After yet more haggling with the scam artist taxis in Bangkok (really, one day please build the MRT long enough to reach Khao san, or maybe i gotta stay elsewhere...), I finally boarded the train that would take me out of Thailand after one visa run, and already overstaying this visa by 2 days (that will be 1000 baht, thank you!). Oh well, that 1000 baht bought me an extra 2 days in paradise and money well spent.
On the train I was fortunate enough to meet Sarah, a well travelled half-Indian lass from London and if this were a preamble to my time in Laos, I would be well pleased with that. Parted with my overstay fee in Thailand, and substantially more to the Laos government for my visa...Again, like Turkey, I wonder what we Canadians did to them to make us have the most expensive visa of the bunch, but what can you do. $42 USD. ouch. so now anyone else out there you know you are cheaper than this for entry into Laos. ;-)
Thankfully following this Sarah and I took the cheapest transport option of a Tuk Tuk that contained a cheery driver, unlike some of the snarly Bangkok ones and this was a most fortunate decision as along the way we collected Tony. Tony is half Spanish, half Phillipine so a wee laugh over all us half Asians and he was a godsend. not only telling us what the maximum we should pay for transport in Vientiane was, but actually showing us personally where to find accom, and even offering his place should we be unsuccessful. He also works here as a teacher in the international school (cha-ching) and gave me a few names of schools and thankfully his email, so its been a pretty positive vibe thus far.
Sarah and I grabbed our first real food in what felt like ages, and bless her, she watched my mammoth luggage over a beer as I searched high and low for decent cheap accom - I was being picky about it all as this is the place I could be staying in for quite some time while I conduct my job hunt. Thankfully it is rather compact here centred around Nam Phu, although certainly not with the variety of khao san (but also not with the khao san crowds). As its high season I was mostly out of luck and on my way back to the cheapest available ghetto room I could find when a non-descript guesthouse caught my eye. Why? I looked up. Always look up...had nice balconies so I enquired - as soon as I was handed the key to view room '1' I smiled as I knew I'd hooked a winner; what I am getting in return for 100, 000 Laos kip (about $11 USD, cheaper than the aforementioned cheapie) is a massive room with larger than king size bed, fan, AC, hot water shower, TV, wardrobe and balcony big enough to hold 7 people at least. Not to mention great central location. Its called MOIC, and only a block from the Nam Phu fountain.
Yup, the sun is shining on me once again..literally, and figuratively! And now a different breed of sunset awaits...yup, time to try a beer Laos with my nice company over the Mekong river. something tells me I'm gonna be sticking around a while...
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