Keeping Track of Zeros

To Huay Xia, Laos

The goal of today was simple, make our way across the boarder to Laos, Huay Xia to be precise. Although our stay in Thailand was short, we intend to be back in a few weeks, after Christmas, if for no other reason than needing to get to Bangkok for our flight onward.

Breakfast at the bus station

Our five hour bus ride was certainly one of the more comfortable in memory.  Wow, we didn’t realize that the tickets we bought were essentially for the “first class” style seat in front -- extra wide and only three across.  Once we were off the luxury bus, however, we piled into a common tuk-tuk for the short ride to the border and then, on the Laotian side, the back of a tiny pickup truck with bench seats into Huay Xia.  

As has been the case at other borders, the attendant helping us just shook his head when we explained we didn’t have dollars.  Unlike Nepal, however, he had little intention of taking anything else, so we were forced to pull out additional Thai Baht from the conveniently located ATM and then immediately convert those to a 144 US dollars for the Laos visas. It takes a little getting used to the Lao currency, the kip.  With 8000 kip to the dollar, 100,000 kip notes are commonplace. You'd better keep track of the zeros when thumbing through the 1000; 10,000 and 100,000 kip notes.

Tuk tuk to the border

Though the country doesn’t appear to be quite as modern or clean as Thailand, the small bit we’ve seen so far seems to be pretty sparsely populated. That makes sense since the total population is only 6.5 million. The good news is that appears to keep the pollution and amount of trash down. The Laotian flag, on the other hand, is surprisingly ubiquitous and frequently paired with the red communist party flag, emblazoned with a gold hammer and sickle.  

Laotian flag

Having missed lunch during the bus ride, we had an early dinner at a simple rooftop restaurant overlooking the Mekong.  We simply jotted down what we wanted on a little note pad, handed it to the man, and hoped for the best (very little English was spoken.)  When the food came, it was actually quite good, similar to Thai food.  However, as is often the case, we played musical chairs with the plates. Dex’s “coconut curry with meat” was loaded with vegetables… and no meat, so a trade was in order. Before long, the sun set behind the Mekong while Dex and Kylie played foosball at the rickety table. In a couple days we'll hopefully be floating down that very river.