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Onto the border with Laos

After going to bed wearing my UK arrival clothing (thermal underwear and woolly hat), I woke with a spring in my step. I was glad to have purged the cold in two days.💪  It took George over a week to get rid of his. 

Colds aside, it was time for another bus journey on 19th January - to Mukdahan. The bus journey was around three hours in a brand new coach. At a cost of £3 each, it was a bargain. But there were no snacks provided for a change! 


Mukdahan is a small town on the east Thai/Laos border.  The countries are separated by the Mekong River. Or as the locals say - 'Mykong'. Foreigners use this destination as a typical visa run between the two countries. The crossing is made by road over the Friendship Bridge 2. The first bridge is north Thailand to Vientiane and done by train. That crossing I made on a few occasions when working in the capital in Laos. 

There really arent many foreigner tourist here at all.  So much that one Brit driving along the road with his Thai wife, stopped his car, wound down the window and asked if we were lost. And then what on earth are you doing here?! 
Our hotel is conveniently located right by the bus station, so no transfer taxi required.

It's quite a big hotel, a little dated, but is clean, comfortable and quiet. It also has a surprisingly good Thai breakfast, which is hot. 

A breakfast that is warm in a Thailand hotel can sometimes be a bit of a rarity. Once it's made for 6:30am opening, hot buffets might not be topped up, or monitored regularly to check its warmth until closing at 10am. 

Often the under tray heat burners are not on high enough. Or they don't bother with any heaters, so the food is sitting in stone cold serving trays. Unfortunately George fell foul a few times of fancying a fried egg to be discover it was freezing cold. 

I took the above hotel photo in the dark as it looks better 🤣. The cost is £25 per night. 

What is very amusing is the location of the gym and the swimming pool. The gym can be found in reception behind a wall. 

The small swimming pool can be found in the car park - that backs straight onto the bus station. There is a clever leafy screen to hide your modesty. Sunbathing in a carpark, whilst enjoying the noise and pollution of the traffic, plus tuk tuk drivers chatting behind me, was a no no. 😲

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