15/03/2010 Back to Thailand

As flights from Laos to Cambodia were expensive Tracey worked out we could actually travel back through Thailand by road a direct way and not like the Travel agents tried to sell you a trip all the way back to Bangkok. Seeing as Thailand gave you a visa at the border for free and we could get a local International Bus to a town in the centre of East Thailand.(80,000 Riel) it seemed like the way to go.

Caught the early morning bus from Vientiane, Laos across Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge to Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. The border crossing by bus turned out to be really easy. The bus stops on the Laos side and they point you were you have to go. It was a simple matter of a small wait in the migration line to get out passports stamped and then we piled back on the bus and headed across the border. It’s a bit funny as when you cross the border you have to drive on the opposite side of the road. The bus drives over the bridge and stops again at immigration on the Thailand side. We weren’t sure what was going on at the immigration booths as a lot of people off the bus were getting in a line and getting copies of their passports. We just got in line to a booth and handed over our passport and entry card with no problem instant 15 day visa at no charge and stamp in the passport and we were back in Thailand. Jumped back on the waiting bus and off we went.

When we arrived at Nakhon Ratchasima we did not have any a hotel booked so we rang somewhere out of the Lonely Planet. As we were trying to work out where to catch the bus to Cambodia we met up with a guy who was headed to a different hotel so we decided to share a taxi to the motel he had booked as it was only 60 Baht to share the taxi. We checked out the rooms at his booking and decided to stay there as they were clean and tidy. We had a bit of rest then went out later to have a bit of a look around and find some food. The street was lined with dodgey food sellers but we could not find anywhere to sit down and have a meal. We went for blocks before finding an actual restaurant that you sat inside. Obviously they don’t get many westerners as they couldn’t speak much English and they had to run around to find an English menu. We must have been a bit of a curiosity as the chef actually served us the food and all the staff came to have a look. After dinner we walked around the town centre and saw the Red Shirts having a bit of a rally.

There was only a few of them and the police soon left as they were no trouble at that stage anyway. We also saw the local young guys practicing their rap dancing moves. Some of them were actually fairly good. Tracey attempted to book in a hair cut and colour but just decided to give up as the staff spoke zip English. She resigned herself to just turning up in the morning to see what happens.

We wandered around a bit more and headed back to our motel where we recorded a little message for Nikki’s birthday.

Sansabai House, 335,337 Suranaree Rd. T Maimusang A.Mueang, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand Ph: 0-4425-5144/5855(450 Baht, Air con, TV, Wi-Fi)