Stevey

All women or Thai Women ?

I’ve chosen to place this here coz my concern is Isaan women. Is it just me or…. Has anybody experienced that when you and your Isaan women got together she was lovely but a few years later she is horrible and shouty. Also jobs and modifications and upgrades to her house I did previously were welcome but now now it’s hers and even suggesting planting a new tree causes an argument let alone that I wanted to pay for a digger to make a small borenam to hold some fish on land I paid for. If anyone had told me that these Isaan women were like this I’d have avoided them like the plague.

I will be fitting an upstanding Samurai sword to the front of my Kawasaki Versys to bolster the defensive Riot shield I currently have in place.

Ok let’s write this entire post again. For those who cannot tolerate detail’s skip to the end where I bullet point all the salient points. So I arrive back through Mukdahan on Monday after the weekend, after picking up my passport. My dog was sick before I left and asked my girlfriend to make sure she was looked after. She showed me her condition on my first night in Savannakhet and she looked bad so that was the Lao holiday cancelled and my mission was to get back to NongKhai to look after her Asap. Whilst waiting for the Monday 14:00 embassy passport pick up I decided rather than hang around the town again I would take a trip on the Sunday down to Pakse in the south of Lao. I’d hired a Honda Wave from my lodging Souvantha guest house for 300Baht a day. It was the owners personal bike so I told her that I may not be back that night but don’t worry about bike. I was just gonna explore around but I may stay out if I found a nice town. She told me don’t go too far so I omitted to ask the best route to Pakse. I set off with Google maps reporting a 3hrs 49m journey for a motorbike. It was about 1030 and although it was gonna be mid afternoon when I got there it had to be better than staying in Savannakhet all day. I rode about 55-60kph all the way with the odd stop. After filling up with fuel a couple of hours in and re-mapping the Journey I now saw it was saying 3 1/2hrs further !! Jesus Christ Mary mother of God ???? I had to make a decision whether to turn back. After a coffee at Café Amazon where every outside table had a full ashtrays I asked a Lao guy if this was normal for Lao and he said yes. 5 tables with 5 full ashtrays ????. I decided to carry on with the journey because turning back would be soul destroying. Eventually I got there at 16:30 ready for sunset. Not the first time google maps has been totally off for me in Asia. Stayed at the Langkam Hotel about 400 baht for an Air room which was not needed as it was coat and hat weather, all fan rooms taken by filthy back packers. Langkam Hotel has a balcony looking out onto the main thoroughfare of the town if you can see anything thru the hundreds of wires going down the street from pole to pole. Surrounded by mountains Paksey is quiet and well worth a visit and looked like Oxford town centre. Next day had a nice coffee from the hotels very small breakfast restaurants. After yesterday’s 55kph drive I decided to up the pace and sped back to Savannakhet leaving at 08:30 at an insane 80kph Joey Dunlop style swerving across the road to avoid potholes and the popular goat livestock which has zero Road sense unlike dogs and will just walk out into the road, extremely dangerous. Reaching the outskirts of Pakse I pulled up for a minute at a roadside French bread pâté stall out front of a house. The woman immediately shouted out to the back for an English speaker. An old guy about 75 years old appeared and started speaking English. Works out he had recently retired to Lao from Los Angeles when he’s made a family after leaving Lao in his late 20’s he came back to Lao with his second wife who he had shipped to the US to replace the original who died early on in the marriage, she was the one who was making my sandwich and couldn’t speak a word of English after being in the US for decades. After an exciting death ride back broken up with lots of fuel fill ups as the fuel tank tried to keep up with the carburettor I arrived back to the Sounantha hotel Savannakhet at 12:10 midday.A little concerned I might have to pay another day for being 10 mins late for check out I was amazed and heartened to see they had emptied my room of belongings and they were in reception, even the stuff I’d hidden so they couldn’t steal ????. I Checked out and I had a couple of hours to kill before the 1400 rendezvous with my passport so killed time until I made my way to the embassy. I was wondering if I’d meet the Filipino teacher at the embassy. She was a strange character we had exchanged Line IDs, her idea, and had a chat going and evidently I was a great guy as I’d given her that 4000baht to bolster her bank balance a few days back to help enable her to get her visa. I did meet her by chance on the Friday evening the day I first met her near my hotel as I walked back, it was now Monday, I asked the half brain to take her mask off for a second so I could see her face to which she obliged. Not bad, from the hour I’d spent with her in the passport copy shop from her eyes I had her pegged as 50 years old but now she revealed her face she looked more like late 30’s and if any wine lovers are listening I had a Semion. I told her I’ll message you later, and went and purchased a can of anti-perspirant and a selection of Lao beers. To cut a long story short even though I made it clear I would finance everything with my huge wealth she gave me excuse after excuse all weekend when I tried to meet up with her saying she had flu and she didn’t want to spread it, pretty much the opposite of me who had a stinking face cold and made no provisions for ‘ stopping the Spread’ other than not sneezing directly into someone’s face. I’m 47 not 67 I just cannot fathom women at all. Anyway I missed her at the embassy and apart from a couple of unsolicited messages