just outside Brecon on a visa run, he said he’d seen me in the visa queue that morning.
Time to go out. Simon, Owen and me, (we never saw Jean again at the digs!) to eat and get amongst the (non) hectic night life once again.
I can’t tell the difference between Lao food and Thai food, every thing on the menu mostly is the same as you get on a Thai menu! I settled on what looked like Tom Yam Gung in the picture, it tasted about the same too but was Falang cook! It was very good though.
Simon said he’d walked passed a bar earlier, two streets up from the GH, that had pretty lights (unlit) round the entrance and let’s go there and have a look. Owen smiled at me and said shall we go and have a look at this bar Simon has found with pretty lights? I agreed it sounded like a good idea, so off we went to find it. Oh yes,there were pretty lights flashing round the door, Owen said OK? I nodded, and told Simon to lead the way. Simon had a struggle with the curtain until a very helpful young lady helped him pull it to one side, it was darkish when we got inside so the lady showed us to a table and took our order. Owen quietly said to me he thought perhaps we were too early as the front door meeters and greeters weren’t outside and the poles were empty, hhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmm…….
BTW, I don’t think I mentioned that Owen was just turned 60 and had landed in Bkk a day later than me. He was in Lao for an Ed visa as well, he was in Pattaya but moved out to Jomtien for a quieter life.
Anyway, there we were, having a beer (Lao of course) chatting and watching some ladies over in the far corner, eating, watching us drinking.
Bowls and fork n spoons were taken away and the table was cleared, all attention was on us now, or perhaps I should have said on Simon. One of the ladies started to walk across to where we were sat, Owen mumbled heads up, it’s starting time. We had her intended destination sorted by the route she was taking round the room.
Let me explain the seating arrangements at this point, we were sat backs to the wall, Owen was sat at the end of the sitting the corner, I was sat next to him and Simon was sat in pole position on my left, there was nowhere for her to go but next to Simon.
Simon’s the one then I said.
She must have got warm crossing the room, as she got near us she shed her top, and, oh deary me, she’d forgotten to put her vest on, poor lady!
Simon got more than a slight panic on when she sat next to him and put her hand on his knee. I told Owen I’d take him out, pay for all the beers and we’ll square up later. He agreed with that.
So, that’s Simon and me out the bar and up the road. When I caught up with him all he could say was WOW! cricky (cricky?) Ooooooooo WOW PHEW.
Owen caught us up a few minutes later, we went back to a bar we’d been in before and got another beer. Then Simon told us he’d never been in a girlie bar before, he’d heard about them but never seen one.
After he told us that Owen said that the pair of us must have been illegitimate and never known our fathers for letting him go in …. (but he only used the one word to say all that thought!)
After Simon had calmed down a bit Owen told him that if there is a curtain to go through it’s a 99% chance it’s a go-go, but there’s usually a couple of door men and the odd scantily dress lady stood outside, but we were in a bit to early.
Simon looked at us and accused us of knowing it was a go-go before we went in. We said that with the pretty lights outside it could have been a karaoke, we weren’t sure but the curtain gave it away.
Then we laughed and pleaded GUILTY.. But Simon, YOU PICKED THAT BAR, not us. He laughed and said Yeah, I did…
It’s nearly 11pm, we’d had enough excitement for one night so we all agreed it was nearly bedtime coz the two old reprobates had had a loooooooooong hot day of it.
It’s back to the GH AND BED. When we got back there was nobody sat outside and Simon said he’d buy us a beer just to show he was not upset with us about what had happened, who were we to disappoint him!
Owen told Simon that he was a sweet but nieve boy, I said he is, and also frighteningly innocent. That made him laugh, yeah he said but I’m only nineteen, what were you two old codgers like at that age?
We left it there and said good night to him.
When we got to our rooms Owen told me he’d a good night out and said goodnight mate, I agreed with him about it had been enjoyable and said (phonetics) yakydar mate, norstar eyakwaa, yeah yakydar Loz.
Then, OI, just a minute, where did you learn Welsh, have you lived in Wales? I told him, no, but when I was sixteen the family moved to Bridgwater (correct spelling, google it) in Somerset, the ITV signal we got was TWW (Television Wales and the West) and they signed off with that every night.
