Hongsa – Nan (Thailand)

26th April 2014            175km            21’c – 34’C

An early morning visit to  the Hongsa market was eye-opening. The market was bustling with people buying their daily provisions, meat, vegetables, rice.  And then there were some more interesting items, such as fried crickets, ant lavae & something like fried cicada.

I settled on a block of sticky rice with yam, cooked in bamboo for breakfast.  These are so delicious, sweet, sticky and packaged in bamboo they transport easily.  Eating them is simply a matter of peeling off the thin outer layer of bamboo and biting into the rice block.

So with breakfast sorted, it was onto the bike and to ride the 50km to the Thai border.  The road to the border was magnificent, courtesy of the power plant, the road is one of the best I’ve ridden anywhere in the world.
Perfect surface, camber and with unbelievably awesome views of the mountain ranges.   Riding above the clouds in the mist was true joy this morning.

I arrived at the border right on 7:30am, when it was supposed to open, but some locals then told me it wouldn’t open until 8am.  There was already a big queue of bikes, cars & trucks waiting to cross, so I joined the fray and waited for the boom to be opened.   When it did, I parked in no-mans-land and joined a line of about 30 people at what I thought was the immigration window.

This border crossing is quite remote and mostly used by locals, so I was the only ‘farang’ in sight, which was a big point of interest with everyone.

I waited in line for about 20 minutes, before I Lao guy approached me and told me I could bypass the line by going to the back of the building!   I walked around the back and found a window that was processing Thai & foreign passports, and with only 3 people waiting in-front of me.  The line I had been waiting in was only for locals crossing to the market.   So with my passport stamped out of Laos, I proceeded to Laos customs.   They of course asked for my carnet, which I explained I didn’t have, so they asked for my other paperwork & passport.  Then they wanted the bike pushed, uphill, about 20M to a parking area.  I obliged.   After more scrutiny of my passport I was then told I was free to go, and rode the next 50M to the Thai side. I completed the Thai immigration forms and had my photo taken.  I noticed that everyone else either handed over a small amount of cash (bribe) or a bundle of something as a gift.  Ginger, fruit, etc.   I didn’t give anything and wasn’t asked, although a few times someone with cash in hand was allowed to bypass me in the line.

Once stamped into Thailand I was told to go to customs, about 20M further up the road.  I went there, but the shack was closed, so I walked back to immigration where they told me the new customs office was about 80M further away. So I walked up the steep hill into the office.

The customs guy while trying to be helpful, said I needed to go back to immigration to get a form, so I walked back down the hill and told immigration I needed a form.  They of course said, no form, go back to customs.  So I walked back up the hill to customs again, in the blazing sun carrying my gear.   At customs, the guy sent me back again to immigration, so back down the hill again, where immigration now filled in a form for me, and I walked back up the hill with this form.   But this wasn’t the right form, so I was sent back to immigration again.  By this stage I was roasted hot, in my riding gear, sweating buckets, climbing up and down the steep hill.

The immigration guys then completed the last form and sent me back to customs up the hill.  I joked with them “please let this be the last time”  They could see I was cooked in the sun.

I walked halfway up the hill to hear them calling out “Khun, Khun, Khun, come back!!!”   I though they were taking the mickey, but they seemed serious, so I walked back down again.  They had forgotten to complete the form with the registration of the bike.  So after adding that, I was allowed to go back again to customs, and up the hill again.   Five trips in total. I was wrecked.

The customs guy said there was still a missing form, but it was ok, and not to worry.  He said he had a headache from filling in documents in English, but he was still helpful and never asked for any sort of payment, and after 20 minutes I had the import documents completed and was on my way.

The total time to cross the border had now been more than 1.5hrs and the sun was now high, and hot.

After a quick drink, I hit the road to Nan.  The mountain roads here are really fabulous, with great corners and views.  I really was enjoying the ride until I got a bit too enthusiastic and the near tyre let go mid corner, giving me a scare.  So I backed off a bit and cruised into Nan for an early lunch.

Nan is a quite country town, that doesn’t see many tourists.  Walking around the market everyone commented on the ‘farang’ but it was friendly and all smiles, so all good fun.  I bought some fruit and walked around the night market, which was a real treat as I was only Thai people shopping there, to the sounds of local songs.