This hotel feels like it’s heyday was more than twenty years ago, but we can all identify with that.
I went to make a coffee in the room but the kettle was rusted, so I went downtown to find my morning coffee. Strangely, coffee places around here don’t open until 9am or so. That’s the time when people need coffee ! Luckily there was one open, and as I finished up, Miles arrived, and we left town.
Yasothon is a surprisingly large town so it took quite a few kms before we were in farmland again.
The first 30 something kms were almost straight (but not gunbarrel straight). They were also into a headwind, and on our eighth consecutive day of riding to start this trip, we got a bit tired of it.
So we got off the route and went via a small village in search of a mid morning snack. We found the only place. It must have been an old school as there was still a blackboard and desks nearby. We bought satchets of Nescafe 3 in 1, grabbed a mug each and poured ourselves a coffee. The girl in the shop couldn’t stop laughing. Others came into the shop while we were there and did the same.
Then came a couple of dog chases. The dogs here, have been quite docile recently so it was a surprise when a couple of them snarled and chased us. Usually, I’ll yell at them and they’ll back off enough to escape. If it shows more interest, I’ll stop and get off. If I bend down to pick up a rock, they’ll quickly turn and trot away – most of them. They’re all different though
Next came a great Kway Teow Moo from a roadside stall in a small village. The lady spoke no English but seemed to organise everybody around her. We asked for something to drink, so she called out to the guy in the shop across the road (it was closed at the time), to bring two cokes over. He emerged like he’d just been sleeping, grabbed the cokes and smiled as he delivered them.
The last part of the day was on the busy road that we’d take to get to Laos the next day. But today, it was just hot and busy. We hadn’t booked a place, but had seen a bungalow hotel that looked great. Most places we’d been, had been almost empty, so we rode in to be greeted by an old Thai lady with no English.
She was lovely. She conveyed that they were full, then called the next place – full too, then called another and that guy came on his motorbike and directed us down to his cage with two bungalosyto rent – all good in the end.
We enjoyed a beer by the lake as the sun set, then headed back for a nice meal while watching a classic epl match. Not such a bad day.
