22 July 2008 - How Time Passes

22 July 2008 - How Time Passes

Today was another adventure. The weather was typical for this time of year here in Isaan. It was in the low 90's, overcast, humid, and with a thunderstorm in the middle afternoon.

The adventure was travelling to the Laotian border to obtain an Re-Entry Permit for my return from my upcoming trip to the USA. The border crossing is in Nong Khai about 35 miles from Udonthani. Since we do not have a car yet, we used public transportation. The first leg was by somlaw from our hotel to a place along the main road where the bus stops. Somlaws are three wheeled motorcycles - the driver sits in front on the front half of about a 250 cc motorcycle with the passengers sitting behind him in a little cart that has two narrow padded benches along the side. The entire assembly is covered in a metal frame with a tarp over the top. In the event of rain, flaps in the front, and along the side of the passenger area can be rolled down to "protect" the passengers. Speaking of "protection" - seat belts are not mandatory - THEY DO NOT EXIST. The metal frame is quite handy to grab onto to prevent you from bouncing out when the somlaw hits a bump. There is no meter on a somlaw. The cost is determined and agreed upon prior to getting in. For this leg of the trip it was 50 Baht for both of us - $1.52. Most trips within Udonthani are less than $2.42 for two people. An alternative means of transportation is to wait and grab a passing songthaew - a pickup truck with a metal frame over the back that has two padded benches running along the sides of the back. Songthaews are safer than somlaws in that they are bigger (size does matter in Thailand - or at least in regards to traffic control) and the roof of the passenger compartment is sheet metal rather than a tarp. As in somlaws, there is no need to be worried about seat belts - there are none. Songthaews do not have meters but travel a set route as identified by the color of the truck and a number prominently displayed. Fares are 10, 20, 30 Baht ($0.30, $0.60, $1.00) depending upon the distance. I am not sure what the distance parameters are but Duang keeps me out of trouble and prevents me from getting ripped off in that regard.

The second leg of the odyssey was the bus from Udonthani to Nong Khai. The bus was a relic from the past. One hinge of the door was a leather strap. The interior of the door had been replaced with galvanized sheet metal. The floor was wood - well aged and worn. The bus did have air conditioning. We waited and waited on the bus to get started. Duang told me why we had waited. The fare was 80 baht ($2.42) for both us. With the rest of the passengers, the driver had collected 360 baht - not enough to cover fuel for the trip. I believe this because on the way, we stopped at a fuel station and the driver bought 360 baht. On our way back, we found him at the Nong Khai bus stop and he was still COMPLAINING to his buddies about not having fuel to get back to Udonthani. It is now Wednesday morning here and for all I know he could still be in Nong Khai - COMPLAINING but in the Thai way - with a smile on his face. Anyhow getting back to the voyage to Nong Khai - the bus was so old that the driver had difficulty shifting gears. I don't know if it was because he was trying to save fuel, or because we stopped for just about everyone standing along the road, or he didn't know how to drive a standard transmission, or the physical limitations of the bus but I don't think that we ever got out of 3rd gear. We did pick up four more passengers and dropped off three along the way so I was more confident that we would arive in Nong Khai - eventually. It was a very time consuming trip.

The next leg was another somlaw trip from alongside the road in Nong Khai to a more central "bus station" and then finally to Thai Immigration.

Obtaining the Re-entry Permit was fairly straight forward but time consuming. I did not see a computer in the office. I did see carbon paper being utilized. The end result is my passport got stamped 6 times and signed once - I can now leave and reenter Thailand any number of times for the next year. Prior to leaving, I had to sign a large and thick journal that logged in the info concerning my Re-Entry Permit.

We took another somlaw to the market, walked the market area, and had a very nice lunch along the Mekong River. As we ate we could look over the river into Laos. The Mekong is running high and very fast with all the rain that has been happening lately.

We repeated all the aforementioned steps to get back to our hotel in Udon. Fortunately the bus was newer and was 80% full so shifting and fuel were not issues.

We left Udon at 10:30 AM, had one hour for lunch, and arrived back at 5:00 PM. Sometimes you wonder why time passes so quickly here - this is how it passed on one day.On those days that I do not have any adventures to report, I will be writing about some of the things that make Thailand and Southeast Asia so special. Topics will be Hill Tribe people, landmarks, Buddhism, Isaan, culture and customs.