He was IMPRESSED!
Date line: 24th May.
No rush today, p/port pick-up is between 13:00-15:00, to the Consulate, I had the Morning at Leisure as the tour operators say, then back to the Consulate to get my p/port back with the (hopefully) Ed visa in it.
Out for a gallon of coffee and a bit of breakie to kick start the day then have a laugh checking the widely different quotes from the tuktuk guys about the fare to the Consulate.
When I got outside there was a guy at one of the tables looking upset, when he saw more he went straight into why he was unhappy.
He’d taken TWO ladies back to his room the night before, when they’d left that morning he found his phone and wallet were gone, he’d hidden them under the plastic bag in the rubbish bin in the bathroom.
Then he got lucky, a tuktuk driver sat out on the road asked him if he was talking about the ladies that had been sat at the table with him last night, after being told yes he said he knew where one of them worked (on her day job!) and he’d take him there, off they went to find her, they came back later and he said it wasn’t the lady that had them, it was her friend, the lady made a call then went off to see her friend to get his stuff. He got them back minus the cash in the wallet but had to pay 1000Bht for them, he was very unhappy about the 1000Bth (about £20) he’d had to pay for his stuff to get them back.
A guy told him to shut up moaning, it was his own fault for having them in his room, and it seems, illegal anyway by Lao law to have a Lao lady (of the night) in your room overnight anyway.
He shut up!
Back to the battle with the tuktuk men.
As (most) of you know my maths are not my strongest skill but I’d been to an exchange booth and found out how much 100Bht was in Kip.
100Bht = (rounded up) 260,000.
There I was listening to all these thousands of Kip being quoted, when Owen told me he’d booked a taxi for 12.30 and I could share with him if I wanted.
Marvellous said I, you’re on.
Taxi’s here, so away to the Consulate we went.
Oh dear, another long queue, but we didn’t care, we were picking up, not a long job BTT’s had told me. All we had to do was get a number then go to the second office to show the receipt we’d been given yesterday, pay the money and get our P/ports back with the visa in.
The driver told us if we give him receipt he can do P/ports for five minutes he back. I said I do my own, (nobody but me and the appropriate authority gets MY P/port. I’ve even used my geriatrics UK bus pass saying it was my ID card, to hire a m/bike before!)
I was in and out in 30 minutes, it took the driver 20.
Job done, what shall I do now, I know, I’ll go for a beer.
I went to have a look at the Freedom monument,
Then back to the bus station to take a few pix because I wasn’t going to wait until tomorrow when I went to catch the bus.
Sitting and Waiting.
This is NOT my bus.
This not my bus either.
Some stalls in the bus station.
I was told I would be on a bus same same this bus..
I took this pic on the way back to the GH.
When I came here in 2005 with Jacky and Ben this was a plot of land with hand painted pictures of Monks, people in street scenes. She asked me to see if they were still selling these pix, if so could I get her some to sell on the boots like she did with some of the other she bought. This is what is there now.
But it might not be much longer!
After we’d been out to eat and a wander round we went back to the GH to have a nightcap, would you believe Horlicks?
You are very wise in saying NO!
We were sat with people from all over Europe that were telling us about where they’d been backpacking and where they were headed next. They’d been, or were going, all around the Far East when we heard a rumbling and then a crashing noise. Then we heard some girls screaming coming from up the road.
We all jumped up and looked up the road, all we could see was a very big cloud of dust and two falang girls running out of the dust cloud choking! They were covered all over in dust. All the staff and the tuktuk drivers were running up the road to have a look, we went up slowly just incase there were more bricks and stuff about to fall. Two ladies from the digs grabbed the girls and poured water on their faces to get rid of the dust in their eyes then took them inside for a shower.
The law and a rescue team arrived with all lights ablaze and two-tones blaring. The fall was from the back corner of the building, there was a gap between the buildings of about 2ft (or for our readers working in metric, less than a metre) which was the reason that the cloud of dust was so big. We were not allowed near enough to take any pix of the building, so after a few minutes we wandered back to our beer.
Time for bed, said Zebadee, so off we went, well, some of us anyway.
