Oops, ready or not!!! I feel that somewhere in the attic of my life, a mischievous spirit discovered a chaos machine..and plugged it in...and now I am in Laos...a few months earlier than expected!
Sunday 15th Dec, my travel agent told me my visa had expired and with no option for renewal she advised hopping the next bus to the nearest border..great news to receive early Sunday morning! Lucky my bags are packed. So, the next day I found a bus, Vietnam-Laos, 24 hours. Honestly, it's about time I embarked on my long awaited exit from Vietnam. But get through the border without losing my savings, get thrown in jail or banned from Vietnam???
Pulling up at the border crossing, I took out my little blue passport and wondered how I lived in a country for 20 months, worked and still don't have a proper exit card..gulp..of course, it was a straightforward matter of a few American dollars, overstayers fee, and back on the bus and through the cool, green winding roads of Laos. Yoohoo!
Laos is hosting the SEA Games, a big event for this tiny country of 7 million people. My bus was crammed with excited Vietnamese sports fans going to the capital, Vientiane. 24 hours, a couple of bumps and later I arrived in the bustling little berg of Vientiane.
From first glance, Vientiane is a mini Surfers Paradise, complete with fairy light covered restaurants, packed cafes, spas, saunas, French bakeries..and many, many tourists with flowing clothing and jangling jewellery, dusty backpacks and headscarfs smoking pot on the river and drinking coffee on the street. The town sits on the edge of the mighty Mekong and small plastic chairs and barbecue food sellers line its banks..this is where I chose to sit and drink my first Beerlao in the sunset. Delicious!
And a few surprises along the way included bumping into friends from Hanoi!
So, Tabi.. Welcome to Laos!
