19th March, back into Laos again!

fresh cockroaches galore, ripe for your picking if you fancy!

damn noisy to sleep right beside the road nia...

a really cold day where i even had to stop and take out my jacket and gloves(some dude gave it to me in vietnam) to wear!

give me 8 suns and i will shoot them down anyday.

a huge sculpture park that has buddhist and hindu figures sometimes placed right beside each other. mayb the hidden meaning is that all religions teach the same thing-to be good and benovolent. hmmm...

shit! no bicycles allowed on the Friendship Bridge?!

As soon as i neared the Thai Lao border, I saw signs that said no bicycles/motorbikes/pedestrians allowed on the bridge. huh, how come nobody ever told me about this rule?

like any law-abiding citizen, i dismounted from the bike in front of the sign, went to the immigration checkpoint, smiled my best smile at the border official, cleared the Thai immigration and walked forward to the passenger bus waiting to ferry ppl across into Laos.
like any 20-yr old who thinks he is invincible, i decided to try my luck, turned away from the bus, walked back along the road back to the Thai side, got on my bike, pretended to be ignorant, and cycled across the checkpoint!

The following are rules to follow if you want to cycle thru
1) keep shifting your head and eyes all around and pretend to be very interested in the surroundings (although it can be tough because it is a boring border checkpoint!) but the main aim is so that you do not look at the border guards or have eye contact with them.
2) cycle at a normal pace (too slow, later kena caught. too fast, obviously you are sneaking across so will kena caught also ...)
3) prepare a "huh, i didnt know there was such a thing?" speech and give the best blur face you can, if you do happen to get caught.
4) if you get pass the checkpoint, start to speed up about 100m away so that if they suddenly spot you, they will be too lazy to catch you and will jus close 2 eyes and continue eating their fried chicken wing.
5) dun post it online lest you get charged of Lèse majesté by the holy King of you-know-where. (didnt you hear that its ALL-encompassing?)

the middle of the Friendship Bridge!

and i am back in Laos again!