Laos for Lunch

Well, the side trip to Laos just kept getting shorter and shorter. (photo: Mekong River; Laos on near side, Thailand on far side) We had intended to spend a night or even two in and around Vientiane, Laos’s capitol city. Spend some time in town, and some time in the area out and away from town. But trains and buses have a very limited schedule (3 trains per day, but all within a couple hours of each other, in the evening; all overnight trains), and things kept us from leaving until Tuesday night; and our flight out of Bangkok to Tokyo on Thursday evening precludes us from staying in Laos Wednesday night. Additionally, we had to choose the earliest return train the following evening, as tickets were sold out on the others. So, we would arrive at 8 a.m. next to the Laotian border, then cross and find ourselves in Vientiane, and we would have to meet the early return train at 6:20 pm. So at least we would have 9 hours or so.

Alas, it was not to be. Our train left Bangkok quite late, and then lost more time en route to the border. Our overnight train ended up arriving at the border area after 10 am instead of 8 am. So essentially, we ran around a little in Vientiane, ate lunch, ran around a little more, paid a fine to a police officer that will never reach the books, and headed back for the train station.

The running around was fun though. Right after enjoying mango slushies at the first little stop we made in Vientiane (and they were much better than ordinary slushies), we rented motorbikes. We’d been seeing hordes of motorbikes everywhere we went, and seeing how advantageously they weave through stopped or slow traffic, so at $6 apiece for several hours of use, we took the chance to rent them and have some fun. We explored upriver a couple miles along the Mekong, which separates Laos and Thailand. There we found the Kong View restaurant. Pricey by local standards ($23 total for the two of us), but the food was great. I had Fresh Mekong River Fish, fried, served with a spicy sauce and a sweet and sour sauce, and also a plate of 4 spring rolls stuffed with pork and shrimp. And they had internet access so I could post my Sunday/Monday entry.

Then it was back on the motorbikes exploring somewhat blindly through town, and eventually it was time we figured out how to get back to where we had rented them. Lots of one-way streets in the area. Making a u-turn just before reaching an intersection, I wondered if this were a one-way street. But then, we had seen PLENTY of motorbikes going the wrong way or on the wrong side in each country we’ve visited – they seem to have a universal exemption. So I wasn’t that worried. But then all those others weren’t Americans, who are ripe targets for extortion. As it happened, we found out quickly that it was indeed one-way, and NOT the way we were now progressing. Our progress was stopped short by a couple of uniforms on foot who said we would have to go to court the next day. Of course that was not in the cards for us, as we MUST be in Bangkok tomorrow for our evening flight to Tokyo and then to home. So they eventually said we could just pay them on the spot (which I’m sure they had in mind from the start), 80,000 Kip each ($10 US). We knew this was not an official transaction, so we also knew it was negotiable. We started out requesting 80,000 both together, and they eventually came down to 100,000 together. But we didn’t have enough Kip, so we figured that was close enough to $10 US, offered it, and after their own consultation, they accepted the $10 bill and gave us our passports back.

Finally it was back to the motorbike rental place, then to a taxi, then to the border, then across the border and to the Nong Khai train station where we caught our train back to Bangkok. It’s a dirty old train (same kind as last night), but it has sleeper cars (as last night), so we like it. Against any expectation, Daniel spotted an electrical outlet between the seats, so I’m plugged in and typing this up as we ride back toward Bangkok.