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Post by latindancer on Mar 7, 2018 5:09:11 GMT 7
Nomadic, you could perhaps get a better class of temporary repair from a local repairman....a general repair dogsbody. Some of those guys are quite skilled at wiring things together, and charge peanuts. I think wire is the way to go for good temporary repairs to glasses.
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Post by nomadic on Mar 7, 2018 9:20:55 GMT 7
Yep you are probably right. But another amazing day to say the least here in Ban Lung which by the way i could hang out longer if i had the time as friendly locals everywhere. Even the tuk tuks don't bother you. When I arrived yesterday at the bus office I inquired about getting to Kratie next up as written in English. The girl said no no no. So i then asked around at other companies and all said the same. I see in book they say it is pronounced Krat chee but even this gets blank stares. So in between coffees i go back to where I arrived and ask again with the name in the book in Khmer. Yes she says. 8.30 tomorrow as i even show her tomorrow in khmere in guide book. So i ask her how to pronounce it and she says Craw Chay. Then i cross the road as happy as with coffee after getting an upper seat on a double decker and right beside the hotel is an optometrist but glue is holding for now.. Alas this was before the heart attack stuff of the empty room. All's well that ends well i guess. Will do the tourist thing here today and go to Boeng Yeak Lom a big crator lake they say is over 700,000 years old.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2018 12:01:23 GMT 7
Thanks for taking us on Your Journey with you nomadic I for one really appreciate it. chok dee Don't know if this is posted or not:- chok dee=Good Luck
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Post by Banjo on Mar 8, 2018 6:24:41 GMT 7
What's the air like over there Nomadic? Thick here this month.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2018 8:42:30 GMT 7
Same here Thick here this month. I can not see the mountains again today Early morning always bad By late at night a little better
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Post by Banjo on Mar 8, 2018 12:21:23 GMT 7
Some talk of rain tonight, we can only live in hope.
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Post by nomadic on Mar 8, 2018 18:46:51 GMT 7
That's the reason I leave every year. If Chiang Mai is bad then Mae Hong Song is 100 times worse. A little bit in Cambodia but not too bad. But bus stories continue unabated. Yesterday i booked an 8,30 a.m. ticket from Ban Lung to Kratie. I turn up after my coffee, black, where i saw the girl making the most amazing coffee ever. On top of a large cup was 2 inches of whipped cream before cholate topping was squeezed on that. Then i walk next door to bus office only to be told"Sorry 8.30 p.m." girl not tell you. So i get a refund and she tells me another company up the road go there. So at 8.35 they tell me 9.00 leave. So i sit down and wait but after 10 minutes they say motorbike. So with big back pack i get on back thinking he is taking me to bus station 1.5 kilometers away. But after maybe 5 k's he stops behind a van on the side of the road and says Kratie. Apparently the office phoned the driver and told him to wait for me. Two westerners told me they left Ban Lung at 8.00. So this is why it is illegal not to drink beer a lot in Cambodia. Travel time was 3 hours or 5 hours we were all told. Took 4. So i am am now obeying the law as I type. Beerlao even.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2018 8:16:45 GMT 7
We had a quick shower Just the the outline of the Mountain today better than yesterday
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Post by nomadic on Mar 10, 2018 9:46:25 GMT 7
The last Cambodian saga. I decided to break the supposed 7 hour journey from Kratie to Pakse in Laos with an overnight stop about half way in Stung Treng but when I arrived decided to continue on after a 7 a.m. start. the first van had 15 people in it but only 10 seats. Second van better quality and now only 8 travellers. So we get to the border and stop at a restaurant 200 meters away from Cambodia stamp out. A guy sitting at a table in the restaurant gives us our Laos forms to fill in and asks for passports to get Laos visa. 5 gave them to him but 2 brits and I say no we do ourselves. The 5 give him US$40.00 each. So we 3 walk across to stamp out of Cambodia but then with bags in boiling hot sun realize Laos entry is about a K away. Van drove the 5 after they waited for passports to come back but not us. So we get there and only US$30.00 for us. Can you believe people give up their passports to some guy sitting in a restaurant? Minimum pay in Cambodia is US$140.00- A MONTH. This guy makes $50.00 in an hour and probably anything up to US$150.00 an hour. with many people crossing all day. So while you wait he takes the passports to Laos immigration for the visa and for sure shares the loot with them also. So what should take 15 minutes took 90. So on we drive and i am the only one going to Pakse with the others going to the 4000 Islands. So i expect another van change. So we stop at another restaurant and I get out at the turn off to the dock and he points to a guy and says he dive you to Pakse which I think is less than 20 kilometres away. So i sit down and eventually ask him when we leave now already 15 minutes after i should be in Pakse. He say bus comes at 4.00 p.m. and tells me is 165 kilometres away. I am as livid as i have ever been and say the F word in 5 minutes more times than in last 5 years. A women yells at me in Lao so i call her a bad name that she understood . I tried to hitch hike but only 3 cars in an hour. So a nice guy comes along and arranges for a car to take me for $5.00 at 3.30. So i get there at 6.00 p.m. 11 hours instead of the supposed 7. If done in a logical way maybe only 4 or 5 hours. If I waited for slower bus would have been over 12 hours. And there is no possible way to solve this criminal corruption other than to get a group of lads together and beat the shit out of this guy at the border and refuse to leave the van until in Pakse. There are no consumer affairs, media or even police to complain to. The only other way is for stupid travellers to stop playing the game. So that is the reason why it is illegal not to drink beer in this region. So an hour late i obeyed the law and had a fantastic chicken and chilly paste at the best restaurant in all of Laos in Daolin in Pakse. Tomorrow 6 hours to Savanakhet and that should only take 3 but done it a few times so 6 is tops I HOPE!. Like centrelink. It all totally defies human logic. Back in Thailand soon where in comparison things are logical. Then soon in a TAB and the hay burner thread will take over to tip you all the Autumn big race winners. Now that is the most illogical thing i have ever said. But if you can't beat em then join em.