on line that relationship is basically dead in the water. I made my way to the bus station with Passport and visa , nearly there ! Now 1440 The guys running the bus told me the big white and blue bus left at 1630, long time to wait and not gonna happen. A Tuk Tuk driver offered me the ride for a 1000baht I told him to do one and produced google maps that said it was a 17 minute dotted line walk to the Mukdahan side. He dropped the price to Loy Baht. I waltzed off out the bus station but while leaving I saw another bus that was obscuring the 16:30 bus I doubled back and enquired at the Bus Station office. This bus leaves at 1530 , oh so it’s every something 30Hrs then. With a 45mins wait i decided to walk as someone did say here it’s walkable. well again Google Maps done me over and I ended up at the border point in 45mins, not 16mins. Picked up a pack of Lao Bear Dark from the border shop at equivalent 30 baht a can. More expensive than shops at 12000kip about 24baht a can but I forgot to buy some. Girl in the tells me 1 pack is the limit. By now it’s 1530 and I approached the Lao passport control and got ushered to a kiosk window with a male and female Lao IO inside. They start flicking through my passport like they can’t find my visa. He then asks me “Thai Embassy give you Visa ?“ I replied yeah ! “ Ok….Loy Baht ! “ I haven’t got any Thai money more than the money I need to pay the storage of my bike at the Mukdahan side. I throw all the Kip I have down and that seems to be enough and I’m released. That was a relief as at this point I’m still not entirely convinced that this TR visa is gonna get me into Thailand over a land border for the 3rd time this year. Alight the bus to Mukdahan side and entered the Thai passport control building filled out arrival departure card. The got two women as Thai IO they spoke Isaan Thai to me , always puzzles me how they know which Falang can speak Thai. They asked me about me having a Thai girlfriend as there was paperwork pertaining to her in the passport. ???? oh this could get spicy ???? surely they’ll ask next why I’m staying in a guesthouse near her address? I had a story ready about us having an argument and I’m gonna let her cool down, they never asked I they let me go. No checking for Covid nonsense tests or vaccines certificates and more interesting no checking for how many cans of Beer Lao I had in my bag. Also and importantly on this occasion at this time of day I was not asked to produce an onwards flight booking. This would have been a problem and this thing I was most worried about. My emirates return flight was cancelled a while back and as yet I have not confirmed the return date so I would not have been able to produce it and it would have been possible but less than convenient to produce one, so that was Fantastic. Made my way to the long stay carpark with fingers and toes crossed. Bike still there next to the office. Paid the woman though the window for the extra nights stays more than the first night I left it there, who informed me to my surprise that even though it was end of play I wasn’t paying for this day, it’s payment for nights past midnight it appears, gave her a 100baht tip and reconnected my battery I’d undone for added security. Looks like secure parking indeed. And headed for a night Nakhon Sakhon. Unfortunately my lovely dog died in an operation to remove inflammation of the Uterine caused by Pyometra which is caused by administering the contraceptive injections for 50baht rather than do a spade operation. My fault. “cystic endometrial hyperplasia and resulting pyometra, especially if the dose is excessive” So that’s that. Summary. • Lao Evisa worked great $50 and feels smug telling people filling out forms that you’ve got one • Not asked by Lao IO for the Covid test I’d made even though I had a full face cold. This coincides with China dropping zero Covid and letting it rip it’s slave worker population. •It’s 45 minutes walk to the Embassy from the Lao side of the bridge if you don’t want to encourage the touts. I’ve just spent a little time researching and the average wage is not more than 3000baht a month 100baht a day. So think of that when they want 200baht to the Embassy. To me it’s 50baht if that. Walk it with your thumb out. • Get there early. Apparently there were half of China waiting there the day before I came have enough time to fix a problem and resubmit. • Have a bank statement with a ending balance of 20k baht minimum, 2 pics6x4 cm a hotel booking printout. News to me but can be downloaded from you banking app. The copy shop opposite is helpful, although can only speak Lao or Thai. He has the application form and every thing is 20baht a go. Lovely guy, like me. •Tourist visa 2months plus extendable for 1 month is a bargain 1000baht •100baht was requested by Lao IO on exit of Lao, for what ? Who knows ? •Onward flight was not asked for on entering Thailand, maybe lucky. • Hotels. The Aura is more plush looking at 600Baht but the floor tiles were sticky and the shower was not powerful in this cold weather and needed to be of a trickle, go 200 baht and spend 400 baht on 20baht cans of Lao beer and French bread sandwiches (Kao jee Pâté) and barbecue Pork and chicken. But be careful to buy the sandwiches from busy shops they refrigerate the ingredients which for small 1 baguette every 2 hours shops sit in plastic boxes growing bacteria. • Be careful about how long google maps says it take to get anywhere. •10000kip is 20baht, 1/2Mill Kip is 1000baht but big notes get better exchange rate at money changers. •Eat at Pilgrims restaurant and coffee and pay in Kip they exchange baht at unreasonable rates. Nice place by the Mekong that has views of the bridge from the outside seating. Has accommodation and push bike hire. •There’s an ATM and small shop at the Mukdahan border long stay Car park •Remember to take more than one pair of underpants preferably with a serviceable gusset that is still intact unlike my pair which had a failed gusset.

