Laos - I Wish I Would've Known
Laos - it's actually pronounced "Lao" (like cow...the "s" is silent due to previous French influence). Every 60 days, we have to do a border run to renew our visa. Since we're volunteers, we can only get a tourist visa which only allows us to be in the country for 60 consecutive days at a time. So last week, we did a 48-hour border run to Laos and back.
We left late, late Wednesday night and traveled all night long. We reached the Laos border around 5:30 A.M. on Thursday morning. We first had to obtain a visa to enter Laos, then once we got in, we had to do more paper work to renew our visas for Thailand. After all that was finished, it was about 11 o'clock, and we were hungry! After dropping our stuff off at the hostel, we walked, and walked, and walked, looking for something to eat. Finally we flagged down a tuk tuk driver and he took us into the right part of town where we could actually find food.
After eating, we visited a historical museum and learned lots about the struggles that Laos has gone through. Because it is a land-locked country, it isn't very strong or wealthy, so it has often been invaded and controlled by many surrounding countries. Even France and the US have been to blame for some of the hardships that Laos has had to endure.
Later that afternoon we walked around down by the riverside, just enjoying the town......it's actually the capital city, Vientiane, but it a small-town feeling!
The next morning, since our visa pick up wasn't until 2 P.m., we visited the morning market and did some shopping. We only spent a day and a half there, but it was long enough to get a taste for the country. It was such a quick trip that we didn't even know what was going on half the time. I often found myself saying or thinking: I wish I would've known.....
I wish I would've known:
The list could go on........but, even though we didn't usually know what was going on, we still had a good time. However, it was nice to get back "home."
Even though we were in the capital city - Vientiane - it still had the feeling of a rural town in some places....
...other places were more busy and inhabited.
"BeerLao" was everywhere...I mean everywhere!!! You could hardly look anywhere without seeing it.
The view from the back of the tuk tuk. (I don't think this driver ripped us off too badly, but he still overcharged us a little).
A neat sign......but it didn't seem to help the people keep their country very clean - there was litter everywhere.
A tuk tuk full of monks
A market squeezed into a little side alley
We left late, late Wednesday night and traveled all night long. We reached the Laos border around 5:30 A.M. on Thursday morning. We first had to obtain a visa to enter Laos, then once we got in, we had to do more paper work to renew our visas for Thailand. After all that was finished, it was about 11 o'clock, and we were hungry! After dropping our stuff off at the hostel, we walked, and walked, and walked, looking for something to eat. Finally we flagged down a tuk tuk driver and he took us into the right part of town where we could actually find food.
After eating, we visited a historical museum and learned lots about the struggles that Laos has gone through. Because it is a land-locked country, it isn't very strong or wealthy, so it has often been invaded and controlled by many surrounding countries. Even France and the US have been to blame for some of the hardships that Laos has had to endure.
Later that afternoon we walked around down by the riverside, just enjoying the town......it's actually the capital city, Vientiane, but it a small-town feeling!
The next morning, since our visa pick up wasn't until 2 P.m., we visited the morning market and did some shopping. We only spent a day and a half there, but it was long enough to get a taste for the country. It was such a quick trip that we didn't even know what was going on half the time. I often found myself saying or thinking: I wish I would've known.....
I wish I would've known:
- - that we needed a copy of our passports and passport photos at the border
- - that tuk tuk drivers are not the most honest people
- - that it should only cost 5000 kip (75 cents) to ride into town, not 25000 kip ($3.75)
- - what the exchange rate was so I could tell Andrew that I thought the guy was trying to rip us off
The list could go on........but, even though we didn't usually know what was going on, we still had a good time. However, it was nice to get back "home."
Laos is a communist country
Even though we were in the capital city - Vientiane - it still had the feeling of a rural town in some places....
...other places were more busy and inhabited.
"BeerLao" was everywhere...I mean everywhere!!! You could hardly look anywhere without seeing it.
The view from the back of the tuk tuk. (I don't think this driver ripped us off too badly, but he still overcharged us a little).
A neat sign......but it didn't seem to help the people keep their country very clean - there was litter everywhere.
A tuk tuk full of monks
A market squeezed into a little side alley
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