Our Visa Run to Laos by Bus

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It was the fourth time that we had had to do a visa run to Laos.. My wife did all the planning without any interference from me and I have to admit that it was our smoothest visa run to Laos ever.

We cross over the Friendship Bridge between Nong Khai and Vientiane, the capital of Laos. We actually live less that 100km from Laos, so a visa run to Laos should be very easy, but we have to travel 400km to get there, because Nong Khai is the nearest point where Europeans can enter Laos legally.

We took the 11 p.m. bus from Phitsanulok to Udon Thani as there isn’t one directly to the border from Phitsanulok. However, we only had 15 minutes to wait for the onward trip to Nong Khai.

I think that that bus leaves frequently as there were a lot of people in working clothes on it. The police flagged us down, boarded the bus and checked everyone’s travel documents except mine.

The bus got us into Nong Khai at about 6 a.m. Then it was a question of a short 100 Baht taxi ride to the Friendship Bridge and the border. I had never seen it so quiet. We filled in our forms and were away.

Visa Run to Laos

The bus over the bridge takes only a few minutes. Once in Laos, we were fleeced for $45 because we did not have the $30 US dollar notes. From there it was a 200 Baht, 25km ride into the city – the cheapest we have ever paid.

We had the taxi take us straight to the Embassy, because we had so much time. The visa has to be applied before noon. We arrived there at 9:30 a.m. When my number came up, the immigration officer asked to see our marriage papers.

We didn’t have them with us. She suggested that my wife went back to get them. I pointed out that I could not get into Thailand, but she said that I would get 15 days. As we were leaving very despondedly, the officer called me back and said that she would accept a fax or photocopy.

So, we took a taxi to a hotel we had stayed in before. It was now 10:30 p.m. My wife phoned her family and asked to be sent the marriage certificate by fax o the hotel. No-one in her village family knew how to get the job done. Numerous fax attempts failed.

Suddenly, at 11:40, a fax came through and we had ten minutes to do the twenty minute journey back to the Embassy, but it was now rush hour.

Our motor bike taxi got us there on time by weaving in and out of traffic, driving on the wrong side of the road and on the pavement. He scared us and dozens of pedestrians half to death.

However, it was a Thursday, so if we had not got the paperwork in, we would have had to collect the visa on the Monday afternoon, which would have cost us three more nights in a hotel.

The taxi driver got his cut though, he charged us double for the journey..It was our strangest ever visa run to Laos.

Copied from ‘Our Last Visa Run to Laos’ by Owen Jones in http://packageholidaystothailand.org with kind permission

Christmas in Wales

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Craig and I arrived in Wales on December 1st because there had been a problem with his house, which was rented out. The problem turned out to be minor, but it gave me a chance to experience Christmas in Wales.

I love to go to Wales and would happily live there, if it were not for my aging mother and my young daughter. Maybe we can spend more time there when Soom has left High School and started work or university.

Barry was colder than I had ever experienced before. It was far colder that the other time that I had been there, although that was in March. I was told that it was ‘unusually cold’, but that was no comfort to me.

It was raining cats and dogs the day we arrived, but that meant that it would not be cold, or so I was told. It surprised me though, because I was freezing.

However, they were right, because when it stopped raining two days later, the temperature plummeted to -7c. I had to wear a coat in the house and day clothes in bed for the first time in my life.

Worst of all, the cold made me want to go to the toilet in the middle of the night and it was wickedly cold. I had never seen condensation from my breath before either.

The first week of December was just really cold. So cold that we just didn’t go out at all. I don’t think that anyone was going anywhere unless they really had to. All in all, it was pretty dreary, but the atmosphere improved daily as Christmas drew nearer.

By the third week of December, the Welsh were truly in Christmas Party mode and it was lovely to be part of Christmas in Wales. There was so much friendliness and charity. It was amazing to me – I had never seen anything like it before.

The atmosphere went from bleak to miserable to joyous and charitable within days. It was as if a switch had been thrown. I don’t think that the constant stream of Christmas carols and silly songs was the reason. Christmas just evoked the mood nationally.

Christmas in Wales

I had never heard of carol singers in Thailand, but I heard hundreds of them over Christmas in Wales. I am told that there used to be a  lot more of them in the days when coins were worth having. However, since inflation has made them worthless, children don’t want them any more either.

People in the local pub organized functions and fund-raising events so that they could put on a meal for the pensioners. I would like to have taken part in that, but we were too involved with our own family events.

They sold football cards and collected donations of tinned food to give to local pensioners. They also did sponsored runs and pub crawls for money to give to children in need. We could try that in Thailand.

Above all, I liked the way that families came together at Christmas in Wales. Craig’s family are close, but they ‘don’t live in each other’s pockets’, as he puts it, but for a few weeks over Christmas and the New Year, they really acted like a Thai family.

The transformation of the family and the nation as a whole during Christmas in Wales was quite astonishing – inspiring even – for a village girl visitor from half-way around the world, where family always means everything.

You can read more about Lek and her books at http://anexcitingfuture.com

New Friends in Wales

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One day, while on holiday in Wales, we decided to go to a country pub for lunch. It was a beautiful, dry, crisp Friday in December, a few weeks before Christmas. We took a taxi so that we could enjoy a bottle of wine with our meal with having to worry about drinking and driving.

When we arrived, the pub was already full, but our table was booked for 2:30, so we didn’t mind that. We took a seat at the bar for twenty minutes to wait for our table to be cleared and reset.

When we sat at the table it was next to a group of men on the one side and a family on the other. They were both on celebration parties for Christmas.

The pub cleared quite quickly after 3p.m. and we were left with half the table of men and a few other diners dotted here and there around the restaurant area.

One man that we had been talking too asked us to join him and his companions after we had finished our meal – to close ranks as he put it. his name was Michael and he said that he and most of the others had been invited to lunch by their accountant with an open tab.

Michael offered us a few glasses of expensive wine and then port and cheese, followed by coffee, brandy and liqueurs. It really made our day, but the friendship that he offered was even better than the fare.

Now I am a very keen football fan – I love Manchester United – so it was fantastic when Michael said that he could get us seats for Cardiff City, introduce us to players and directors and get us into a box for food and drinks before, during nd after the match.

I did admit that I had never heard of Cardiff City Football Club, but he was not offended. He took it very gracefully and gave Craig his card when his taxi arrived to take him home.

It was a really nice surprise, when, twenty-four hours later, I had a phone call inviting Craig and myself to Cardiff’s next home game. Naturally, we accepted immediately.

At 10 a.m. the following Saturday morning, Michael arrived in his Bentley to take us to the game. He put us in one of the club bars and introduced us to the staff and some of his friends.

Michael collected us just before the kick off and led us to the Directors’ Box. I couldn’t believe it! We met all the directors and were made to feel very special.

After the game, we went back to the club bar for a meal and then into the Directors’ Room for drinks. Michael explained that there hadn’t been enough time to get us seats with him, but we didn’t mind. I was in Seventh Heaven anyway!

That was my first time at a live British football match in Wales and to have had such a wonderful experience courtesy of our new friend Michael made it even more special.

Memories of Wales

I will never forget that day in Wales with Michael, the Directors, the players and the fans at Cardiff City Football Club for as long as I live.

If you want to read more stories, go to http://anexcitingfuture.com