Early Morning KFC

Incredibly gay sweets





















Big Issues chief rival




















weird Garfield inspired hotel room















Muay Laos
























An average Lunch with MK








Early morning at KFC

Finally got round to writing this blog, I have just arrived in Udon Thani, in Northern Thailand for a procedure known as a ‘Visa run’. My 30 day visitor visa is about to expire and I have to leave the country and return with a letter from the ministry of labour so I can get a business visa. Normally people just go to Noan Khai which is just on the other side of the bridge, do a shop at Tesco Lotus and then come back. But my task is a little more complex as I want to buy a decent expresso machine and the big department store in Udon Thani is my best bet ( Operation ’expresso’ is reaching its final stages). Fortunately Edward has one of his scheduled medical trips to Khon Khean this weekend and had graciously agreed to pick me up at my house and drop me at the central plaza in Udon en route to Knon Khaen. Cars get processed quicker than people at ‘the bridge’ so it is fairley plane sailing paperchase and Edward dropped me here at just after 10:00 Am. To early to get a hotel, so it was a KFC breakfast. Remember there are no fast food outlets in Laos, so if the opportunity arrises you tend to go for it. I am now sitting here with a ‘zinger burger’ with tears of nostalgia in my eyes, or have just overdone the chilli.
Other news since my last blog, I am now on my third illness since getting here, a dose of the ‘Mekong rapids’ during the first week then a bout of heartburn which didn’t go away and now I have picked up a cold which appears to be hanging round longer than its welcome. Although I think I am on the lea side of it now with a few pockets of isolated resistance. I am a little more sorted with my internet connection at home with a pretty good, if not slightly expensive internet package by ‘Planet internet’ in town which everybody agrees is the best. I have a 3GB @ 512 per month package which is costing me in the region of $130 per month, which is expensive but IT WORKS. Don’t get me started on wifi connections in Melbourne.
I now get my fix of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report but sadly cannot get either ABC iview or BBC iplayer. Will sort out the streaming for MotoGP and SBK in the next couple of weeks.

The other major purchase this week is a motorbike. A 150 cc step through made by Korean company Kolao. Not as good as the Honda’s, but it was snip at $650, only 8000 km on the clock bought directly from the Kolao factory in VTE in April. One of Edwards friends selling up and heading back to the states. Bizarrely the first person to ride the bike is Tom, he is of on a camping expedition (1 night anyway) east of VTE and needed transport, as I was doing the visa run I didn’t need it so the planets aligned for everybody.
Haven’t been much on the socialising thing at the moment, a mixture of work, getting the house/bike/wifi sorted and a trifecta of bugs has kept me off the streets. Have found an excellent Pakistani restaurant in town, OK the décor needs a bit of work, a chicken wire cage is probably not get you any Michelin stars but the food is spectacularly good and incredibly cheap. It is very difficult to spend more than $5 there. We also tried a North Korean restaurant, the ‘Pyong Yang’ which was surprisingly good. Apparently they do do dog but was not on the menu that night. The service was very slow especially as we were the only customers. We were thinking that we were getting a typical North Korean meal i.e. nothing. But ended up as pretty good BBQ Beef and Chicken and seafood pancakes. Very similar to South Korean food without the bitter taste of orphans tears and failed agricultural policies.
Every 2nd Saturday there is a Muay Laos tournament at the National gymnastics stadium, Muay Laos is a variation on Muay Thai ( Kick boxing ) essentially the same but with differing rules think Rugby league ane Rugby union sort of thing. For the grand sum of 10,000 LAK ( about $1.25) you get a program of about 5 bouts officially from 6:00 to midnight but in reality is from 4:00 to 7:00, you also get a small bottle of M150 ( a drink similar to Red Bull ). Never been to a boxing match before, very entertaining. The forth bout was the most entertaining a real tall skinny guy who seemed to have the ‘attitude’ and was worth a fluter of 10,000 LAK with Tom. Once again proving why I have never added gambling to my list of vices, after 5 rounds he was getting ‘canvass rash’ having visited the deck at least 20 times.
Back in Udon Thani

Found myself a pretty cheap hotel right next to the bus station called the Silver reef, only $20 an night and is pretty central. The whole place has a strange ‘cartoon theme’ combined with a 60’s look. Can’t figure out if it is trendy, retro or just plain weird. I ended up with the ‘Garfield room’. Can’t complain the only themed room you would get in Australia for $20 a night is cockroach.