New to Laos...

4 February 2010, Thursday

(Part 1)

Well, I’ve made it to Laos, and I definitely feel like I am in Laos…

I’m sitting in the dirt on the side of the road, being repeatedly covered by dust every time a vehicle passes us. Laos, in the 2 days I’ve been here, has already begun to teach me a new understanding of patience.

I left Hanoi at 6am on Monday. The trip to DBP was fairly smooth. With 1 flat tire and several breaks we reached DBP in 12 hours when my LP told me it would take 14. I enjoyed a nice lunch with some of the women on my bus, wich I was surprised to discover was complimentary with our bus ticket. The drive was quite beautiful, I admired the landscape and the fascinating hairstyles of the tribal women we saw along the way. The only negative was the vomiting of almost every woman on the bus, minus myself. This is something I came to understand in India. The people, particularly the women, are not used to driving fast in a car, particularly in winding mountain roads and they get car sick easily. Unfortunately, once one woman starts the rest often follow…

Arriving in DBP at 6pm, I suddenly realized a dilemma. In Hanoi, the day before, I had planned to take care of some things, such as going to the bank to get Laotian money. It wasn’t until the morning that I realized it was Sunday and the banks were closed. The woman at my hotel told me there would be banks in DBP. At a guest house I looked at the clock and frantically tried to ask the 12 year old boy checking me in (he has the only English skills in his family) if the banks were still open.

He looked at the clock, “no.”

“No?” But then I’d arrive in Laos with no money and I knew the first town we stopped in doesn’t have ATMs. He tells me the bus I wanted to Laos leaves at 5:30am. What time doe the banks open?

“7:30am”

“Well, then I have a problem.”

He didn’t understand. With a pen and paper I managed to convey my problem after several tries.

“Ahh. Big problem,” he said with a grin.

I smiled weakly, glad I had at last managed to communicate. Yes, big problem. He didn’t offer any ideas. I ran to the bank across the street, hoping the boy was wrong.

He was! The bank was still open. “Hi, could you please change duong to kip?”

“No. we don’t change to kip.”

“really? Is there a bank here that does?”

“Yes, go to Agribank.”

“Is it open?”

“No, close at 5:00pm.”

“Is there anywhere else I can change money now?”

The teller thought for a moent, then whispered, “the gold shop.”

The gold shop? She drew me a rudimentary map and I was off, looking for the “gold shop.” Thank goodness the bank was open, I’m not sure I would have been able to get the tip of the “gold shop” if not.

I asked people and they pointed me in the direction of 3 gold trading shops in a row. I go to the first one, “can you please change duong to lao kip?”

“No, no change.”

I tried the second, “No. No kip.”

With the third I got lucky and changed the equivalent of $25 USD to kip, enough till I make it to a Lao bank.


Tuesday:

The 5:30am bus leaves on time! (20 minutes late) It should take us 5 hours to reach Muong Kwah, the first “city.”

On the bus are 10 other travelers: 4 Dutch, 2 German, 1 each Italian, Spanish, Irish, and Israeli. Over the course of our journey we would learn everyone’s names and discover we were a pretty chill, fun group of people.

We reach the border of Vietnam where we must be cleared to exit the country. We each submit our passports for inspection and wait. My visa is a bit different, we got it from a travel agency in Seattle and the visa is printed on a slip of paper separate from my passport. Up until now I had no problems with it. They inspect it and decide that because it is a “special visa” they have to keep it. Unlike most of my fellow travelers, I have a 3 month visa. Dad had decided it was better to get me a longer visa than 1 month “just in case” I have to return to Vietnam. I have no plans of returning to Vietnam, but I’d like to keep my visa as evidence that I had permission to enter the country since I have no stamp or other documentation. After all, I will be returning to the Saigon airport for my return flight in May.

“What if I need to come back to Vietnam? That is a 3 month visa. What about entering Lao? How will they know where I came from?”

“We make you new visa paper. It will explain to Lao border that you have visa.”

“Can I please keep my visa?”

“No. This type of visa special, we give you paper.”

I tried several times, but with no success. I accepted the new half sheet of paper with some black text, a red stamp, and some notes they wrote on it.

Our experience entering Lao should have prepared us for the rest of our trip…

Not far past the Vietnam check point we found our bus stuck in front of a road completely turned over by… renovation? The road was dug up, with huge piles of dirt in the middle of it. The construction continued for a ways. We were told to walk the next 2km to the Lao border. We would get our visa’s and the bus would follow. How? Apparently, they were working and the road would open.

We enter Lao on foot and reach the border control. Without our consent our temperature is taken with an external electric thermometer. H1N1 virus detection we are told. Everyone passes. Later we find out an extra $2 USD is added to the visa fee for the “test.”

It’s my turn to hand them my passport and get my visa. When I get it back I have a shiny new visa on page 11! Where’s my Vietnam “visa?” I ask for my paper visa.

“No. We keep this.”

“Why?”

“Because, we need it for record.”

“But now I have no visa. They said this was my new visa. It’s not expired.”

They talk amongst each other behind the dark class window, we all have to bend over double in order to talk through the opening.

“And, can I keep my visa? Please?” My fellow travelers, fast becoming friends, all wait to hear the answer as well. This is absurd. They can’t take away my visa which hasn’t expired!

Apparently they can. The bureaucracy wins and I walk away visa-less. This would be a serious issue if I had plans to return to Vietnam, luckily, I’m traveling one-way.


More to come….