Bang Saen Thailand to Vientiane Laos. (and back) (part two)

My (Ed) visa run to Vientiane, Lao.

Date Line 23rd May.

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 for 3hrs 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.

~~~~~~~~

TTFN Folks.

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