Day 6,7 & 8, LAOS HERE WE COME

1. Its afternoon (Day 8, 4 May) here in Vientiane, Laos, and we had checked into Day Inn Hotel. Located next to Laos Plaza Hotel, its location is excellent, within easy walking to Nam Phu square and many F&B outlets. At US$42 a night (inclusive of internet), it is great value for money, especially when Laos Plaza is charging more than US$200 a night (according to Lonely Planet). Room is painted orange, which gives it a warm and cozy atmosphere (can you see Sunny working very hard on his laptop?). Before we checked in, we had lunch at the French restaurant at charming Nam Phu square. After 7 days of wonderful Thai food, we decided to try something different instead. We ordered steak. Ladies there were very nice and helpful but steak was a little tough.

2. I was last here in Vientiane in Jan 2004, to attend the annual Asean Tourism Forum (ATF) meetings. Lao Plaza, which was where I stayed, looks just as good and was in the midst of laying new tiles outside. Had dinner with STB officers at Nam Phu square then. I recall there was much less traffic then and traffic could still go round the circle. The area has now been turned into a square, not accessible to traffic. Overall, I could see that there is more traffic in Vientiane and more construction works going on.

3. Day 8 was a day with mixed outcomes. The first good outcome was we managed to get the Pajero's back door repaired at Nong Khai Mitsubishi workshop in the morning before we crossed over to Laos. Staff there was impressively friendly and responsive. Mr Somchai, who heads the workshop, immediately mobilised a number of his workers to work on the door. In half an hour, they had the door repaired. The technician commented that the Pajero back door was heavy (as it also carried the spare tyre) and he was not surprised that this problem had occurred. To show our gratitude we presented the STB souvenirs to Mr Somchai and his staff (caps and merlion key chains), and on the spot Sunny printed the photo of the group with Pajero and presented (looking very much like a VIP) it to Mr Somchai.

4. Second good outcome was we managed to clear the Thai/Laos immigration and customs in less than 2 hrs, from 10 to about 12. Thai side was relatively smooth sailing. Passport stamped by Immigration and handed over the computer printed import/export form for the car to the Customs (vehicle was not checked), and we were off driving towards the Friendship Bridge; one lane each way with a railway line in the middle, opened in 1994.

5. There was more running around at the Laos side but this was not unexpected as we were unfamiliar with the procedures and doing this for the first time. After leaving the car in the nearby car park, we proceeded to have our passports stamped by Immigration. A very friendly elderly Customs officer, after seeing our support letter from the Lao Embassy in Singapore, led us to an office upstairs. The lady official checked my passport and car log card, filled up the details in her hard cover book, and then completed a form (all in Lao language) to give us a 10 days driving permit in Laos (Doc 1). Documentation fee was 30, 000 kips (about US$4). With the form, we went downstairs to see what looked like a senior Customs officer who then signed at the bottom giving his endorsement. We were then directed to 2 Customs booths, where the first booth keyed in the car information and produced a computer printed "Customs Declaration for Temporary Imported Passenger Vehicle" form (Doc 2); and at the 2nd booth we paid 40 000 kips and strangely another Customs official again keyed in information into his computer. With Doc 1 and 2, we proceeded to drive the car out of the Immigration/Customs area. At the nearby building, we bought car insurance for 7 days costing 210 bahts and in a jubilant mood we drove on the "wrong" side of the road to Vientiane.

6. However, our jubilation was short lived, and now the bad news. Along Route 13 on the way to Vientiane, we were stopped by traffic police. After leading us to the Police post at the junction, the 2 policemen asserted that I should have used the right filter lane when I made the right turn. It was true that I hesitated a little at the junction before I executed the right turn. Fine for the offence was 100 000-150 000 kips depending whether receipt was required. Recognising that we were driving for the first time in Laos, they were sympathetic enough to compound the fine to 30 000 Kips, gave us a warning and let us off. We were happy that we were let off lightly this time and between us pledged that we ought to be more careful in future especially at junctions.

7. The night before, Day 7, 3 May (Sunday), we stayed at Nong Khai, a laid back border town of 60 000 or so. As it was Sunday, we decided to stay for the night here and have the Pajero back door checked on Monday morning before crossing over to Laos. Stayed at Prajak Bungalow (picture on the right), a clean but very basic facility, at 400 bahts a night. Unfortunately no internet. In the sleepy town of Nong Khai, shops were mostly closed by 9 pm and we could not run to an internet cafe; thus no update yesterday. Saw a couple of durian stalls in the day and after dinner went searching for them but no luck. We had wanted to stay at Mut Mee Garden Guest House, a 20 rooms facility sensitively integrated into the environment next to the Mekong River, run by a falang. But, unfortunately, it was fully booked. Here's one picture of it.

6. Day 6, Saturday, was largely about driving from Cha-am to Korat, 435 km away. Driving up Highway 4 along the Kra of Isthmus, we then skirted Bangkok along ring road Highway 9 before branching to Highway 1 and 2. We stopped along Highway 9 for a late lunch at a road side stall. The stall ladies were pleasantly happy to have 2 foreigners who could not speak Thai stopping over for lunch. Having paid for the 2 bowls of noodles, they refused to charge us for the stewed pork dish. In return, Sunny took a picture of them, printed it on the spot, and presented to them. You could see Sunny at work here.

