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Published: July 16th 2017
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Geo: 16.392, 103.924
Up at 06:30 and out for scrambled egg and pate baguettes washed down with freshly boiled strong Lao coffee. It doesnt sound much but you cant imagine how good it was ! The smell of the coffee was enough in itself and as it was a bit fresh sat by the pavement at this hour I had to have a second. We get a couple of large filled baguettes to take back with us then return briefly to the hotel.Finish packing our few bits and pieces then take a skylab to the bus station where an International Bus is sat waiting to leave. We hop on and are on our way by 08:00. There were a few farangs at the bus station but are all heading in other directions as I am the only one crossing to Thailand this morning.We are soon at the border, stamped out of Laos, back on the bus and across the bridge then stamped back into Thailand. A slight worry as I pass through immigration. I watch the lady stamp my passport and it appears that she has given me till 9 January. My flight to UK is on 15 January and I had
calculated that I should get a stay till 20 January this morning. I lean across the counter to start protesting when I read the entry again and see that it says 19 January but the '1' is almost hidden. Worry over. Wait for the drugs dogs to sniff the bus over then back onboard to drive the 10mins to Mukdahan bus stationWe arrive at 09:05 and I know that there is a bus to Phon Thong at 10:15 I just hope that they run hourly and when I see our pink bus waiting I expect that there will be one at 09:15 as well. No such luck so we sit down to wait out the hour.It was a comfy and pleasant journey apart from the police. In a 110km trip they stopped our bus three times, boarded us and demanded to see ID cards; passport in my case. I appreciate that we are near the border and that they are trying to stop illegals but 3 times in such a short trip ? To slow us down a little more an employee of the bus company also stopped us at random and came on to inspect bus tickets. All in
all it became one of the longest journeys we have had from Mukdahan but as we were entering Phon Thong our luck changed. I noticed that the bus was slowing and that it looked like someone was waiting to get off just before we reached the town. We actually came to a stop almost outside the house where we leave the bike so grab our stuff and make sure that we get to the door before the bus pulls off again.
Collect bike and make a quick visit to 7/11 then back to Khamnadie about 13:00.
I had a lazy afternoon whilst Jai did a couple of loads of laundry knowing that she is going to be busy at the farm again all of next week.
We go out to the farm in the evening and find that Pad and Ram have already started to cut the rice and have completed a couple of the smaller fields. Apparently there has been warnings that people are coming around in the night and stealing the rice that has been cut and left in the fields to dry so Pad will be sleeping at the farm for the next week. Hence the small tent we bought
in Savannakhet.
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