Date Line: 25th May.
Only me about just yet this morning, so, coffee, breakie, more coffee then a walk down to the river and back. Simon’s having a coffee and raring to go, he’s going to Vang Vieng this morning for a few days to have a go at tubing. (google it) Then he’s roaming round Lao before going back to Swampy (Suvarnabhumi airport, Bangkok) to fly home to Cambridge.
09:30. That’s Simon away, I check out, have a last laugh with the tuktuk guys about the price to the bus station then set off walking, it’s NOT far. I got just round the corner before I was accosted(?) by more tuktuk guys, the price started at 30,000Kip to go to the bus station just up the road, the last quote was 15,000 so I said OK, then I was passed to another guy, they take the fares in turn, he was told 15,000, I can do numbers, Lao numbers are the same as Thai, he told me 17,000, I said no it’s 15,000. Can’t be done for that price it seemed so I walked away, he changed his mind, can do 15,000 to bus.
Tooooo late, I was going to walk.
I was at the bus station in just under 10mins!
I went to the place where the bus went from, a bus was there but it was the wrong number, 53 not 14. Hmmmmmm.
I asked about bus 14 and was sent a little bit further on.
I was looking at the front to check it was bus 14 when the driver asked me if I was going to Nong Khai (in Thailand) , not the border. I agreed to that, I got on and sat down. I got the impression that I was a bit of novelty, I was getting looked at and talked about. Within minutes the bus was packed, three to a seat for two, and a lot standing. Bus full then.
A number 14 bus, just the one I needed.
The taxi must have used a different route, I wasn’t seeing any land marks that I’d seen on the way in.
Oh dear, maybe I’m on the wrong bus after all, but it had 14 on the front and the driver told me I needed this bus to get to Nong Khai.
Then we went passed the Beer Lao brewery on the left, a good thing, that’s where it should be on the way to the border. I am a happier bunny now.
A lot of people got off, a few got on. We went passed the Buddha Park, just after that we ran out of paved road.
The road after we ran out of tarmac.
I’ve admitted defeat trying to get these pix lined up……..
So back to in line descending again.
A little bit of the bus ride after we started on the dirt road.
Flo told me that when she clicked the go button on this bus ride vid it brought up her hotmail inbox up, I tried it and it did the same to me. I’ve no idea why it does that. But if you click on the WATCH ON youtube button in the middle of the three buttons on the BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER it works OK!
So remember, the watch on youtube button to view the vid, OK?
Wonderful things these pooters!
It was pretty painful hanging out the window getting this vid, I thought I’d crushed a rib or two while I was banging about as we went over some of the holes in the road!
Oh, I nearly forgot, while I was on the bus I made a new friend. This guy got on in the middle of nowhere, there were no houses any where in sight, and must have thought I was lonely sat on the bus all on my own so he decided to take pity on me and chat with me. It’s a big shame we didn’t share a common language, I’d no idea what he was telling me, but I noticed most of the time the driver was trying not to laugh!
I’m sorry to say I didn’t catch his name.
He was a very happy chappy though when I took his pic.
It was quite a bumpy bouncy ride for quite a few miles, there were potholes big enough to lose a car in. Some of the road was very dry but in other parts it was very wet and muddy and we had to travel on the wrong side of the road. I realised there was a gentleman’s agreement in operation along the very deep muddy sections. If it was very muddy on the side we were on and the bus was going along the wrong side of the road, the oncoming traffic, mostly trucks and buses, pulled up and waited for us to get to them then go back on our side when it was dry, nobody got a stress on, nobody tried to force the bus into the mud. The bus driver did the same thing for the oncoming traffic.
I enjoyed the ride even if I did have to hang on with both hands in places so I didn’t bounce all over the bus, and the locals on the bus were laughing and seemed to treat it like a fairground ride.
Fun was had by all!!
End of the ride, we all got off, lots of bye byes and wai-ing all round. The bus stop was along side a shop so, has I had been taught many years and bus trips ago MTTs (HowToSurviveOnBusOrTrainTrip) I went in and bought some SNACKS and water…
This is the shop for snacks.
The Lao side of the border with Thailand.
