Nam tuam

This month I was due to go on a long scheduled trip to Hong Kong for a friend’s wedding.  Following my previous arduous trips via Bangkok, I decided to treat myself and fly the majority of the way.  The route would take me on a comparatively short three hour bus journey from Pakse over the border to Ubon in Thailand.  From there, I would fly on to Bangkok and directly from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport to Hong Kong.  I diligently checked prices and times and avoided the extra charge pitfalls of the Air Asia online booking system.  Feeling pretty confident that I had finally cracked the secret of the best way to get to Bangkok, I was left with two major problems in the run up to the trip.

1.  I didn’t have a passport. 

Stamps galore

This breaks the first and most sacred rule of international travel and it’s one I’ve run up against in the past.  As a fresh faced 22 year old my first international work trip should have been to Israel but alas, on the morning of the flight, I casually flipped open my passport to discover it had run out 3 months previously.  Several hurried phone calls later and it was all cancelled but I’m still sore about my mistake 5 years on.  Not as sore as my colleagues who managed to make the trip and were stopped at the border for some extra checks but sore none the less.  I like to think that providence stepped in on that occasion but I've probably run that  particular well of favours dry by now.

Thankfully, this time I could shoulder no blame.  Since my arrival in Laos at the end of February I had been crossing the border once a month to renew my visa.  Then, in August, I had been granted an official entry visa and the reason I was without my credentials was because I was caught up in bureaucratic limbo waiting to get pasted with my multiple entry visa and temporary stay permit.

Despite the fact that my placement is in a government organisation it has taken nearly 9 months to get officially recognised.  In that time, I have accrued 7 paper visas, 2 visa extension stamps and 33 cross border stamps between Laos and Thailand.  That’s a lot of ink!  Not to mention the cost of making the regular crossings.  I even know of a man who has lived in Laos for some years, has a business, wife and child here and still has to make a monthly trip.  I can’t quite work out if it’s genius or insanity but I certainly know that I’ve enjoyed the regular excuse to go on a road trip.

I was starting to get nervous when my passport still hadn’t been returned two days before I was due to travel but after a couple of quick emails and a trip to the bus station, I finally had it back in my hands with one day to spare.

The next problem couldn’t be solved by any amount of nagging. 

2.  Thailand was suffering the worst floods seen in decades.     

I tried nagging the god of rain and flooding but he was having none of it (or I was talking to the wrong god) and the waters kept flowing.  I thought about having a quick nag at Yingluck Shinawatra but she already seemed to be woefully out of her depth as the Thai authorities presented inadequate and inconsistent information to a disgruntled population.  The stories coming out of Thailand were horrific, with huge loss of life and massive destruction throughout 25 provinces. 

Despite trawling the internet, the only reliable information I could find listed details of the Bangkok flooding and there seemed to be confidence in the protection established around Suvarnabhumi airport.  Therefore, my major worry, as a spoiled and self obsessed international traveller was my planned initial bus journey to Ubon.  Having checked the UK Foreign Office advice at least three times a day, it continued to state that all but essential travel to the province should be avoided. 

A drop of rain

As the time got closer, and none of my flights were cancelled, I thought I’d chance the journey but leave extra time in case of mishaps.  It may seem misguided to value the advice of a budget airline above the Foreign Office and its network of skilled civil servants but everyone knows that civil servants hate soggy feet.  Their love of water absorbing stripy socks and brogues is well known and although a furled umbrella can be swiftly deployed, bowler hats have built in gutters which make them entirely unsuitable rainwear.   Air Asia cabin staff on the other hand, are a hardy bunch of lithe young things with dynamic smiles and snazzy new uniforms featuring specially designed materials with wicking and compression capabilities.  I know this because the latest edition of the in-flight magazine features a wonderful editorial on the new uniforms.  Strange then that while waiting in the departure lounge at Ubon airport I should notice a member of ground staff wearing kick flares with an ankle split.  Maybe she was planning on auditioning for the Air Asia tribute act to Pan’s People and far be it from me to begrudge the hardworking souls some corporately sponsored extra-curricular activities.

Needless to say, the journey went surprisingly smoothly.  There was evidence of water encroaching on to normally dry land and lots of road repairs underway but it wasn’t until I was in the air over Thailand that I was able to see the full extent of the devastation.  Central and protected areas in Ubon where I spent an evening and at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok showed no evidence of anything being amiss and tourists and locals carried on unimpeded.  I found it difficult to decipher whether this was a remarkable act of defiance against the difficulties the country was facing, or a misuse of resources and skewing of priorities when so many were suffering enormous hardship.  Following the immediate clear-up after the floods, it will be interesting to see how and in what image Thailand rebuilds, particularly in its agricultural and industrial areas and where the people are most susceptible to disasters of this nature.  The impact on Thailand’s neighbours will also be interesting to gauge, as it could provide both opportunity and impediments to growth in the rest of the region, which normally relies on a strong outflow of Thai products.    

Hong Kong at night

On a more upbeat note, the wedding was absolutely fantastic.  In many respects, Hong Kong seemed more than a world away from Laos and for a few days I really enjoyed drinking being somewhere where I could get anything I wanted.  Having said that I was reassured that when I arrived back in Pakse after the trip, it felt comfortable and homely.  I even found that despite having spent 4 days successfully rebalancing the champagne to blood ratio in my body, I didn’t feel like I was missing out by being back in Laos.