Waiting for Godot
Many things in Laos and Thailand are miss translated, for instance on a menu I saw 'Grilled Crap'. Needless to say I ordered the noodle soup and remained none the wiser but perhaps healthier. Leaving Luang Prabang is hard to do because it is beautiful and chilled out. But to catch a boat up the Mekong 2 options are available, the speed boat and the slow boat.
This is where they really got the translation of slow boat spot on. From Luang Prabang to Pak Beng (about 150km) it takes 10.5 hours. Then the next day from Pak Beng to the border it is another 10 hours. Then from the border to Chiang Mai another 5 hours, but this time by bus.
It seems that I am in a state of waiting, waiting for dinner or waiting to go home, waiting to buy a camera didn't come as a surprise. My camera broke in Luang Prabang so I decided to buy a new one. The short story is it took 5 hours to buy the camera, Canon 400D digital SLR, because of a mistake buy the salesman. He processed the transaction, then realised he over charged me by 800 baht. So he reversed it, then realised he actually had the right price in the first place, then tried the transaction again. My bank was rather suspicious at this stage and froze my card. It took 5 hours, 7 cups of tea, many repeated conversations because of the language barrier and 2 invitations to dinner (Katrin they were both male) before I had my new toy. And I can tell you it was well worth the wait.
This is where they really got the translation of slow boat spot on. From Luang Prabang to Pak Beng (about 150km) it takes 10.5 hours. Then the next day from Pak Beng to the border it is another 10 hours. Then from the border to Chiang Mai another 5 hours, but this time by bus.
It seems that I am in a state of waiting, waiting for dinner or waiting to go home, waiting to buy a camera didn't come as a surprise. My camera broke in Luang Prabang so I decided to buy a new one. The short story is it took 5 hours to buy the camera, Canon 400D digital SLR, because of a mistake buy the salesman. He processed the transaction, then realised he over charged me by 800 baht. So he reversed it, then realised he actually had the right price in the first place, then tried the transaction again. My bank was rather suspicious at this stage and froze my card. It took 5 hours, 7 cups of tea, many repeated conversations because of the language barrier and 2 invitations to dinner (Katrin they were both male) before I had my new toy. And I can tell you it was well worth the wait.
posted by David at 9:51 PM
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