All I had to do now was to go up the right hand side of this building, go through passport control and find the bus to take me over the bridge. Apart from getting behind a Lao lady that had a bit of a problem with the guy in the p/port box going through all the pages in her p/port three or four times, asking her many question and checking his computer a number of times there was no problem getting through. I found the bus and got on then off again, I was told to wait for some reason, then some locals got on so I tried again but he still told me no, you wait….
The bus started to fill up so I decided I’m getting on before it filled right up. He told me wait! I told him no, I showed him my ticket and kept going. He didn’t say any more about it. Next stop Thailand.
What started of as a steady amble to the p/port control soon turned into an extreme amble and then to a get on with it now walk because a very large bus with Udon Thani on the side pulled up and disgorged a large number of Falangs all clutching p/ports, not a good sight. I didn’t want to get behind all that crowd.
Yes! I got there first, fantastic. The p/port guy took my p/port off me, checked the Lao visa, then looked at the Thai Ed visa, looked at me and smiled. Then he went through all the pages, counted all the Thai/Cambodia in and out stamps/visas, so I showed him the original non-Im O visa I got in Hull in 2010. Big smile, a nod of the head, then he looked at me and said, 90 day for you. I agreed, he checked the date on his rubber stamp and then stamped me in, I’m back in Thailand again…
I thought to myself, bring it on then tuktuk guys, I’m ready for you.
From Nong Khai to the bridge the price was 30bht, there must have been some monstrous inflation rise in the few days I’d been away because the price was now 100bht…. I walked away from that crew towards the road, a lady tuktuk driver wanted 60bht, I suggested 30 same as before, she came down to 50, I tried 40, she tried 45, I settled for that, it’s a long walk to Nong Khai.
She set off at great speed, I told her mai reo reo (no quick quick) chaa chaa (slowly slowly), I was not in a rush, I’d got a few hours before (just over 5hrs!) my train left at 18:20. She grinned and slowed down.
Here we are safely at the station, No Falangs in sight, it’s a lot to early for them, but there were plenty of locals about buying tickets and generally sitting about and or having a nap (a favourite Thai pass time, another being eating) I went through to the platform to have a look round, that didn’t take long so I walked up and down taking a few pix.
I don’t think anybody told the guy who did the lettering how far it was to Laos.
Looking North To Lao.
Looking South To Bangkok.
Have bag n kids will travel.
A bit of glamour for the lads, a shame one turned round and the other girl moved just as I cricked clicked them..
A pic for the oil drum enthusiast amongst you.
Coming into Nong Khai station
Guess what?
I STILL didn’t get a pic of the front of the train station!
But here’s a pic of a Nong Khai tuktuk instead.
After I’d been on the station a couple of hours I thought it was time to go eat so I went through the waiting area to go across the road to a cafe, Would you believe it, a few spots of rain then the heavens opened with a vengeance… I’d been all that time but as soon as I decided to go and eat it pours down, that set me back about 40mins..
But I wasn’t pushed for time really.
Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun, after a plate of food and a couple of beers it seemed no time at all before we started to load.
We left Nong Khai on time, but that didn’t guarantee we’d get to Bangkok on time!
A pleasant train ride back including a beer in the buffet car before bed. We were a very international gang round the table, Israeli, French, Swiss, American and English, all going back to Bangkok with a new visa for between 90 days and up to 12 months with one lady a bit miffed because she’d only got a 15 day……
Date Line: 26th May.
We were woken up by a steward about an hour out of Bangkok so the bed staff could do their job putting the bunks away and so we could get organised ready to get off at the end of the line.
We were late in, somewhere on the way home we lost two hours, so much for getting a good start, but that’s normal for Thai trains!
So, now it’s downstairs to the MTR, then change to the skytrain at Asoke for Ekamai bus station. Then a bus to Bangsaen, then a songthaew for the last leg of the journey to the end of the road and then home.
From getting off the train to getting in the house was a shade under four hours.
Travelling time, (excluding sitting about time, but including sleeping time on the train) from leaving Vientiane to getting home was as near as damn it to 20hrs.
This was my journey starting from home, up to Nong Khai, and back again.
