Route with pics
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We woke up, had two good egg sandwiches each on the road and started to descent to Lao Bao and the border with Laos. We still had to find LAK (Laos Kip) somewhere. Even the bank in Lao Bao didn't want to give us USD or LAK for our VND. "On the border crossing" was their answer. When we arrived there, immediatly we were surrounded by 6 ladies who wanted to change our Dong into Kip. Offcourse at a killer exchange rate ;) They started off with half of what we normally would get for our Dong. After some negotiating we had a better exchange rate, but still it costed us 10 USD. Yeah well, there was no other option, since we needed LAK. Or that's what we thought and these ladies told us. Because at the border crossing, next to the 'visa on arrival - box' you have an ATM and an exchange office. Still not the official rate, but already a lot better than what you get from these kind ladies ;)
So other travellers, if you read this: do NOT change your money with this ladies (unless you want to give them a lot of extra money), do this at the border crossing. Another thing: lonely planet says it will cost you 20USD for a visa on arrival at the Lao Bao crossing. This is nog the case (anymore?). Only Vietnamese get their visa on arrival for 20 USD. All other nationalities have to pay 35 USD or 300.000 LAK. So make sure you have enough money with you. No extra money to get your stamp though, this bordercrossing doesn't look dodgy like some other Laos Borders apparently.
Crossing into Laos we felt very welcome! Like in Cambodia, maybe even a bit more, children come running to the streets screaming their lungs out: "sabaidee, hello, bye", waving like mad and giving you a toothpaste smile! To make it more like a fairy wonderland... It's really hot here, almost no traffic, thousands of butterflies, ladies who are trying to teach you some Lao and a road that almost only goes down (so other way around is a lot up!). We like Laos so far!
Arrived in Sepon (the first real village from the border btw) where you have a lot of choice for guesthouse, probably more than 5. Settled in a room for 50kkip (around 6usd) took a stroll along the market, buy some fruit, some rice take-way for dinner & a couple of Lao Beer. More Lao tomorrow!
Picasa Album
We woke up, had two good egg sandwiches each on the road and started to descent to Lao Bao and the border with Laos. We still had to find LAK (Laos Kip) somewhere. Even the bank in Lao Bao didn't want to give us USD or LAK for our VND. "On the border crossing" was their answer. When we arrived there, immediatly we were surrounded by 6 ladies who wanted to change our Dong into Kip. Offcourse at a killer exchange rate ;) They started off with half of what we normally would get for our Dong. After some negotiating we had a better exchange rate, but still it costed us 10 USD. Yeah well, there was no other option, since we needed LAK. Or that's what we thought and these ladies told us. Because at the border crossing, next to the 'visa on arrival - box' you have an ATM and an exchange office. Still not the official rate, but already a lot better than what you get from these kind ladies ;) So other travellers, if you read this: do NOT change your money with this ladies (unless you want to give them a lot of extra money), do this at the border crossing. Another thing: lonely planet says it will cost you 20USD for a visa on arrival at the Lao Bao crossing. This is nog the case (anymore?). Only Vietnamese get their visa on arrival for 20 USD. All other nationalities have to pay 35 USD or 300.000 LAK. So make sure you have enough money with you. No extra money to get your stamp though, this bordercrossing doesn't look dodgy like some other Laos Borders apparently.
Crossing into Laos we felt very welcome! Like in Cambodia, maybe even a bit more, children come running to the streets screaming their lungs out: "sabaidee, hello, bye", waving like mad and giving you a toothpaste smile! To make it more like a fairy wonderland... It's really hot here, almost no traffic, thousands of butterflies, ladies who are trying to teach you some Lao and a road that almost only goes down (so other way around is a lot up!). We like Laos so far!
Arrived in Sepon (the first real village from the border btw) where you have a lot of choice for guesthouse, probably more than 5. Settled in a room for 50kkip (around 6usd) took a stroll along the market, buy some fruit, some rice take-way for dinner & a couple of Lao Beer. More Lao tomorrow!
Laos klinkt belovend zoals jullie het beschrijven. Go fot it.
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mams Mieke