We blinked and Laos was in and out of our lives, hopefully not for good, but for this trip anyway. The bus from Hue left at 6 am and got us to the Laos border at 11:00, skipping the scheduled breakfast stop which left us a meal of "Super Peanuts" and "Fun Mix". The crossing was relatively smooth, until the time came to pay for our Loas visas. The price was average--$30 US each--but when we handed over three 20s, the official on the other side of the glass, hair frozen to his head in combed lines from the excessive A/C, looked them over scrupulously and detected a miniscule tear on the end of one of the bills. He refused to accept it. We tried to say that that as all we had--they had, afterall, already stamped in our visas. There is no stopping bureaucracy. We gave in and gave him our stash of fives and ones. We were in--but bitter.
The bus took us right into the parking lot of the only reasonable hotel in Savannakhet--how convenient! It was 3:30 and the ferries across the mekong to thailand had already stopped running. We were left to entertain ourselves with beers and dinner with 2 Canadians and a Swedish guy--all of the spry young age of 20. One of the Canadian guys had just lived in Tokyo for 7 months, so we reminsced the good old days and shared geeky Canadian references to "Voltron" and "Fat Albert". The night ended with a few rowdy rounds of dice back at the hotel and we were off to bed by 11:00.
So now, on the Thai side of the river, we're killing the few hours before our bus leaves for Bangkok. We have left Loas behind in the half-consciousness of restless sleep. We've left all behind but that damn $20 bill! The hotel staff eyed the slit suspiscously when we asked for small change to get breakfast and denied us yet again. It's destined for Canada, our little imperfect bill. And so are we! It's hard to imagine that we'll be clean and decked out in suits and gowns, toasting champange and eating mashed potatoes next week. I can't wait! Mmm, mashed potatoes.
Naomi
