John and I woke up early to meet Zarko and Joanna for an early breakfast next to our guesthouse. After breakfast we hit the bank, but the ATM was down. We took a tuk-tuk to the Cambodian Embassy and applied for our visas. Pretty painless, but they wouldn’t be available for pickup until 4pm in the afternoon, so we had a lot of time to kill.
The other were heading to the Tourism Office, and I was heading to the Tourism Police, but they were conveniently located next door to each other. We were trying to flag down a tuk-tuk when a Belgian guy working in Laos offered us a lift in his SUV. He was heading to Cambodia for the upcoming long weekend.
At the Tourism Police I filled out a form and was told to return at 2pm in the afternoon. The others were still in the tourism office, so together we made our way to an internet cafe, then headed across the street to Joma cafe for some breakfast.
Spent much of the day either on the internet struggling to get my pictures uploaded (still way way behind) or eating/drinking. A little before two, I gathered my things and made my way to the tourism police.
Met Lucio at the office again, as well as a few others who had been victims of theft in Laos. The bag of one Toronto girl had been recovered by some locals who were still in the office. She gave them a hung of thanks, but she was overall pretty upset. She lost a lot of money, apparently, and most of what she got bag was soaked – since they’d thrown the bag in the river. Thankfully she still had her passport – as she’s inclined to head home early instead of spending another month travelling. We tried to dissuade her from leaving, but she was pretty keen to get out.
After half an hour of waiting, I paid 10000 kip ($1.25) for my Loss Report, then headed back to meet Zarko, Joanna, and John. We caught a tuk-tuk to the Cambodian Embassy, grabbed our visas, then made our way back to the guesthouse for an early dinner (me) and drink (them). I bid them adieu a little before 7, grabbed a shower then caught a songthaew to the bus station.
Got on the bus to Pakse, happy that there was a tad more leg room to deal with. A German girl, Lena, took the seat beside me so I chatted with her for a while before going to sleep.