It would have been quicker flying to England for a visa.
But not as much fun.
And nowhere near as expensive!
The next posting will be shorter, honest, just a few pix of the great food Mink did for Bens party and pix/vids of some of the revellers enjoying themselves.
I know you are all impatiently waiting, with eager anticipation, for part two of my trip to Lao but not all the pix are smallered yet, so I thought I’d give you an example of one of the little beetles you can easily come across walking along your arm out here.
If you are in any way squeamish about insects I suggest you stop looking now and don’t scroll down to the pic.
The pic is clickable. (for those of you that might like a bigger look)
For the sceptics amongst you, I promise you this pic has NOT been photoshopped.
I got the 10:30 bus in Bang Saen to Ekamai bus station Bangkok Saturday morning, that took up two hours but I wasn’t in a big rush because my train to Nong Khai, north Thailand wasn’t leaving Hua Lamphong station until 8.25 pm. After getting off the bus at Ekamai I ambled up the road to go up to catch the skytrain to Asoke (station) where I had to change to the MRT (Eng:Tube/Underground) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRT_%28Bangkok%29 to get to Hua Lamphong (hereafter called Station). Having plenty of time I left the train at Asoke and before I went down to the MRT I wandered off to get some lunch. After lunch I went to the MRT, had my bag checked by a security guard because I set the alarm off, when I opened it he shone his little torch in the top of the bag, had a quick look then smiled and said OK, hmmmm, I thought, that wasn’t a hard search then, then I caught a train to the main station. (I like that phrase, I caught a train, like I was fishing!)
A picture of Hua Lamphong station for you, I know, I KNOW B/F/D,M, Jacky (I’m not too sure if you’ve seen it Jase), I know you lot have seen it, but some folks haven’t been there!
A bit tichy innit, try clicking on it, there’s a good chance it might get bigger!
A few pix of inside the station for you.
Waiting for a train.
Above the door going through to the “rest rooms”
A word before we go onwards from L’sTads (HygeneAdvisoryDiv).
This is NOT a HAPPY TOILET. (you know what I mean D, F and Jacky)
It does NOT have this sign, nor will EVER will have. If wearing jeans or long shorts, take them off and keep them away from the floor, if in shorts roll them up as high as you can get them. Do not lower them any more than knee high as you sit down or the bottoms of the legs will be in all the wet (?), I wasn’t sure about using the word water!
I hope this guy doesn’t mind me borrowing his blog page because this is a VERY Happy Toilet.
This is the engine that was pulling the train to Nong Khai.
Right, that’s enough of trying to be clever with the pix, I can’t get them to work like I want them to so it’s back to them all down the middle again!
Clean bedding for the sleeper trains.
And now for a pic of the bestest train on the station..
The car I was booked on, seat 12.
At 7.30ish we were told that the train for Nong Khai was now loading so I went down the platform to the number three car and found seat 12, it was going to be my bed for the night. Bottom bunk, 2nd class, with fan.
Please Note: All prices quoted in £’s next to the price in Thai Baht are approximate only.
The trip was (supposed to be, we did 2hrs overtime each way, late in both rides) 12hrs from start to the finish for a grand total of 1,070Bht OR about £21.50 for a return ticket.
After I’d sat down more people were getting on and, ticket in hand, looking for their seat. A young guy walked up and down a few times, found his seat, checked his ticket, looked at the number again, stood there for a minute or two looking a bit lost, then left, then he came backed, stood looking at the seat, looked at me and asked me if I spoke English. I told him I did, then he said he’d paid for a top bunk but there wasn’t one, only a seat with the same number as on his ticket, who did he have to talk to about it. I pointed up to the pod and told him it was there inside the pod. That got him going, he said it looked a bit narrow and asked how did he got in it. I told him up that ladder there.
The lad was baffled…
I told him I was sorry for laughing, then told him it pulls down flat and that when the guy that made the beds up decided it was time for us to go to bed he’d open it, make it up, there would be his bed.
The Bunks (closed up)
Bunks made up. It’s getting time for bed.
At this point we adjourned to the buffet car for a beer or two.
