Get to Know: LAOS (Part 1)

Last October 11, 2010, I was finally able to travel to Laos, a country located on the northeastern borders of Thailand. It was actually a long overdue trip for me, since most of the Filipinos I know have been there already. Many foreigners in Thailand process or extend their visas through the Royal Thai Consulate in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Going to Laos for visa run is a common practice among tourist visa holders to extend their stay in the Kingdom for another two months or so. Foreigners who seek employment, on the other hand, can also process their Non – Immigrant Business Visa (visa for workers like me) in Laos. There are agencies in Bangkok that facilitates visa processing in Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. You just have to pay, go with the trip and receive the stamped passports in time. Processing through an agency is a very convenient practice. You just have to choose an agency that would best serve your needs.

After booking a Laos trip with Philip’s agency, I prepared myself for my first visa processing outside Thailand. For two years, I had my visa applications inside the country and never had the chance to process in Laos. It was like hitting two birds with one stone – processing my Non B visa and traveling in Laos for the first time. I had mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness. I don’t know what to expect, but I just thought it would be the same road my mother had taken when she went to Laos few months back. The only difference was that I was alone. But in a way, it will not make so much difference. I am a solo traveler at times and so far, I enjoyed the company of myself.

At 6.30 PM, I already found the agency’s address. I went up to the sixth floor of PB Building and filled out forms and immigration cards. For the first time, I met Philip. I was talking to him a number of times on phone and so that time I finally met the person behind the strong, seemingly angry British accent voice. He speaks perfect English and to my surprise, he has a quite pleasing personality. As expected, there would be other Filipinos joining the trip. As I fill out my documents, the Pinoys came in one by one. They seem to be very confident in filling out the forms, evidence that they have been doing visa runs for a long time. As for me, I was carefully writing and observing the people who came in and out. There were a lot of Pinoys on that trip and I didn’t want to mingle with them. Filipinos here in Thailand are known to be noisy travelers. Stories say other nationalities are bothered by the out loud conversations of Filipinos that’s why the agency decided to have one van for Filipinos only.

After furnishing my documents, I went out to grab dinner in one of the most Filipino-populated community in Bangkok, Klongtan district. It is a short 5-minute walk from the PB building, so it was hassle-free. I ate pad krapao as usual, and met up with Shay, my co-teacher. She was so nice to wait for me until the call time, 8.30 PM. She accompanied me with her advices in traveling in Laos and mingling with other Filipinos I would definitely meet. While waiting, I already saw the group I would be traveling with. There were a lot of Turkish women, well that’s what we thought at first, but later on, I found out they were from Uzbekistan. Right on that moment, I decided not to marry an Uzbek women. They were interesting, but not my type.

At 8.45 PM, I already found myself comfortably seated on the front seat of a commuter van. The seat was very comfortable, one designed for long travels such as Bangkok to Vientiane. We were seven Filipinos in one van, three pairs and I. Later on, a Japanese couple was added. My fellow Pinoys didn’t want to have white guys. They were requesting if it would be an all-Filipino van, but other two Asians needed to be seated so we left for Laos with such arrangement.

It was a long and winding travel from Bangkok to the northeastern borders of Nongkhai. Along the way, we had several stops to rest and refuel. I realized that LPG powered vans need to refuel frequently, one reason why I had short, interrupted sleep. The national road was not well –lit, Northeastern Thailand or Esaan as we call it, was indeed sleeping. As I join them sleep, I didn’t mind the pirated yet very clear copy of DVD being played on board. We reached the border at 5:00 AM. The vans and other vehicles were on queue, waiting for the border gates to open. So I had my little time to go out of the van, look around and do some stretching. Pi Kan, the liaison officer who would help us all throughout the trip, checked our passports in a while and gave us neon green stickers, a sign that we were coming from Philip’s agency. She kept my passport with her, along with another Filipina, because I overstayed for three days. Thirty minutes later, the line of vehicles moved towards the border. Our driver drove just about 100 meters and dropped us in front of the passport control booths. By this time, we had to carry all of our bags. We were asked to fall in line in front of the passport booth, but they told us it wouldn’t open until 6:00 AM. Pi Kan called me up and asked me to wait in front of the immigration office. I thought I could pass the border immigration without paying the fine for overstaying, but my hidden wishes didn’t come true. I paid 1, 500 Baht (2, 100 Php) for a 3-day overstay. Yes, it’s 500 baht per day. One farang, Thai word for somebody from the West, even paid around 10, 000 pesos for a 14-day overstay. According to Philip, the immigration officers are happy about foreigners who overstay because they get a 15 % cut from the fines. After emptying my pocket, we waited for the vehicle to pick us up. I thought it would be the same van, but to my surprise, we had to transfer to a bus. The non-air-conditioned bus was jam-packed with people from different countries. I was able to grab a seat, (I’m that fast!) which gave me a window view of the great Mekong River which divides Thailand and Laos. The Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge connects the two countries. The bridge seems to be justly divided between two countries, the stripe flag of Thailand stands proudly as the Angkor-inspired Cambodian flag.

We, then reached the immigration checkpoint, the gateway to Laos. I jumped off the bus and lined up for the stamp. Surprisingly, the Laotian woman officer encoded Malaysia as my country in her database. How could she miss it? “PILIPINAS” isn’t small enough not to be noticed. I was about to correct her, but I just kept quiet not to create any problem. After all the immigration work, our group headed towards Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The 45-minute drive to the center of Laos was no different to any countryside travel I have been too. Green rice fields and bamboo houses dominated the landscape. I couldn’t be wrong that I was in just another Southeast Asian country.