Crossed over to Laos

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Getting close to the border where the bus dropped us off we realized the tuk tuk drivers set a price for taking tourist to the boat. The pricey short tuk tuk ride took us to the boat launch. We got on the boat for another pricey fee and made across the river to Laos. Locals know how to cash in on tourist!!! When we were in Huay Xai the immigration check was in a small white building handing out visas. Geoff didn't even have to show his face to the officers and accepted his passport when I handed all the documents to them. Luckily we didn't have any problems getting a 30 day VOA. The Canadian visa was the most expensive $42 USD and most averaged around $30-$35 USD. HHMM...need to learn more about what caused ours to be more expensive. 😊

The first hour in Laos started with a surprise. I ran into David and Claire as they were walking to the border check. I met the two from Mount Kinabalu when Geoff was climbing the highest mountain in SE Asia two months ago. Being on this trip it's surprising who you run into and travellers you see along the way at random. So we ended the evening with dinner with the couple and chatted about our travels. We stayed in Huay Xai for two nights resting and figuring out banking transactions. An ATM was available in Huay Xai but the limit was 700,000 kip. We wanted to avoid expensive ATM fees and the better option ended up being using our credit card to withdrawl at the branch. FYI... At the time (July) they were having problems with Visa. The charge was 3%, ouch!

Huay Xai is a small town with a road packed with guesthouses and restaurants. I was surprised how many internet cafes there were in one small town. The town is very quiet and very sleepy especially in the hot afternoon. One evening we walked up to a Wat (temple) on top of the hill hoping to catch the sunset. When we got to the top of the stairs, we were greeted by a number of shy young men. We figured they wanted to practice their English because one boy had an English notebook. After a little while they warmed up to us and we practiced speaking English for almost 2 hours. The English notebook the boy had was very useful. The notebook had simple phrases to start a conversation. It was very fun talking to the students. We ended the night enjoying a delicious Indian meal.

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