November 2009
I boarded the "Friendship Bus" from Vientiane, Laos to Udon Thani, Thailand (final destination: Chiang Mai) and immediately realized that I was the only non-Lao, non-Thai person on board. My friend who also stayed in Chiang Mai had done this exact same trip two days prior and assured me that it was a cheaper, better way to get back to that city than taking one of the chartered tourist buses. I secured my luggage in the cargo area underneath the bus and we were on our way. The bus stopped at Laotian border, which happened to be directly in front of the Mekong River. Everyone disembarked, paid the "exit fee," got stamped through, and climbed back on the bus to cross the long "Friendship Bridge." On this side, all Lao and Thai people crossed easily through immigration, flashing some form of ID and practically walking right through. On the other hand, I was stuck waiting in line behind several other "farang" (foreigners). One couple up ahead was taking a very long time due to some problem with their paperwork. I gazed nervously at my bus waiting up ahead and wondered how long the driver would care to stay.
After about 10 minutes the couple had still not resolved their problem and the line had moved no further. I signaled to an immigration "un-official" (I'm guessing this was his job title seeing as he had a walkie-talkie but was also wearing what appeared to be a Star Wars T-shit); I gestured and said "Will my bus wait for me?" He smiled and said "no problem," translated from "mai pen rai" which Thais use for so many everyday situations. I had been making conversation with the French family in front of me, 4 people total, and now began to voice my worries aloud to them in the hopes that maybe they would be understanding of my predicament and allow me to skip them in line. No such luck. The family waited and then presented all of their passports to the official. While he was carefully examining the first child's passport, I watched in horror as my bus pulled away. My large backpack- containing all of the minimal personal possessions I had to my name on this side of the world- was on that bus without me!
The plain-clothes immigration guy came to my aid. He could see my stress (I was in tears) and decided to take it upon himself to help me, possibly because not two minutes earlier he had said "no problem." Not speaking much English, he gestured to me to follow him to what appeared to be his personal vehicle. Trusting my instincts, I got in and we started to drive. He made calls on his cell phone (so the radio was for ?) and tried to talk to me to assure me things would be resolved, "No worry!" We slowed down at a police outpost along the highway because he expected the bus to pull over there (explained mostly through charades). However, there was no bus to speak of, so he sped back up and we kept driving... right into Udon Thani, over 60 kilometers away (nearly an hour's drive!)
Luckily, I remembered the bus number and told him in Thai (been practicing numbers to score bargins in the market). When we reached the bus station there, he pulled up to my bus and got out to speak to the driver. He then got back in the car with a confused look on his face. I asked what happened and conveyed that my bag had been dropped off... back at the highway patrol post! So we drove alllllll the way back, until we arrived again at the post, just shy of Nong Khai where I had crossed the border. By now several hours had passed and it was starting to get dark. The immigration guy talked to the officer at the post, who then showed me my bag. Then my hero said "bye!" and started walking back to his car. I was immediately startled. I called after him "Wait!" and asked where he was going and why he was leaving me. He pointed to the highway officer "he... you... bus... English!" He smiled and took his leave. I thanked him profusely, realizing very sadly that I didn't have enough money to pay him for all his trouble.
I now turned to the other police officer (for the purpose of the rest of the story, we will refer to him as Officer Creepy). He asked me to sit down and started talking to me. Although his speech was quite broken in English, I could tell that he had quite a good understanding of the language. He asked me the usual questions of acquaintance, "What's your name? Where are you from? etc." but then started to throw in some that made me uncomfortable, mostly because of the look he had when he asked them- "You have boyfriend? What hotel you stay? How much money have?" My uneasiness intensified as he suddenly decided he should search my bag (after I had already been there for at least half an hour!) If I was a cat, my hair would have stood straight up. I was hypervigilant now, worried that he would find the US dollars I had lied about not having. Something had warned me early on to pocket those, along with my pepper spray and knife, so luckily he didn't ask me to turn out my pockets.
He concluded his search with a smile on his face, nodding over at the clock and saying "bus no come."While I had been busy paying attention to him sifting through my bag, the time of 7pm had come and gone, and with it the bus he was supposed to have flagged down for me. After phoning my friend in Chiang Mai (the same one that recommended the Friendship Bus in the first place), I grabbed my guidebook and began to search for hotels nearby, realizing I wouldn't make it to Udon Thani anymore tonight. He said "No worry, I know hotel, I take you." I insisted that I wanted to choose my own, thanks. He pointed to the office and said "No worry, you can stay. Has a bed, door has lock." This is the point where I really started to panic. I grabbed my things and headed out to the road.
What was I going to do? I had no idea, but I started to wave at passing buses, realizing that hitch-hiking was just as dangerous of an option as the current situation. Officer Creepy followed me, "Where you go? That bus go Pattaya. That bus go Bangkok." "Fine then I'll go to Bangkok!!!" I was nearly shouting now. My hysteria must have un-nerved him because finally he said "Ok ok, we go see a police officer." There's been another police officer here the whole time?!?!
To be continued...