He was having a minor panic because his 30 days were up tomorrow, after being told he would/should be in Lao by early AM and Vientiane by lunch he was OK.
It turns out he had been doing Australia for three months and decided to have some time in Thailand going round the islands down south. He wasn’t ready to go home yet so he thought he’d have a look at Lao for a month, go back to Thailand for another two weeks then go home.
It had been a long hot day for an old geezer like me so I decided it was time to call it a night and go find my bed.
Sometime in the night I woke up freezing, so no more to do I put two t-shirts on, that got better!
Sunday 22.05.11. Still in Thailand.
About an hour before we were due to arrive at Nong Khai I was woken up by the buffet car waiter walking through telling us that breakfast was being served.
Everybody surfaced and got organised ready for arriving at Nong Khai.
We have arrived, all off the train to do battle with the tuktuk drivers about the cost of getting to the border. It wasn’t much of a battle, it was either pay 30Bht or walk to the border. They all quoted the same price. Hhhmmmmmmmm, they’re all in the same union then.
(
(I forgot to take a pic of the station both times I was there, so I stole this pic from the Nong Khai tourist info page)
So three of us in a tuktuk and away to the border. Ben had warned me NOT to listen to the guys that would sell me, at an inflated price, and tell them I had a visa. I’d warned Simon and the other guy (RepOf Irish, with an unspellable name) with us about Ben’s advice and say they had a visa as well. Next thing we are stopping, two guys rushed out of an office trying to sell us a visa for Lao, no thanks we have. Then photos were asked about, it turns out neither Simon or the Irish guy knew they needed any passport pix for the Lao immigration. When they came back to the tuktuk I asked how much they’d paid for the pix , 200Bht (about £4.50) each for six pix. The Irish guy then said that by the look on my face he had a feeling that they had been ripped off then asked how much I’d paid for my pix. I told him 100Bht for six.
They were not happy little bunnies now.
Simon still edgy about the end date on his Thai visa when we were going through the Thai side but he had no problems at all. On to the bus, 25 Bht + 5 Bht extra because it was Sunday and rated as pay overtime (that’s what it said on the ticket!), now to go over the Mekong to the Lao immigration.
Not quite in Lao yet.
Again, thanks to Btts I was clued up as how to do it. Go to the side window, hand your completed form, photos, passport and fee ($35 US) to him, then go to the next window a few steps away to get your passport with a Lao visa glued in it and any change you might be in for. Then walk a short distance to get an arrival stamp and check through immigration.
NOW I’m in Lao….
Job done.
(personal details removed for obvious reasons, the most important people out there will know it’s me anyway !)
Now go to the taxi/tuktuk/bus parking area to see what a variety of prices we’d get to Vientiane.
They was no bus in so it was tuktuk or taxi, I didn’t fancy the ride by tuktuk, it’s a good long way to town. After various quotes, I thought some of them were giving us their phone numbers, we managed to get a taxi to take all three of us all the way to the digs I’d decided to use, Simon had no idea where to stay and the Irish guy was staying just round the corner from me, for 200Bht (less than £5).
It took us about an hour to get to the the digs, http://www.saysouly.com/ After booking in I had a shower, first one since Saturday morning before I left home, it was now Sunday just before midday, so I thought I might be a bit ripe by now to say the least!
I’d been doing Thai style travel snacking (crisps and such like junk) since lunch in Bangkok so I thoughed I’d go down to a cafe/bar that Ben had taken Jacky and me to by the Mekong to eat and have a beer Lao but it was not to be, It wasn’t there any more. B****Rit!
Mekong 2005 (archive pic)
Mekong 2005 (archive pic)
Ben stood in Lao (2005)
Reporting in to her that thinks she should be obeyed at all times. Thailand is over the river.
This is what it looks like now (2011)
Just look what they have went and done.
They’ve went and built a temple just where the bar was.
I didn’t do much Sunday afternoon, only ambled about locally, had lunch, did a bit of clicking a few things I thought were interesting, then went and had a nap to build up my strength for a hectic night out with Simon and Jean (a French guy) on a visa run.
