Back to Khon Kaen

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Geo: 16.82, 100.27

If I could have foreseen the day that lay ahead I might just have remained in bed !!
Up just before 05:00 for breakfast before biking into Phon Thong. Drop Jai and the bags off at the bus station and take the bike to the house where we leave it. When we arrived at the station there was a Khon Kaen bus waiting to leave. Not knowing how long it would stay here or how long I would be I asked Jai to phone me when it left. I am hurrying back to the station when I see the bus pull out. About 2mins more and I would have been there and we could have caught it. Had Jai phoned me she could have held the bus up that long. Why didnt she call ... 'I forgot' ?
Looks like we will have a 1hr wait for the next bus. A minibus pulls in that is bound for Khon Kaen but Jai says that they drive too fast and are dangerous and just like everyone else who is waiting for the Khon Kaen bus we all let this one pass. Just before our bus arrives another bus pulls in with the destination of Khon Kaen advertised on its side. I ask Jai to check carefully that that is where it is really going and all appears well so we board. As we reach the big junction just outside Phon Thong, however, the bus turns left instead of going straight on. Where are we going I ask. To Roi Et. This is pretty much in the opposite direction to Khon Kaen so things didnt look good at this point. Turns out we are going to Khon Kaen but through Roi Et then Maha Sarakham and are due in Khon Kaen in about 4hrs time. I am guessing this is the bus John took last week and we laughed at them for making such a stupid mistake. What goes around comes around ...
As we arrive in Khon Kaen, from a completely new direction for me, we pass a large new bus station but I take little notice of it. We are dropped off near the usual place and are told that it is only a short walk to buy tickets for the northern buses. I recognise where we are and know that we are at the wrong bus station and need a tuk-tuk to cross town. We arrive at the air-con bus station where we always leave for Chiang Mai from to find the station closed. Yes, the new bus station outside of town comes back to mind ... We tuk-tuk back to the new station that we had passed some 1/2hr or so ago and find that this is now where the air-con buses leave from.
We buy tickets for the 19:00 Phuluang Tour bus to Chiang Mai for tonight. To save travelling back into town and then having to return out here again tonight I ask if there is a hotel near the new complex and am pointed off to one side. With bags under my arm we set off the few hundred yards indicated but find only a few shuttered shops and a building site. Apparently there may be a hotel here one day but not yet !!
I am hot, tired and fed up with being messed around so drop big bag off at the bus office and grab another tuk-tuk and head back into town to the hotel we always use here, the Roma. The tuk-tuk stops somewhere I have never seen before and seems to think that we have arrived. He actually tells us that he thinks we would prefer to stay at this hotel than the one we asked him to take us to !! Methinks not !
We finally get to the Roma about midday and entering the room I flop on the bed thinking the troubles are behind us. Then the room phone rings and could I go back to reception as there seems to be a problem with my passport and visa ? It appears that when they extended my visa here last week although they updated my passport correctly they didnt stamp my arrival/ departure card with the revised exit date. Problems are soon sorted, or so it appears, and I am back on the bed.
Have lunch in the room then watch Lewis Hamilton win the US Grand Prix at the weekend. Spend a while catching up with the BBC news.
Jai goes out for coffees about 15:00 then at 16:30 we go for some noodles to eat.
Not looking forward to the long bus journey tonight as with todays record so far something has surely to go wrong.
We check-out at 17:45 and tuk-tuk back out to the new bus station. Collect our bag from the office and board the bus. Guess who has the seat that is closest to the toilet ? OK you are right, but so obvious that you dont win the coconut !! 40 people, 12 hours ... should be some nice aromas later on.
We leave KHon Kaen on the dot of 19:00 and start off west through Chumpae heading towards Phitsanulok where we take a 20mins stop off for a toilet break and a snack whilst the bus fills up with petrol.

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