I woke up early just so I could go to the
Mekong river before it gets hot. I wanted to find the original pier where I once caught a boat to cross the Mekong. I reached the Mekong and saw the new bridge connecting
Laos and
Thailand but I could not find the pier. It just got too hot I went to a restaurant and to use their
Wifi.
The restaurant is run by
Chinese migrants, awful food but I needed to go online. I decided to talk to two Laotian girls. I can speak
Thai and I can half understand their Lao.
First, I wanted to know the numbers in Laos.
Nearly all the numbers in Thai and Lao are the same with a few exceptions, 20 in Thai is ยี่สิบ yi sip, in Lao it is ຊາວ sao. In addition, one thousand is Thai is พัน, in Lao it is ພັນ, the pronunciation is 'pan' in both languages. But in Thai, ten thousand is หมื่น mueun. But in Lao it is ສິບພັນ sip pan. To tell someone they cannot do something, you say ไม่ได้ mai dai in Thai and ບໍ່ໄດ້ bo dai in Lao, almost the same. To say you don't have something, you say ไม่มี mai mee in Thai and ບໍ່ມີ bo mi in Lao.
What is important is how to ask someone if he or she has a lover, มีแฟนหรือยัง mee fairn roo yung, almost the same in both. I went to the bus station, day buses run to the capital ວຽງຈັນ
Vientiane for 75000
kip. But it is already too late by the time I went to the station. I had to go to the nearby store to exchange CNY400, only Chinese stores accept
Chinese currency here, I got 480000 kip. I bought a ticket for the night sleeper bus for 120000 kip. I have lost my identity card so that has almost precluded a crossing from Laos to
China. Now I have only CNY2000, HKD9000 and THB4500 cash on me. I can only exchange
Hong Kong dollars in Thailand. I don't want to exchange my Chinese currency just in case I do need to go back to China. I had dinner at the same restaurant as last night, I met a
Japanese traveller. I persuaded him to leave this place so he bought a ticket straight away. We had dinner together and made a video. It is first time I have seen a sleeper bus with completely horizontal beds, the bus departed at
2030.
- published: 24 Mar 2016
- views: 9