7. We were also quite mindful about how the car looked. After a few days, the car sure looked dusty. While topping up petrol along Highway 9, Sunny decided to give the car a cleaner look. Here you can see him at work. I can assure you he was not just posing. Unlike Singapore, the petrol stations in Thailand do not provide car washing services. We just did not know where to get the car washed. But, some how Thai cars look clean. Puzzling!

7. At Korat, we stayed at Chao Praya Inn Hotel. We considered this to be one of the best value for money hotels we stayed so far. Its clean, room fairly spacious, with internet and TV, and at a price of 550 bahts a night, it was a real bargain. It has a Japanese restaurant where, based on what we could see, was fairly popular with Japanese working in the area. We had sushi and sake there, after a bowl of wanton noodles each at the nearby street stall.

Day 4&5, FROM KHAO LAK TO CHA-AM

1. As we prepared to depart Hotel Briza at Khao Lak, we had our first hiccup with the Pajero: the back door could not be opened. If this was not solved, getting things in and out of the car would be a real hassle. After many minutes of trying, we gave up. Called up Ben Khoo in Singapore and he said he would study the Pajero there to see what might be the potential problem. The hotel staff at Briza was helpful and got us the address to the nearest Mitsubishi service station at Chumphon, which was a good 250 km away to the North, on the way to Hua Hin, our next destination. We decided to get on with our journey and look for the service station at Chumphon.

2. We chose Khao Lak to stay because it was one of the most devastated areas of the end 2004 tsunami. Based on what we could see, life seemed to have return to normal. Many of the resorts along the coast looked new. The hotel we stayed in, Hotel Briza, for instance , opened only one year ago. The monument on the right reminded us of the tragic event in which many people died. It was commissioned with the Swedish embassy, as many Swedes died here in Khao Lak. In the background of the picture, one could see a Police patrol boat washed inland. Also, visited the Tsunami Museum. With more resources, this museum could be expanded into a better facility to remind us how the world had come together to respond to this human tragedy.

3. Travelling North, we decided to take the scenic route along Highway 401, from Takua Pa towards Surat Thani, about 150 km long, through the Khao Suk National Park. Like our earlier drive through Khao Lak Lamru National Park, this was just as beautiful. A nice casual drive, not many cars, really enjoyable; winding road through the mountains. Along the way, we decided to visit Khao Suk Rainforest Resort, which appeared interesting in the Lonely Planet guide book. This resort had 11 units built into the forest, and from here many activities could be organised in the National Park. Other resorts were also located nearby in a cluster. Took a picture with the family that looked after the resort. On the spot Sunny printed out the picture for the family using a portable colour printer and they were elated. A stop at the Chiaw Lan Lake, formed by a shale-clayed 95m dam. At its widest the lake is 700m long. The scenery is captivating. We wished we could have got out our stove to cook our packets of instant noodles there.

4. A couple of observations after driving in Southern Thailand:
(1) The roads are really good, no worse than those in Malaysia. Any saloon car would have been driven in Southern Thailand without any problem. No need for 4 by 4. Also, auto service workshops are everywhere in the towns and cities, major brands like Toyota, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Honda, Nissan etc and petrol stations are many along the major roads.
(2) The roads are still mostly flanked by rubber estates, unlike Malaysia. More than 10 years ago, when I used to travel up Malaysia, there were as much rubber estates as oil palm estates, but in this trip, I could see that the rubber estates along the N-S highway were all gone. Wonder why South Thailand has not changed.

5. Reached Chumphon in the evening, after dark. Decided to check into Suriya Hotel, and called it a night. A very basic facility, more like a rest house, which we paid 280 bahts (about S$12) for the night; reminded me of some of my stays in Taiwan in Ping Tong - Chi San area which I used while on exercise there nearly 20 years ago. Good thing was that we could park the car in the inside compound of the hotel which was very secure. In the evening, we tried glutinous rice with mango in the nearby stall. Sunny loved it, even though he does not like sweet stuff. Speaking in Teochew, the stall lady told us that she had been operating the stall for 18 years and in the first year was already mentioned in a local paper (i.e very good).

6. The next day, early morning, with the help of the hotel staff, we got a motorcycle taxi to bring us to the Mitsubishi service station at Mitsuchumphon, Phet ka-sem Rd. Strangely, could not locate this in our GPS. You could see the motorcycle taxi in red in the picture to the right. When we got there, we were in for a surprise. It was May 1, also a holiday in Thailand, and the service station was closed. Luckily, Miss Lien (she asked us to called Ah Nee), was there.
Her husband (also in the motor trade) was able to magically open the back door. Conversing in Teochew, they were very helpful, and gave us a Mitsubishi travel brochure for Thailand which showed the locations of all the Mitsubishi service stations in Thailand. Apparently the door dropped a little when opened which might have caused the problem. There and then, Sunny and I, were able to open the backdoor and we decided to move on. As of now, the back door is still behaving erratically and giving us headaches.

7. Driving up North, we reached Hua Hin about lunch time, but was disappointed. Unlike what I saw 15 years ago, the place is now very developed and commercialised (much like Phuket along Patong beach), and very crowded, probably due to the May 1 holiday and the long weekend. Checked a hotel and it was fully booked. We decided to move to a smaller resort town to the North, Cha-am, and checked into Long Beach Cha-am Hotel (2200 bahts a night). Cha-am is very much a domestic destination. We hardly see any "faran" here, which is how the locals call the foreigners. We had some time to relax at the pool and had a beer (thats how we appeared in the picture) and a wonderful dinner at the seafood village on the beach.