shmotel hotel laotian rip off embassy

the hotel was shabby

old, dilapidated! hot and the staff seemed like they had been l;eft

over from the cold war era.  But then again who wants to see dozens 

of rich white people do nothing but complain about the heat and eat great food?

he showed me half the way to the room! yeah thats service here!

half the way and then i managed to follow my nose to the door.

the room looked like a 1950's seasoned room in england.

old no charm and well worn.  I was paying through the nose for this!

hmmmm!  at least it had ac?/

wrong again as it seems that the only function that the 'ac' unit 

performed was to blow hot air around the room and give the illusion of cold.

none of this too cold after five mins in thailand stuff here.

its much hotter here so you are pretty quickly losing salts and all

manner of sweating beats the body into fatigue!

more soon

I woke, thats no strictly true as i actually didn't sleep, to the

sounds of joy as i turned the tv on and saw canada score the 

winning goal in the ice hockey.  part of the reason i had paid

a little extra was to watch some ice hockey. it had come on at three 

so i had overslept and just caught the ending.

anyway, i got dressed walked out of the hotel and stopped a 

took took to goto the thai embassy to get my visa!

at 7 am there are n't too many folk on the street but the

took took drivers are all over ready for the early whites to go

get there visa extensions.  

I haggled with three guys eventually setting into far too much 

for the small 5 min journey and before we knew it the wonderful cool 

laos morning air was cooling me and forcing me to smile!

within 5 mins we were outside the thai embassy and greeted

by hordes of so called assistants that want to help you for a huge fee!

it seems that the new thai embassy and the amount of foreigners 

coming here on the visa runs has been good for some lao!

they immediately told me that it was a holiday!

i corrected them and said no holiday today in Laos!

they said no no thai holiday!

i never believe this and always think it a ploy to get some more cash

out of foolish people. so i walked over to the thai gate and read the

very very small note saying that the embassy was closed for a holiday that

carrid over from sunday! Typical! I have always tried to avoid holidays but this one

had caught me off guard! no notice anywhere i could find.

So i looked at the took took driver who really did take me for a ride

and we blasted back to the small cafe where i am now sat.

when i got off the small tuk tuk i said you are a wealthy man aren't you.

i knew his english was negligible but i continued. you are also a con man

a crook and a liar as you knew thai embassy was closed. he smiled feigning

ignorance and i walked off with my Lao welcome tucked up my white ass!