Thakkaek:
"Thailand is so close from this city. You just need to cross the river. Have you ever been there?"
"O yes, many times", the boy at the hostel said excitedly, "A lot of people cross the river and sneak into Thailand. It has more jobs."
"Did you enter legally or did you also sneak into Thailand secretly?"
"I don't have passport. I crossed the border on a boat. I worked in Nakhom Phanom in a shop for a couple of months, then I came back."
I wanted to ask him so many questions about the whole process of going back and forth.
Then we started discussing the situation of drugs and stuff in Laos.
"Most people go to Thailand to sell drugs there."
"What if you are caught?"
"The police will beat you and put you in jail. But if you are caught without drugs, the police will beat you up and send you back to Laos."
Another guy came to us with the room keys. Knackered and spiritless, I left for my room. Our conversation ended there.
Pakse:
Pakse was an absolute delight. I found a newly built hostel which has marvelous rooms at dirt cheap price. I was the only one staying in the whole hostel. Apart from traveling, I did a lot of reading here.
It was in Pakse did I realize that I could not enter Thailand overland when I was deported back into Laos. My re-entry back in Laos was smoother than the exit. My exit stamp was repealed and I even got my exit fee back! At this point I was really itching for some city life.
I found an Indian restaurant with an Indian owner here. For days, I just had Indian food which made my life even more comfortable. The owner came from Chennai but could speak fluent Hindi. He had spent nineteen years in Laos. He had two sons who had been brought up in Laos itself. He seemed to have mingled comfortably with the local populace. His dad had come to Vietnam long ago and opened a restaurant there. He then decided to do the same in Laos.
After having given up on an almost improbable trip, I decided to go to Savannakhet, the nearest border town from Pakse.
Savannakhet:
I originally came to Savannakhet to apply for Thai visa since I was not given a visa on arrival (so much for holding an Indian passport). I realized getting a Thai visa was even less economical than taking a flight to BKK. I liked Savannakhet since it had its name derived from Sanskrit (Suvarna-Khet, meaning golden land). It was an extraordinarily dull city. It had a marvelous riverside which was the highlight of the place.
Savannakhet is probably the second biggest city in Laos after Vientiane. The riverside had a few tourist attractions which I had totally given up on. A few people could speak French due to its history. They formed the richer upper class in the communist Laos.
I liked going to a cozy, relatively posh cafe near my place owned by a Laotian couple who could speak English and French fluently. They used to remind me of an old man I met in Luang Prabang. He fled to France during the US-Vietnam war where he raised his kids. All his kids stayed in France, but he came back because of his attachment with Laos. He had a small shop in front of his house which served breakfast. His wife and he apparently lived a comfortable life in that beautiful city. His eyes would gleam with pride and a smile drew contours on his face every time he mentioned his children.
In the end I decided to take a flight to Bangkok reluctantly. If there was some part of Thailand I wanted to see, it was the lesser known edge along the Lao-Thai border. But I missed it due to lack of time and money.
On my last day in Laos, I walked for an hour to the airport with all my luggage. When I reached the airport, I found it was closed. Except for me, there was no one around, not even security! Nothing was locked, I could even take a walk on the runway if I wanted to. I dumped my luggage and roamed around in parts I wouldn't have been allowed to otherwise.
After about three hours, I left Laos!
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