Entering Thailand from Cambodia at the small border town of
Ban Laem, is normally an administrative breeze. However, experience tells me
that even the easiest of border crossings can be unpredictable:
Official: ‘Your Thai visa expired on March 11th,
today is March 12th and your visa is invalid’.
Me: ‘Please look at my passport, my Thai visa
expires tomorrow, March 13th, my visa is still valid’.
Official: ‘The computer says 11th March.
Sorry, entry is denied’
It was like a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, but for a traveller
with very little money, it was slightly more serious. Unfortunately in this
particular version of the game, it seemed that ‘Computer’ trumped ‘Passport-Stamp’
every time. I was clearly on an administrative hiding-to-nothing and decided to
cut my losses. After much discussion, they finally compromised and allowed me
to enter Thailand for just 14 Days. It wasn’t the 60 Days that I’d expected,
but it was certainly better than the alternative: ‘Entry Denied’.
It’s always surprising that a task’s appetite for time can
ebb and flow according to the amount of time that’s available to complete it.
So, after just 12 Days in Bangkok, my tasks were finished and it was time get
out of Thailand. At Bangkok’s Mo Chit bus station, I boarded the overnight VIP
Coach to Nong Khai and 12 hours later, I crossed the ‘Friendship Bridge’ into
Laos.
Welcome to Laos, or to use its fuller name, the Laos People’s
Democratic Republic. Any nation that feels the need to include the words
‘People’ and ‘Democratic’ in its name, always makes me slightly suspicious.
Such inclusions often reflect a gentle misinterpretation of the facts, like a
chocolate bar described as being ‘Fun Size’ or a tent that ‘Sleeps 4’. But, when applied to Nations, such
misrepresentations are probably slightly more serious. North Korea is
officially called The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. I rest my
case.
Democratically speaking, the 6,500,000 citizens of Laos are
represented by 132 elected members of the National Assembly. Every five years, National Assembly members
are elected via a national ballot, a ballot that seems to include everything
but choice. It appears that all electable officials are members of the only
legally recognised political party in Laos, The Lao People’s Revolutionary
Party. Thus, I suspect that the words ‘People’
and ‘Democratic’ in Laos’ name are as
silent as the letter ‘S’ in Laos.
So here I am, an Englishman governed by Cameron
and Clegg, a man living in a world shaped by Bush and Blair, and I’m
questioning the true level of democracy here in SE Asia. Shame on me. 
Moving on, in order to travel in Laos,
I’ve secured a rental scooter from a Vietnamese food vendor here in downtown
Vientiane Capital. It’s a little red Suzuki Smash with a big chrome exhaust pipe
and four evenly spaced gears, all of them down. What else can I say? Well, what
I should say is that before leaving Thailand I’d pre-booked a rental bike, a 250cc
Honda Baja, but when I’d arrived to collect the motorcycle from Jules Classics
they’d denied all knowledge of my reservation. I’d shown them the booking
request and their subsequent confirmation, but the man from Jules Classics had
simply said ‘No’.
Having collected the unfortunately named Suzuki Smash, before leaving
Vientiane I stopped to visit a chirpy gentleman who sells handmade wristbands
on the pavement outside of Jules Classics. Yesterday I’d left Jules Classics
feeling slightly pissed-off with the world, but this man had put everything
into perspective. As a youth, he’d lost the use of his lower legs in a landmine
incident but had smiled, got over it and got on with it, making the most of
what he could do and ignoring what he couldn’t. I chat with him for a few
minutes before selecting ten of his beautifully crafted wristbands and handing
him a sum of money equal to the cost differential between renting the Honda and
Suzuki. It felt good to make someone’s day, but I also introduced him to the wonders of Marmite and that was quite a different story .... a different story for another time.
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