I don’t know if it is a coordinated effort or not, but all of the ATMs in Vientiane seem to go offline at around 4:00pm. This can leave an outsider in a panic over whether or not her debit card is still working. The only good thing that came out of this was the exercise that I got running from ATM to ATM. Afternoon rush-hour traffic added another level of difficulty as I dodged cars, vans and motorbikes. Actually, that is not true. I found out that you can use your debit card like a credit card and get a cash advance of up to USD500 for a charge of up to 3.5%. That is much better than the ATM, which will allow a max withdrawl of 700,00LAK (USD 85). On top of that, the ATM charges a fee for each withdrawl of 40,000LAK (USD5). That’s a bit steep considering you can only get $85 out at a time, and the fact that your bank charges you as well. It‘s just one of those things that you learn as you go. Next time, I will skip the ATM and head to the exchange window. In Laos, anyway……Cambodia and Vietnam may be a completely different story.
I went ahead and purchased another guidebook today. I hate the fact that I am dependent on it, but this is my first solo run through Southeast Asia, and I figure I need all of the help that I can get. I found the night market that it mentions as a good place to get an inexpensive dinner. This must have been the market for locals only because they didn’t seem too keen on having a ferang around. I got the hint really quickly and headed back towards the river where I found another night market set up along the riverfront. The guidebook didn’t even mention this one. This is where the tourists go if they don’t want to pay the prices in the restaurants. I got some papaya salad and I tried a ball of seasoned rice that was dipped in batter and fried. Mmmm….fried foods. I met an old-timer from the States and he invited me to share his table. I have been dining on my own since Nepal, so it was nice to have a meal and a conversation., especially with someone who speaks American English. His name is Louis, but people call him Luke. He grew up in the South, but he has been living in San Francisco for the past 40 years. He has no trace of a Southern accent. He made a focused effort to get rid of it. He was in the military at some point. Did he enlist? No, he was drafted. I didn’t push it beyond that. He was a nice fellow. I could have stayed and chatted for a while, but I had to catch an overnight bus to Pakse.
I wasn’t looking forward to spending another night on a bus, even though this was touted to be a “Sleeper VIP” bus with beds. It had beds all right, but there were two people to a bed that was about four feet wide. At least they put me with another woman. Unfortunately, not all spaces are created equal on these buses and we got the short bed. I mentioned to one of the drivers that I got short-changed on space and I wanted some sort of refund. He laughed at me. While I wasn’t comfy, it was far better than that nightmare bus that I took from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang. The people who ran that outfit were criminals as far as I was concerned.
