Visa run to Laos Part 1

Talking about random buses in our previous blog, Steven will tell you more about random bus trips in this blog….

Well it was time to do our visa run... WHAT?????  3 months already in Thailand??? Well yes the time has come to flee Thailand (don’t want them to know that we like Thailand too much). Luckily we had some great assistance from Lars at Siam who explained to us what to do, he also kindly informed us that we have to take jackets because it is winter in Laos. HELL YEEEAAAH - WINTERRRRRR.  So we packed for our winter trip YAY (Our entire luggage consisted of jackets and jeans)!!! Some cold air…. Off we went to the bus station. “Remember Brian we have to take bus nr 519”. So we stopped at the first bus station that we saw, and there we waited for bus nr. 519. After waiting a million hours (10 minutes), the bus finally passed us…. YES PASSED US!!!(No it did not stop… And Brian taught the Thai people around us a few new Afrikaans words). So we asked around and yet again no one can speaka the anglash (translation – no one could speak  the language of the stiff upper lip…)!!!! Finally we decided to walk to where all the busses were heading and so we also discovered the real  Thai market (not the other dodgy one we saw a week earlier) and the  Van station / Bus station – all three of these are actually one place…

Here are some photos of the humongous bus station:

 So we had a piece of paper to show to the bus lady where to get off (thank you Siam). After an hour’s journey we made it to Big C and then had to walk almost a kilometer to get to the Tesco Lotus (Anut BTS). The departure time was 19:00 pm and we arrived there at 18:00 so we decided to get ourselves ‘’ padkos’’, yes of course I have to eat! So after waiting in the rain and eating our bread and calamari cake dinner, our van arrived. It was like watching ants running for a bread crumb. And in a hasty manor I said to Brian ‘’ I think that is our queue’’. So we started running aimlessly around in the rain.

So there we waited for some ‘’ Ghosts ‘’ … The van driver decided to hop in and off we went. Only to realize that we were heading towards the underground parking lot. And guess what? Some idiot bumped into us… So yet again we waited… Not knowing this is the stop where we were to wait some more for some random idiots to join us. Thai ladies popped out of nowhere and asked for money and our passports (Oh shit – we are on the Ping-Pong bus!!!) Not really, after a whole lot of confusion and STUFF the van’s wheels started rolling.

 This trip made me realize exactly how popcorn must feel in a pot – bumping and hopping  around like crazy maniacs in the back off the van (the person in Thailand that copied or invented shocks is a dumb crazy a$$ idiot!!!!!!) And the road up to Loas isn’t the best road I have ever come across.

After 7 hours of feeling like a bouncing squash ball we made it to the border. Only to hear that the border opens up at 5 am and we arrived there at 4:15 am. Luckily ECC decided that it is time to give us our bonus so the first thing we bought was of course COFFEEE!!!!!! After waiting forever (45 minutes feels like forever after being shaken up like a bad rag doll in the back of a van for 7hours) we finally went to the border crossing. Now think back when you were in school and you waited for something and all the students had to wait in line - now that does not even come close to the line we had to wait in to leave Thailand (why all the checking – we are leaving your country!!!). And off course we were lucky enough to stand behind an old oomie whose stomach could not keep up with the shaking van and we had to stare at a mud bath running down his legs – nice…

Here are some pictures of the border:

                                                                                  

Read in our next blog about Laos and the AWESOMMMMEEE (translate very cheap alcohol and cigarettes) duty free shop.