We made our way from gorgeous Vang Vieng to our final city in Laos (or so we thought…) before we planned to cross the border into Thailand (or so we thought), where we planned to spend the next month and a half, thereby concluding our travels of southeastasia, having checked off all countries on our list.
Things did not go as planned.
We kept saying we feel like we’re riding on a scooter across one of those rickity suspension bridges with wooden boards under us that are crumbling as we drive over them, and as long as we keep moving forward, we won’t fall. Like a cartoon. We were doing well for a long time. Just days after we left Vietnam, they closed their borders. We had no issues with travel this whole time. No required quarantine like at home. All stores and restaurants still open.
In Vientiane, it caught up to us and our long path of luck ended. The bridge fell from under us and we plummeted to the canyon below, landing in a puff, just like Wile E. Coyote. We are stuck. Can’t go through the land border crossing. Can’t fly out of this airport or into any other neigboring country. Just can’t do anything.
Vientiane has only a few sights to see. It is the capital of Laos. There is no beach, no beautiful lakes or fresh water spring-fed rivers. On a positive note, there are some excellent restaurants and our hotel had a pool.
We planned to spend 5 nights here while we await our Thai visas (which cost us 30$ each). We got them back on the exact day that they officially closed the Thai Laos Border. With the tiniest bit of hope we could still muster, we tried to make a mad dash across the Thai Laos friendship bridge connecting the two border controls. We got stamped out of Laos and rode the bus over the bridge! We thought we were in the clear!
But as fate would have it, Thailand said no. As we stepped off the bus, we were immediately gestured to go to the other side, the side that people trying to get into Laos are on. They made us stand just 100meters from thailand and kept saying “Go back Lao!” and pushing us towards the bus to go back over the bridge to Laos. We waited three hours to see if they would change their minds, especially because we were only a handful of people by this point. There were moments of hope in that time. Someone official in a vest seemed to make some calls on our behalf. They didn’t force us onto the buses going back to Laos. They never gave us a clear and precise NO. One person waiting with us, also trying to cross, had a friend of a friend inside the Thai embassy who said we should just wait until a bit later and things have “quieted down” and that maybe the control guards would just let us pass. With this advice from an insider, we held on a little longer.
Our hope faded with the daylight and we eventually gave up the fight and went back Lao, but not before getting to see everyone stand for the Thai national anthem, which I had never seen before. Even the dogs chimed in.
What really sealed the YOURE NOT GETTING IN deal was the fact that they clearly and explicitly denied an older white gentleman to enter Thailand, where he has lived for many years, with his Thai wife. And she would not be able to enter Laos with him. So they would have to separate. Knowing this was enough for us to realize we had no chance.
Here are some pictures of Vientiane
This is the end of this story of frustration, confusion and uncertainty. More to come.
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