Up and raring to go now, while I was waiting for the other two to appear the G/H manager guy started asking me what time I was going in the morning to get my new Thai visa, I told him I had been told to get there early, (BttsI’veBeenThereDoneThatDiv) . He said he was going that way at 7.30, and he passed the consulate, if I wanted a ride there on the back of his motorbike he’d give me a lift (FREE!). I thanked him very much and accepted his offer.
Everybody decided I might be a little crazy when I told them…….
After I told them some of the places I’d ridden pillion on m/bike taxis in Thailand and the fact I have a m/bike of my own in Thailand, some were amazed at my bravery, but most said I should be committed!
It’s time to go and eat then go and find the hectic nightlife.
I’m sure there IS hectic nightlife somewhere in Vientiane but we settled for a bar with a couple of pool tables and spent the night in there playing pool.
I bet you are all thinking to yourselves, WOW, the old man CERTAINLY knows how to live it up and NO mistake!
I was pacing myself with the Beer Lao as the night progressed, and left the others to it just after 10.30pm because I didn’t want to be feeling rough in the morning for the trip to the Thai Consulate, because it could turn out to be a long, hot day of filling forms in, waiting for my turn at the visa window to hand the paper work in, get it processed, I ended up with seven pages of it. then into another office to wait to pay.
It did turn out to be a really long, hot stressful morning.
~~~~~~~~~~
To be continued.
To come, day one at the Thai Consulate, day two at the Consulate, then getting back to Thailand and eventually getting back home.
I’ll leave you with one last pic.
(click the pic)
~~~~~~~~~
TTFN.
~~~~~~~~
P.S. I don’t want to upset any readers in more temperate climes, but my automatic temp pop up has just told me it’s now 35C.
I think it’s time I did away with my vest when I go out.
I put a couple of pix on SkyDrive at the top of my MSN contacts box some days ago that I thought you might like showing signs where the English was not quite right but you would still understand the meaning of the message.
Then I decided to put them on here because I remembered that not everybody I know uses MSN.
And Now,
The Not Quite Right Signs.
TTFN
<><><><>
Whoooooooooooops, I missed this sign off so I’ll put it on just here….
But you’re ok to nip through this way if you’re on Beijing airport when hostilities break out!
(From Wilkipedia: Middle age is the period of age beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age)
It seems there is more than one definition of middle age. One theory is it starts at the age of forty and goes on until you are sixty.
Some say it starts at forty five and goes on until you are sixty five.
So it all depends on which camp you want to join.
If you work on the forty idea I know a certain bloke that’ll be three years into middle age on Monday, but if you join in with the forty five idea he still has two years to go, from Monday that is.
So I’ll leave it up to you to decide.
But anyway, there is an old saying that you are only as old as (Admin: this part has been censored due to this being a family orientated blog and we felt it was an inappropriate observation on the part of the stringer what wrote it, it was a bit rude) you feel!
So, to get back to this bloke that might, or indeed, might not be, three years, come Monday, it being his 43rd Birthday, come Monday, into middle age.
When time and commitments allow, i.e, he’s not out and about with his Brownie clicking for all he’s worth, quality controlling at the local brewery, sitting about in the local coffee shop drinking strange and weird liquids, sitting in the Arts Centre selling his pix that he has took with said Brownie, feeding guest at the digs Guest House/B&B he runs with his good lady wife Cath, hurtling down snowy slopes on his planks, or even nipping over to the USA, for the DAY, he is/was, an avid reader of the Waterhole.
All the staff at the Waterhole would like to wish a very
Happy 43rd Birthday Jason!
(at this point we would have liked to have sung Happy Birthday to him but he wouldn’t have heard us from here all the way to there, apart from that it’s just gone 18:15hrs here and it’s 05:15hrs there)
So here’s the Happy Birthday song from utube instead.
BTW, if some of you were wondering why this has been posted today, Friday, instead of posting on come Monday, the proper day, it is because all the staff of the Waterhole will be away in Bangkok for the weekend doing their second job with L’sTads and joining up with BTTs to wave byebye to our outgoing Guests as they set off back home to the UK after their Happy Hols here in Thailand
TTFN Folks.
(I tried to embed both vids but for some reason they wouldn’t have it!)
(I really must find out what her name is!)