Standby for the last word about Savannakhet. I did a full final report then I went off my Wi-Fi, even though I’ve got a Sim card in, and when I open my phone later it was all gone, my fault, I must remember to write reports out somewhere else and then copy and paste them into, Thai Visa later. I’ve opened my phone before and it says this was a post you were writing earlier and it’s all there for you, nightmare !!!

Er.. sunshine ? Close the thread ? Shouldn’t we wait till I’ve picked my passport up and managed to get boots on soil in Thailand before we start closing threads ?

Thai Soi dogs in the main are not a problem as far as attacks go. If you shout at them or wave a stick they will invariably run off in my experience of running around our Isaan village I think is due to the fact they have been trained with sticks from puppies who the boss is. A while back our next door neighbour acquired a box faced dog that looks like a pit bull bull dog type of thing. I have 7 adult dogs which are all lovely because I give them love. 1 of our 5 females bred with this dog and one of her 3 puppies is definitely of him. The pup is a terrorists of the first order and at 9weeks he will attack our other adult dogs over food and the other day he attacked another neighbour’s puppy which to me appears to be more of the pitbull like’s offspring. In times gone by when dogs came from wolves and wild dogs I’m under the impression that bad dogs were removed from the world and bad traits were bred out of the pack. It seems that our village is heading if not stopped to have half the dogs in the village half bull dog style. Next doors dog has left teeth wounds requiring vets visits and bills on 3 of our dogs so far. And when a female is in heat this dog causes wounds to all the competing males. I see Jomtien has Soi dog attacks but from what I can see they live and breed in wild packs with no stick training from being young and no owners. video of our new pup attached IMG_1426.MOV

We haven't got a pitbull advocate in our mist have we ?

