With my old visa already packing nearly 15 months it was time to consider getting another multiple entry non immigrant stamp. Normaly, I'd go back to the U.K. for this but having recently got married I was pleased to be able to get it in Savannakhet instead. Yeee ha !! Big saving of about 35,000 baht plus I wouldn't need to close down my online shops for 3 weeks.......more money saved.
Having read Necrons road trip to the same place :
https://teakdoor.com/the-teakdoor-lou...-trip-pt1.html
I didn't fancy getting up early to try and drive the 10 hours in one day. In fact, I didn't fancy driving at all. So the bus seemed the best option. Most visa runners take the overnight bus and arrive in Mukdahan early in the morning. However neither myself or Ms Bangyai are good at sleeping in seats so I decided to break the journey into two bite sized chunks. First to Khon Kaen then the next day east to Mukdahan.
Nakorn Chai Air was fully booked even 4 days in advance as they only have one VIP bus to KK in the daytime. So the second option was with Chan Tour for 480 baht on one of their double deckers. They come in for a lot of flack but thats the way the cookie crumbles when you don't book in advance with NCA. Anyway , in the event it was pretty good. Slow driver and a half empty bus. Fully reclining seats with massage thingy plus your own TV screen. Thiis had a pretty strong chess game on it, much better than you get on a plane and it took me three attempts to beat it.
The coach :
The chess game
Arriving in Khon Kaen at about 5 pm it was a short walk to the Roma Hotel, an old regular of mine when I used to live there.
600 for a boutique room which was the same as the other rooms except it was painted purple. Hmmmm.....great bed though. 7 ft wide and super soft.
Evening meal was at KK's excellent night market then an early night ready for the next leg
Opposite the Roma is my favourite breakfast option in Khon Kaen .......egg in a dish with 2 rolls , OJ and coffee. Used to be only 50 baht ten years ago but now about 80. Life's a bitch.
A short walk to the non air con bus terminal followed to get an air con bus to Mukdahan for 170 baht each ?? Pretty ordinary bus but only on it for 4 hours.
Arriving in Mukdahan had 30 minutes to grab a bowl of noodles before catching the International bus to Savannakhet
It was now mid afternoon so the border crossing at the bridge was pretty quiet .
35 dollars changed hands for the visa but as I was the only one getting one the bastard bus wouldn't wait and so I had to get a tuk tuk to the hotel. People looked friendly though.
Saw this place on the net and it was a good choice for 800 a night including breakfast.
Very clean with all mod cons and a river view
The bathroom wall is um.....well its a window. Ah ha....thinks me. Ms Bangyai is going to be giving me a shower show later ! Unfortunately she wanted to take a dump first and once the curtain was down it stayed down. Never mind, I gave her a show myself later although her only comment was that if she'd paid for it she'd want a refund.
Before settling in I decided to check out the local area for eateries later in the evening.
The hotel breakfast area. ( pretty crap breakfast...eggs, gruel, noodles and french bread )