I boarded the "Friendship Bus" from Vientiane, Laos to Udon Thani, Thailand (final destination: Chiang Mai) and immediately realized that I was the only non-Lao, non-Thai person on board. My friend who also stayed in Chiang Mai had done this exact same trip two days prior and assured me that it was a cheaper, better way to get back to that city than taking one of the chartered tourist buses. I secured my luggage in the cargo area underneath the bus and we were on our way. The bus stopped at Laotian border, which happened to be directly in front of the Mekong River. Everyone disembarked, paid the "exit fee," got stamped through, and climbed back on the bus to cross the long "Friendship Bridge." On this side, all Lao and Thai people crossed easily through immigration, flashing some form of ID and practically walking right through. On the other hand, I was stuck waiting in line behind several other "farang" (foreigners). One couple up ahead was taking a very long time due to some problem with their paperwork. I gazed nervously at my bus waiting up ahead and wondered how long the driver would care to stay.
After about 10 minutes the couple had still not resolved their problem and the line had moved no further. I signaled to an immigration "un-official" (I'm guessing this was his job title seeing as he had a walkie-talkie but was also wearing what appeared to be a Star Wars T-shit); I gestured and said "Will my bus wait for me?" He smiled and said "no problem," translated from "mai pen rai" which Thais use for so many everyday situations. I had been making conversation with the French family in front of me, 4 people total, and now began to voice my worries aloud to them in the hopes that maybe they would be understanding of my predicament and allow me to skip them in line. No such luck. The family waited and then presented all of their passports to the official. While he was carefully examining the first child's passport, I watched in horror as my bus pulled away. My large backpack- containing all of the minimal personal possessions I had to my name on this side of the world- was on that bus without me!
The plain-clothes immigration guy came to my aid. He could see my stress (I was in tears) and decided to take it upon himself to help me, possibly because not two minutes earlier he had said "no problem." Not speaking much English, he gestured to me to follow him to what appeared to be his personal vehicle. Trusting my instincts, I got in and we started to drive. He made calls on his cell phone (so the radio was for ?) and tried to talk to me to assure me things would be resolved, "No worry!" We slowed down at a police outpost along the highway because he expected the bus to pull over there (explained mostly through charades). However, there was no bus to speak of, so he sped back up and we kept driving... right into Udon Thani, over 60 kilometers away (nearly an hour's drive!)
Luckily, I remembered the bus number and told him in Thai (been practicing numbers to score bargins in the market). When we reached the bus station there, he pulled up to my bus and got out to speak to the driver. He then got back in the car with a confused look on his face. I asked what happened and conveyed that my bag had been dropped off... back at the highway patrol post! So we drove alllllll the way back, until we arrived again at the post, just shy of Nong Khai where I had crossed the border. By now several hours had passed and it was starting to get dark. The immigration guy talked to the officer at the post, who then showed me my bag. Then my hero said "bye!" and started walking back to his car. I was immediately startled. I called after him "Wait!" and asked where he was going and why he was leaving me. He pointed to the highway officer "he... you... bus... English!" He smiled and took his leave. I thanked him profusely, realizing very sadly that I didn't have enough money to pay him for all his trouble.
I now turned to the other police officer (for the purpose of the rest of the story, we will refer to him as Officer Creepy). He asked me to sit down and started talking to me. Although his speech was quite broken in English, I could tell that he had quite a good understanding of the language. He asked me the usual questions of acquaintance, "What's your name? Where are you from? etc." but then started to throw in some that made me uncomfortable, mostly because of the look he had when he asked them- "You have boyfriend? What hotel you stay? How much money have?" My uneasiness intensified as he suddenly decided he should search my bag (after I had already been there for at least half an hour!) If I was a cat, my hair would have stood straight up. I was hypervigilant now, worried that he would find the US dollars I had lied about not having. Something had warned me early on to pocket those, along with my pepper spray and knife, so luckily he didn't ask me to turn out my pockets.
He concluded his search with a smile on his face, nodding over at the clock and saying "bus no come."While I had been busy paying attention to him sifting through my bag, the time of 7pm had come and gone, and with it the bus he was supposed to have flagged down for me. After phoning my friend in Chiang Mai (the same one that recommended the Friendship Bus in the first place), I grabbed my guidebook and began to search for hotels nearby, realizing I wouldn't make it to Udon Thani anymore tonight. He said "No worry, I know hotel, I take you." I insisted that I wanted to choose my own, thanks. He pointed to the office and said "No worry, you can stay. Has a bed, door has lock." This is the point where I really started to panic. I grabbed my things and headed out to the road.
What was I going to do? I had no idea, but I started to wave at passing buses, realizing that hitch-hiking was just as dangerous of an option as the current situation. Officer Creepy followed me, "Where you go? That bus go Pattaya. That bus go Bangkok." "Fine then I'll go to Bangkok!!!" I was nearly shouting now. My hysteria must have un-nerved him because finally he said "Ok ok, we go see a police officer." There's been another police officer here the whole time?!?!
To be continued...
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