See you on the next one. Moral of this is I need to read the embassy website at least once ????

What it is about the bank statement is I applied to the UK Hull Consulate for a 2 months TR 4yrs ago and I wasnt asked for funds, only for the 6mths TR plus the two previous TR visa over 10 years ago at lao and Cambodia never asked either So I never gave it a thought again. I can feel the springs coming thru this mattress, but it's 200baht a night so u can't complain.

Moderator yer say , permanently banned yer say ? Well I've always held @Tod Daniels in high regard as far as info vis a vis Visa runs are concerned.

Ok @PJ71 @Tod Daniels @Bigz@Caldera If you don’t like long interminable posts skip this. It’s not for you. Tod mentioned Non-O’s no problem here. I have just bumped into a guy from Pattaya Norway guy speaks with Irish accents is loaded and has all the stuff in Thailand house etc. he told me he was refused with 800k in the bank and only got a Tourist visa and told he must go to his own country to apply and has lived here 20years. Ok so awoke early and was met with Tuk Tuk in the hotel lobby. He immediately says it’s off due to some issue with the guy inside. The fact that he didn’t just get as much trips for the day out of me then let me down later leads me to believe it was on the cards to get dealt with. I allowed him to take me to the embassy for his efforts and what appeared to be ‘honesty’. Arrived at the embassy and I then realised that the back entrance is the normal entrance for visas, no one corrected me on this. I noticed an Asian woman crossing the road and sitting in the copy shop opposite. Not knowing this shop I wondered over and had a chat. It was now I am enlightened ( not from anyone telling me here) that I also need a statement of bank account. I have had tourist visas before and never needed to show my vast wealth before. Luckily she enlightened me also to that I can generally download a statement from your banking app, this is important info for those with no phone banking or working phone in Lao, be sure you have some statement. The guy in the copy shop provided me with an application form and I made copies of my downloaded bank statement, the application form got photos stuck to it. But what about the girl Steve ? I hear you ask, I’m coming to that now. Philippine woman working as a teacher in Kalasin. She had arrived the day before but had her tourist visa application knocked back due to here bank statement having an end balance of 16500 even though the start balance was 21000 she couldn’t understand that the IO is only interested in how much funds you have , not had, and she was an English teacher who couldn’t say the word British. Anyway long and short was I have her 4000baht to avoid the ensuing disaster via my Wise App. The 4000baht didn’t arrive for an hour as wise has said but she couldn’t wait and decided to try again with the 16500 again with the same Tall IO from yesterday. There were probably 7or less people applying today and it was 10am at this point and she had no hurry but whatever. She came back 5 mins later saying he had accepted it today, strange …is he some sort of sadist. She mentioned she had actually borrowed the 16000 from a friend so was broke. I told her to keep the 4000k but she insisted not and sent it back. Woman is on her are struggling to get a work visa due to agent issues and is working illegally as a probably not very good English teacher who after 5 years can’t speak a word of Thai. We made our good byes as she was downgrading hotels from the 250baht Soulinsouk hotel to a hotel for 150baht. Women like that are hard to find. I presented my paperwork over the road to the lanky IO. He went through it and pulled me on not having a print out reservation for my fictional guest house in Thailand. I actually stay with my girlfriend child and 10 dogs but that’s opening a can of worms. I returned with a booking.com printout of a 400baht homestay actual near my village which I’m gonna use as a test so I have an other option for the next time my crazy 8itch of a girlfriend locks me out. He accepted that and said return at 14:00 tomorrow. It’s annoying that with only 7 or so customers that they couldn’t get those done this afternoon. I returned from my new guest house I found 200baht a night called Sounantha guest house +856 30 59 10 213 https://maps.app.goo.gl/srFyV8yuKcZ35xp67?g_st=ic where I met the guy who was expecting according to advice from ASEAN Now to receive a non-O visa but got turned down. We walked back to the embassy so he could pick up his passport there were lots of Russians but not so many Chinese as people had said had arrived yesterday but not more than 50 people. So to wrap up I hope to pick up my passport with TR visa Monday. Rather enjoying the break now and saved the 3 k for the IO. I can recommend Pilgrims Cafe at the Mekong for food and a coffee shop. The burger I had was cheap and the best biggest burger ???? I’ve had in a long long while. Ok. People will say that this post is loaded with too much useful info and I apologise for that. When I asked for advise on how to get a TR last month here one vital piece of Info that was missed off from the scraps I got thrown was that when you go to Vientiane which is my local consulate you must book the appointment and when I found this out I was too late and my closest appointment was next Tuesday leaving me out the country till next Wednesday night. I know it’s the TV way to bring the hate but I’ve done my bit and told you everything you need to know and haven’t left out a crucial part. Some people , most people come here to get advice not half the story “ what do you mean you didn’t know you have to book an appointment in advance to get a TR visa , where yer been ?” Although I am most greatful of the advice I have had. I fix machines when I hand over a job I don’t leave out half the story and laugh at the next guy when he’s struggling , much love.

