I started this morning about 2 or 3 hours from the Lao Boa border with Laos on the Vietnamese side. I woke up to more pouring rain and was expecting it to stay that way all day.
Surprisingly the rain stopped around 8 am and I headed out around 9 am. I took a few drone videos today and kids gathered around me in awe at what the hell they were looking at. The roads were a little wet and windy so it was slow going for the first half of the day.
There was an old war museum and runway left over from the war that wasn’t too far out of the way so I headed there and spent a good hour and a half there.
I then shot to the border where it took me about 30 minutes to figure out how to get through, the visa was $35 and it consisted of, “okay now go over there” various times without knowing where the hell there was but since I was really the only one there it didn’t take too long and I was on my way right after one of the immigration officers waved me down. I was terrified I was not going to be able to take the motorcycle through, but he pointed at my raybans and I quickly realized he just wanted to try them on. He put them on, him and his buddy laughed, then he smiled and handed them back to me.
After crossing the border I was expecting everything to be about the same as Vietnam but it could not have been more different. The houses looked totally different, the people didn’t smile and wave, the clouds weren’t there – it was bright blue sky, and the earth and plants were all brown. It felt like I was more like in a savannah than a jungle. The saddest part is that the people just seem so disinterested. No one smiles, jokes, or even seem to talk to each other. It is difficult to get help because the people turn the other way. I ordered barbeque, beer and some noodles. The barbeque had no flavor or seasoning and the noodles were just noodles in boiled water. I am afraid that both the food and the people lost their flavor on this border crossing. I will journey on and try to understand the Laos people better.
I rode until the sun dipped beneath the horizon and the bugs poured out in droves. I got hit by such enormous bugs at such fast speed that it hurt worse than paintballs. One hit my eyeball and for a solid minute I couldn’t see out of that eye.
I was so unfamiliar with the area and electricity seemed to be so sparse that I could not find a place to sleep for the night. I drove through the black hole getting pelted by bugs until I was so tired I could hardly move. I found a house and they had a bed and this is where I settled for the night.
