Early this morning after having an interesting breakfast the van drove to Nong Khai Lao-Thai Friendship bridge to cross the border to Laos capital
Vientiane. We arrived at the border around 1030hrs but great-grandpa, grandpa and auntie Aey were unable to cross since they did not have valid documents with them. It was an easy process going pass the thai border and board a bus to cross the Mekong River into Laos. The bus ride across the Mekong river into Laos territory in no more than 10mins. The Laos immigration wasn't as friendly as there were many years ago when daddy went but it was a straight forward procedure except for an entry fee which needed to pay after the immigration, about THB20. Then mommy manage to get a van to tour around Vientiane for THB800.
The ride into the city took about 20mins and the first stop was
Pha Tat Luang (or known as the great stupa in Laos), which was built in the 16th century, the second stop would be
Patuxay, a structure built to resemble the
Arc de Triomphe in Paris. We were suppose to be back to the border now but mommy was hungry and also she wanted to try some authentic Laotian som tum but instead, the driver took us to a shopping centre which is new and run by Chinese and daddy bought some cartoon dvds for me as well but no food for mommy. It was a communication problem because the driver was actually saying "Talat Jin" (chinese market) but he pronounced it as "Talat Kin" (food market), so we thought there must have all the food which mommy want to try. So we left and drove to "
Talat Sao" (morning market) to get some shirt and food before we head back to the border. Mommy finally had her som tum here but daddy did not manage to get his shirt since the price quoted was ver expensive and the driver said that it would be cheaper to buy at the shops at the border. We finally cross back into Thailand, after boarding the THB20 bus and paying another THB20 exit fee at the immigration complex.
The re-entry into Thailand was a little tricky as they only had 1 counter for Thai and Lao (border pass / Thai work permit) and 2 counter for foreign passport. I was lucky because I could follow mommy but daddy, grandpa and granny had to line-up for more than 45mins before they could get and entry stamp back in Thailand under the hot sun.
We finally board the bus again around 1630hrs, which is 4hours later than we agreed to meet up again. We then drove into Nong Khai to visit the 3 country market and bought more shirts and some thai sausages wrap in leaves before leaving for Khon Kean to pick up Great Uncle Sar. We arrived in
Nakhon Ratchasima(Korat) at 2100hrs and check-into an apartment.
We will be leaving for Saraburi or actually is
Chok Chai farm since daddy heard so much about the steak they serve there.
Some photos taken today
Click
here for more photos in slideshow.
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