9 to 10 apr 2008, voen kham (lao customs wants stamping money)

offered bbq frogs for snacks. this boy looks like little marcus. heheh...

bus from tadlo to the bus station

we left tadlo early in the morning to catch a bus down south to voen kham, the lao border, where we can cross over to cambodia. we changed to a big truck which was packed with people with no room for body and leg movement. one norwegian guy almost fainted. the 4 hours journey was full of yellow sand, dust and dirt. everyone on the truck were covered with yellow brown sand. we were asked to alight the truck and hop on to a motorbike which will send us to the border.

we arrived at the border at 2pm (which was still within the office hours) but the customs officer asked us for a usd 1 "stamp" fee. we refused to give, saying that we dont have to pay any money cos we dont need visa. the same applies if they come to singapore. the officers immediately put our passports aside and refused to stamp them. they asked us to go to the atm or bank to withdraw money. travelers passing thru both borders said that cambodian customs on the other side asked for the same amount of "stamp" fee too. they were too much, just want to rip travelers off. a french couple gave in after a while but sk and i decided to go back to pakse and think of what to do after that. we paid a van driver usd 20 to get us back.

when we arrived at pakse, we checked into a chinese guesthouse, took our dinner there and that was the only meal that we had for the day. the girl working there was from the same province (anhui) as my grandmother.