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Post by Banjo on Mar 10, 2018 11:23:56 GMT 7
Jai yen, Nomadic, jai yen
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Post by nomadic on Mar 10, 2018 16:33:01 GMT 7
Today yes, but there was nothing cool about me yesterday. I totally lost it.
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Post by nomadic on Mar 11, 2018 19:27:27 GMT 7
Just like the emu and elephant. Another miracle happened today. Booked the bus yesterday for Pakse to savanakhet. Two others at the hostel booked it separately to me also. Pick up at 8.00 and take to bus which leaves at 9.00 for 6 hour trip they tell us. Other two paid 80,000 kip (US$10.00) and I only paid 60,000. They pick all 3 of us up right on 8.00 and after 14 minutes we get to bus. When leave i ask? 1 minute he say. So 8.15 we leave and whole trip took less than 5 hours. Because apart from a seemingly needless stop for 30 minutes after one hour it was all go for the most part. Last time i did it was over 6 hours with numerous long stops to load cargo. A Laos miracle for sure as first time in 20 years a bus has left early and arrived early. But an always interesting trip as two stops along the way are in small villages that must be in the running for chicken on a stick on a bus capital of the world. Up to a dozen girls holding numerous bamboo sticks with an enormous flattened piece or even whole roast chicken wedged between them all coming on the bus at once. At the first long stop they must have got on and off the bus half a dozen times. Other girls selling various other snacks also And in the 5 times i have done this trip I have never seen anyone buy the big ones. they also sell smaller versions which a few people buy and even i got one today at the second stop as my 16 hour no food window was over 17. Sadly it was mostly bone and gristle but tasty enough for 70 cents. Where to next.Not sure as yet apart from to Malaysia by the end of the week or nearly there at least.. Overland for two or 3 days or a two hour flight for $120.00 from Udothani to Had Yai on the Malay border. Decisions decisions. Mind says overland but body says fly.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2018 2:46:58 GMT 7
The life of a Nomad, wherever the fancy takes or wind blows to or from, good on ya! But odecisions, decisions; fly or bus? I trust they were the options nomadic Hope when you said overland, you weren't meaning bai dern len. Whichever you decide to do stay safe, have fun and meet up sometime soon. Cheers bear jai=Heart, yen=Cool:- To calm down, be cool inside. bai=To go, dern len=Walk, walking:- To go walking
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Post by Banjo on Mar 12, 2018 7:07:59 GMT 7
I used to like the Lao BBQ chicken on a stick, when I lived in Vientiane I used to buy it regularly with Kao Niaow, sticky rice for a cheap meal.
Had Yai used to be a great town, I came up once from Singapore by train and bus. Always wondered how it got the name Had Yai, "Big Beach" as it's a fair way from the sea.
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Post by nomadic on Mar 12, 2018 7:20:31 GMT 7
Never forget bear. This nomadic life was forced upon me by firstly bad luck and then by you know who. Either go to jail or become nomadic they told me. But i'm not growling over my own situation. Far from it. But walk to Malaysia? What are you suggesting? Will even take a tuk tuk soon to Thai con-gen for visa so will have latest update on that also I hope. But always a little bit of stress until you actually get it. You never know when rules may change. It's also quite cool here in Savan with even a blanket pulled up during the night after boiling hot day with fan on full. Smell of smoke in the air also. Gee banjo I think i have joined you as a coffee connissieur. After some of best coffee ever in Cambodia the nescafe back in Laos is noticeably a come down. Another coffee snob from now on perhaps.
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