Today we made our first trip across the Friendship Bridge that separates Vientiane from Nong Khai in Thailand. Actually Beth made the trip a few days ago but that was in an embassy car so she did not have to do any of the work involved with crossing the border. And it is work! First you pull into the immigration and customs area. There you have to have your passports stamped, your car book inspected, and a variety of other stamps I did not understand. It involves moving from station to station, line to line with no clear instructions about what is happening, where you need to go, or who you need to talk to. After the Lao authorities let you pass, you switch to the opposite side of the road because the road systems in Laos and Thailand are opposite one another. For a few minutes you are able to enjoy the scenic vices of the Mekong. Then, more lines, stamps, and stations. Take this process, reverse it and repeat it when returning to Laos. We think we understand the process now but it only takes one forgotten departure card to cause chaos.
Nong Khai is nice. Different from Laos but also very similar. We had a list of things we needed to do: oil change at the Honda dealership, fix our car radio at the Honda dealership, buy an alarm clock, find a coffee maker, buy a router, and research buying a scooter. The oil is changed, we are the proud owners of a new alarm clock and router but the car radio still does not work and the biggest store we could find did not sell coffee makers. Still a successful trip. We are still debating if we should buy a scooter or not (both of us have parents who work in hospitals and have filled our heads with horror stories about riding motorcycles). If we do, it will definitely be in Thailand as prices are at least 30% cheaper there. In general, that was the biggest difference we noticed in Nong Khai: more stuff and cheaper. I hope we do not become like some Vientiane ex-pats who make the trip to Thailand each week but I can see the appeal (especially the availability of donuts, Dairy Queen, and good German sausage and beer). Now that we have successfully tested our ability to drive on the "wrong" side of the road, we may even make the trip to Udorn Thani, a much larger town about one hour from Vientiane.
In other news, the known flora and fauna in Laos keeps expanding:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8174975.stm
Mom and Dad would flip if you got a scooter. Bad idea! And why do you need a coffee maker? You got that sweet French press before you left. Is the coffee really as good as it was suppose to be?
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