November 29: Son Kim to Lak Xao – 51.32 km
Day 47
Freshly showered with natural spring water and properly fed with instant congee and PB&J sandwiches, we set off on our border-crossing journey early in the morning.
Everything was perfect for a hard day ahead of us – the rain had stopped, and the temperature was nice and cool. The uphill began as soon as we were on the road. After the first 2 hours of constant uphill, we felt pretty good as we were appreciated waterfalls and mist rising up from the mountains. However, as we pressed on for another 2 hours, the damp mist kept up hot and cold at the same time – so damp that our perspiration wouldn’t evaporate, and so cold that with our wet shirts our fingers and toes were completely numb.
Just as I thought I couldn’t pedal any longer, we arrived at the check point. Chopper was savvy about the immigration process, as he learned that the 1 USD “stamp fee” will be charged on the Laos side, while it is illegal for the Vietnamese immigration officers to charge a “stamp fee”. A trick he learned from the Internet was that if you start to write down the immigration officer’s badge name, he will most likely be too intimidated to receive this illegal income. However, this was not the case with us.
Seeing people throwing money and passports into the immigration window to get stamped, we decided to give the trick a try nevertheless. After being told by the immigration officer to pay 40,000VND for stamping our passports, Chopper got out his note book to write down the officer’s name. The officer immediately took his badge off and hid it in his pocket, running out of his office in a fury to grab the note book from Chopper. After much yelling and cursing in Vietnamese, he tried to throw our passports out of the window and refuse to stamp us. Probably realizing this would not be a wise move, he speedily took them back and stamped them before throwing them out. Before leaving, Chopper was kind enough to try to educate the passengers waiting around the window that the “stamping fee” is illegal, but all of them looked at him as if he was a maniac, and proceeded to pay their 20,000VND stamping fee for a fuss-free border-crossing.
After exiting the Vietnam border, the Laos border was 1km away. At this point, we were extremely hungry and tired, and freezing cold in the bitter wind wrapped in our wet clothes. Visa on arrival from the Laos immigration officer was no simple, as we had cash in USD and photos ready. Though if you don’t have US dollars handy, they conveniently provide you with an ATM in the lobby, and if you don’t have a photo, it costs 1USD extra.
The thought of downhill all the way from this point cheered us up, as we put on our winter clothes we were ready for a cozy ride into Lak Xao, 36km away. The descent offered such a breath-taking view – we followed a pristine mountain stream all the way down to a plain, barely touched by civilization. The dry and crisp breeze felt great under the tropical winter sun. Then we realized we made a stupid decision – not taking out money at the ATM. We tried to buy some lunch at a village with the left-over Dong, but to no avail. We would just have to postpone our lunch until we reaching Lak Xao.
Lak Xao is the popular stop for crossing the Cau Treo/Nam Phao border, with all the conveniences you will need. We had no trouble finding a decent room for just 60 Kip, and a money exchange to get rid of the Dong. Lunch/dinner was most rewarding, as we tucked ourselves into a little bungalow, and had barbecued pig ears and tongues served with plenty of fresh vegetable and rice noodles, all washed down with a couple of Laos beers. Even though we decided to throw our 20USD/day budget into the wind for a proper thanksgiving dinner, the feast didn’t even come close to breaking the bank.
