2011 - NZ To SF - Day 77

Day 77: (29 July 2011):
- Morning bathroom: straight on tracks. “Helped fertilise rice.”
- Wake up, arrive Ubon, tuktuk drivers waiting at train door.
- Walk around centre. Tourist centre not yet open. Try find toilet for Felix.
- Breakfast @ random noodle place. Language & pay confusion. Like the Thai way of saying thank you. Will miss. Old lady say thank you to us.
- Tourist info open, tell us bus is at 9am to Pakse. Else will be next day. we leave ~8:40, surprisingly difficult to find tuktuk. In hurry, get ripped off. Driver didn’t really respond to our ask price then offer, as if he’s bad at english, then at station he ask for 2x what we offered.
- Turns out bus leaves at 9:30, so made it in good time.
- Stop @ border. Stamp out. Long walk to immigration. Feels like walking through town.
- Didn’t get visa application forms from bus. Asked, get directed around, no form. Get form by standing in line. 10 min warning from bus. Hope is not true.
- Need photos: Felix directed to booth, but no electricity (?) so no puotos taken.
- See lotus on table. Women selling lotus. Baskets on pole on shoulders.
- Very slow. Canada most expensive visa. Finally continue on bus.
- Change after border. Dusty, more run down, etc. Rice fields.
- After a large bridge, arrive Pakse. Bus stations always outside of town in Laos for some reason. Drove through town to bus station.
- Get bus info, seems like can make to Si Phan Don today.
- Walk to ANZ ATM. 2 Million: max. Get change at ANZ: smaller notes. Difficult to spend largest note: 50K, but lots of prices in that range!
- Tuktuk to town. Offer 10k each: this is the amt offered at station. I complain but we agree & go to get on truck. Due to poor English misunderstanding, driver stop us & offer 5k each.
- Stop at tourist centre. Driver wait. Hourly buses: 9-3:30.
- Pay driver 10k to drive us a few blocks to Internet. Driver stop to find translator: a common practise in Laos.
- After Internet, stop at a guesthouse restaurant for quick meal before go to bus. Noodles take 40 min. Looks like one woman work as receptionist, server, cook, etc. Realise won’t make the bus, so beer, then decide get the 100k room (AC). Shared bathroom: But generally clean.
- Shared balconey on main drag. Laos & communist flag.
- Walk around. See wat, monks, river. Lots of lottery stands (ask and find out). Strange.
- Nice place by river: Decks for drinking, eating. Surprisingly few foreigners here. Try Namkhong. Decide Beerlao is really the best SE Asian beer.
- People selling snacks came into restaurant. Women with dried squid & charcoal grill.
- Walk to large bridge. Many things funded by Japan, etc. Large hotel there. Didn’t get to see new market, as got sidecar tuktuk back due to Felix’s starting stomach problems. Even after looking for translator, didn’t figure out exactly where we were going. Laos ppl. not good at reading maps.
- Decide not book VIP bus, just get up & leave whenever the next day.
- Look for dinner, local restaurant district not as exciting as expected.
- Felix just have crepe due to problems. I get rice & Mekong fish (spicy). Came in a bag for takeaway. Surprisingly, one of the best meals I’ve had. Fish is very fatty. Beerlao dark from store across way. Felix on internet.