You may recall seeing the 40 watt lights of Thakhek yesterday across the waters of the Mighty Mekong.
This morning, we set out to cross the very same river for the seemingly short hop over to Thakhek.
Our journey, which at first appeared to be simple enough, involved a motorised tricycle journey followed by a bus trip across Friendship Bridge Number Three, during which we stopped to be stamped out of Thailand and then had problems being stamped into Laos due having insufficient funds for a visa on arrival.
A swift visit to the nearest ATM confirmed my darkest fear (one of them anyway)...
The machine did not accept Visa cards and, naturally, we were only carrying Visa.
Eventually, (and much against his better judgement it must be said) the border official accepted our offer of good old English Pounds to pay the fee. Maintaining that sterling isn't real currency (and by the time you read this I suppose it might not be) he finally produced the required bit of paper.
Then it was back to the bus (avoiding eye contact with the other, presumably well-heeled passengers) and on to Thakhek bus station.
Here, having attracted the largely unwelcome attention of a local taxi driver/ would be tour operator we at last reached our hotel.
A distance of a mere 8km covered in only 4 hours.
South East Asian efficiency at its finest....
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