You’ve provided no information to this thread so far other than to chime in with some negativity. Stick me on your ignore list as you’ve got better things to do surely rather than read my ramblings. Your a troll.

Ok? Are you saying you’ve have your passport back the day you arrived in Lao ? The dogs in the area of the Aura residence never stop barking and don’t like foreigners, I love dogs and have 10 but these are very aggressive and you have to watch them as you walk past. 7am now and waiting for the driver who is facilitating the events. I would never take a local tuktuk unless desperate but this guy is implying it’s all in the fee. My worry is that this guy could also have laughed with his friends on the TukTuk Rank “ Yeah I’ll pick him up and drop him back and if the passport doesn’t materialise he got to pay me 300baht he would never had to coz he’s have walked it. Winner winner chicken dinner !! “ I’m actually considering walking to the embassy he’ll think I’m nuts but it could easily be a bait and switch and I can add transport fees onto the escapades cost.

It’s not too bad here 600Baht and one night so far and the staff facilitated today’s situation. Thanks for the hotel recommendation. May try that tonight if needed. It’s a long walk to any life here although there is a big Buffet opposite if you fancy it, I don’t take tuktuks and reward my abusers.

With all due respect from your handle I’m assuming your an Aussie. That country and its people will never be seen the same again. To have actually gone along with it all with no push back from large numbers of citizens shows us a lot about the Australians. Apart from the nursing home and health workers mandate we in the UK were free to choose and could leave the job if we choose and fight it out in court later. Lots have gone along the vaccine program but the government never said like that dog Michael Gunner “ going to work is not a reason to leave the house for the unvaccinated “ I’m assuming the non push back compliance came from a certain generation in Oz.

You should have a restraining order, put on your fingers, so you can’t type such rubbish, three years later I’m still waiting for one person in our big village in NongKhai to actually die, everyone still alive !!!

So let me just say that I’m about to tell you is not real and I’m just typing words. Right, so I told my story to the someone about the TukTuk drivers, trying to assist me to get my Visa at the back gate, and told him if he knew somebody who was an agent who could sort me out and get my passport back tomorrow if I put it in in the morning I’d be prepared to pay some money. Went up and had a shower came down to go out and find some food this afternoon and he done some asking around and said he knew somebody I said I was interested and after two minutes, a tuk driver arrived. We discussed it and he said if I go to the embassy in the morning, put my passport in to my tourist Visa and then when I finished I tell him the Visa number for a fee he will get the Visa expedited and deliver the passport to me at which point, I give him the money and I go home the same day which will be tomorrow. Good story ? Obtw: This was all conducted in Thai language. Edits. Ok So I had a shower and realise I’ve left some bits out. • I spent a good deal of time at the hospital last night procuring an ATK Covid test, it was not requested by the Mukdaharn IO. • Was Savannakhet busy? Never got inside and the Bus has no westerners on to cross the river other than me and the Canadian and his mate but it was nearly midday. The Taxi driver when I interrogated him told me there were lot of Chinese and I did see two orientalist types leave the embassy while I was dealing with pinky and perky so maybe.

