I was up early and got the 7:45 am bus to Vientiane, Laos. I slept through most of the ride. Crossing the boarder was really easy. I'm really glad that I got that visa in advance, the lines were crazy long! Luckily it is a requirement to have an advance visa to take the bus so everyone else got through quickly as well.
When I got to Vientiane I met an English girl riding around on a bike who told me that everything was full. A few minutes later I found out that she was right. I managed to get a room for about 3 times what I had been paying in Thailand. I did have air con and a tv though with channels in English! I think it's good to treat myself on occasion.
I then had to get some kip. This took some time as none of the ATM's wanted to take my card. Eventually I figured out that I was hitting current account when I should pick checking account. I had wandered around for nothing.
Laos was a French colony. The language seems to be gone (although I think Laosions over 40 might still speak French) but baggetts and cafe culture has stayed. I had a lovely bagget sandwich for lurch. While I ate I checked out my guidebook. There wasn't anything I wanted to do here. I had know that from the beginning, I was really just here for a Vietnamese visa anyway.
When lunch was done I headed to the Internet cafe to check out my visa options and to let Nicole know that I was in Laos. We were planning on meeting up in the next day or two. I couldn't find anything online that guaranteed my ability to get a visa anywhere else in Laos, and none of my friends seemed to know either. I had to get it here to ensure I would have it. I then had to figure out if paying an extra $15 for expedited service would be worth it, if I didn't I would have to sit around for 5 or 6 more days as it was coming near the weekend to get it. In the end I decided on expatiated service. It was expensive to stay here and I would save money in the long run.
That evening I sat in my air con room watching movies. It was really quite a bit of a treat, I hadn't done this for ages.
1 comment:
Sweet kitties ^^
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