Limbo

We got stuck at the border between Vietnam and Laos. We were anxious from the get-go: we didn't have onward bus tickets once we crossed, we'd heard of trouble here from other foriegners, and we had to get our Laos visas at the crossing.

We started early, with enough money in U.S. dollars to pay for both our visas. We walked to the border, exited Vietnam effortlessly, and crossed into the no-man's-land (around half a mile) between Vietnam and Laos. The visa official on the Lao side was still at home so we waited for him to arrive. When he showed, he filled a page of our passport with stamps and scribblings and asked for the fee--$80 U.S. dollars. This was a bit higher than we expected but no big deal. We had two $100 bills and about $50 in smaller bills.

This is where the trouble starts.

The official wouldn't take our money because it wasn't new. Ben Franklin's face was smudged on both bills. He said Lao banks wouldn't accept the bills so he wouldn't either.

So, we were stamped out of Vietnam and Laos wouldn't let us in.

The official was an ass. He seemed to enjoy our misfortune, chuckling condescendingly to himself and saying officially, "We only take cash." We had cash--cold, hard American cash that would stand up in any establishment most anywhere in the world! He smugly suggested we go back to Vietnam and try to exchange for Vietnamese Dong. How would we do that, however, when our visas were already stamped? And where would we change money in a small town on Sunday?

We decided that Bonnie should stay at the Laos border while I fanagled back into Vietnam. I eventually explained my situation to the Vietnamese several border officials--we have money trouble, my wife at Laos border, I go back to Bao San hotel. They took my passport and told me to return in less than an hour.

I had no local currencies, only the U.S. Dollars, so I walked the 1.5 mile to the hotel and explained the situation to Lynn, the English-speaking employee we met the night before. She was great and had helped us several times. Lynn said the bill was, indeed, old. And the banks were closed since it was Sunday. But she knew some "gold sellers" who might help us.

She returned thirty minutes later. A "gold seller" took the bill at 14,100 Dong-$1.00 USD rather than the standard 16,000-1. We lost more than $12 in the exchange but it saved our ass. I paid Lynn nearly $5.00 (in Vietnamese Dong) for rescuing us, so $17.00 of our $100 was gone. I spent another dollar on a motorbike to the border. That left us about $83.00 USD (in Dong) to pay the $80.00 visa fee.

When I returned to Laos the official said we needed to pay an $8.50 USD fee for paying in Dong and not USD. Bonnie had a $5.00 USD bill and we paid the rest in Vietnamese Dong (and maybe a bit of Laotian Kip). He stamped our passports and we walked through.

While I was trapsing between countries, Bonnie stayed at the same border post with the same smug officials for nearly two hours. The locals with broad hats and face-masks milling about for Dong-Kip money exchanges and contraband commerce stared shamelessly. But a spunky old Vietnemese woman took Bonnie under her wing and gave her some food and companionship.

We then found a bus across Laos to Savanakhet, on the Loa-Thai border. That evening, we ate dinner with two quirky British girls and watched the lights of Thailand glimmer across the Mekong River.