Left Siem Reap nice and early so that I could get as far north in Thailand as I could in daylight.

I even left Friday so that my ‘fixer’ could get me through the notorious Nong Khai to Vientiane crossing. Have a fixer means you just bribe him and he guides you through the paperwork and his team do the same in Laos. He handles the bribes to the officials. So it doesn’t save you money, but hopefully saves hassle dealing with the corruption.

I crossed Cambodia to Thailand at Osmach/Chong Chom. Very easy crossing which took just over an hour, including time lost because Cambodian immigration couldn’t get their camera to work. No photos needed, no document copies, no driving license or insurance checks. 100THB in total paid. Great.

A quick stop at Kawasaki in Surin but as always they have more staff than bike parts. FAIL

Made it to Ban Phai for the night and a rest. Famous for nothing much it lived up to its reputation. No English spoken here at all so Google translate got my dinner!

That evening my fixer told me that the document list needed for the crossing was in fact needed days before. Sadly he never told me this so now I would have no help at the infamous crossing, with a good chance of being refused entry to Laos. Alternatively wait for 3 days or more.

I reached out to the World Wide Web thingy for advice what to do? Risk it and lose my second entry to Thailand if refused entry- only two land crossings allowed per year to Thailand – or try elsewhere?

What to do…?

Adventurer