Ooohhhh!! You would wouldn’t you , I’m too tired to reach the remote to turn this Thai soap off on the hotel telly

The overwhelming response to this thread and everything I’ve been through in the last 20 hours is overwhelming. Thanks.

Er… I left at 05:30 I’d have had to of left at 4am to make a difference non stop, I was told a boat load of Chinese turned up in the morning. I was on a motorbike, fffffffffrreeezzzziinn and I’ve got a full on face cold, not well.

As requested by @Onerak Left home about 05:45 and with a couple of stops on the way arrived at Mukdahan Border at 10:45 , 5hrs as predicted by Google maps. By the time I parked the bike, 100baht per night at the parking and shop facilities on the left as you approach the border. Cars are 250baht a day a Canadian guy with a ladyboy in tow told me as I entered, looked like a nice boy. Bikes get parked right next to the Office, seems safe but I disconnected my battery and locked the steering anyway. Walked into Thai side immigration and got told to buy a bus ticket first outside so went back to the booth outside and purchased one , 45baht. Walked back in and got stamped out of Thailand. Walked to the bus seated waiting area where I saw the Canadian and his lady friend who I think I had spoke to 45mins ago at this point. We waited another 10 or so mins and the bus left. The Mekong is a lot wider than I’ve seen anywhere else here as I go over the bridge. It’s 11:50 and people have waited along time for the bus to leave so my stops enroute were inconsequential as I could not have made it here any earlier unless I had got here and hour earlier than I did. Right approaching Lao customs now, hope the E-visa works. Ok E-visa was the best bypassed everyone filling forms out walked up to passport control and got stamped in. Sorted. Walked out to the awaiting taxi rats. I ended up taking the first one I spoke to as it looks like you can’t change to another as they would catch my eye. Got in a van with him and was taken to the Thai Embassy 200baht couldn’t be bother to haggle after the first refusal to budge, and it was past 12pm by now. We arrive at the embassy and a guy appears for no reason at my window as we stop. He talks to the driver as I paying him. I get out and the tour takes me to the back entrance for exiting visa-isters. He is trying to make out this is the entrance and is trying to tell me it’s closed but that the security guard can get me inside for 200baht. I can speak Thai but neither of these imbeciles could. Sitting in the Aura now writing this I feel like I should have given the guys the 200baht but I didn’t because I thought they would want my passport which I wasn’t prepared to do. What I did do is walk away and go to the big entrance full of optimism thinking I would be in time. I spoke with a Thai speaking woman employee who gave me the bad news that they were indeed closed for the day and open again in the morning and that I could expect to see my passport on Monday at best. I quizzed her about the guys at the back gate and asked if there was ‘ another way ‘ she said no. I went back to see pinky and perky again , well pinky approached me again as I went back he was still eager. But I just don’t understand enough Lao/Isaan to deal with something like this. How would they think they could get a passport off someone without speaking the owner’s language ? This is why i believe that they were offering to get me in the building. Anyway told them what I thought of them and that they couldn’t take me to the next destination as they’d done very well thank you ! in bringing me here knowing full well it was a wild goose chase and they would get paid again for then delivering me to the hotel. So I walked to the Aura 18 mins in the sun. 600Baht for the room so could be looking at 2400baht for accommodation. So if you’ve managed to still be awake after that rundown. Does anybody know of a way to expedite the process and get me passport back with a 2 months TR visa tomorrow afternoon ? And does anyone know if the Back Entrance Mongrels were genuine ? The security guard had a look of shiftiness about him like he was looking around to see if the coast was clear to get some in. And the chat was of a tone that looked like it was real

Thanks, a good read and a real help ????

Sounds like a post from the ISG.