Visas, the ongoing story

So there I was at the Thai visa office in Vientiane with my sponsorletter from the organization, but no-go, apparently this letter was not good enough, the letter is written in Thai so I have no idea what it says and don't have any possibility to argue about it.. But I did get a new tourist visa, so two more months in Thailand to prepare for my next visa, which hopefully will really be the highly coveted non-immigrant visa, even if it's not with the Neohumanist Foundation anymore... more about that in the second post of today.

But this trip wasn't just about a new visa, I was back in Laos!
I spend 10 days travelling across Laos two years ago and have been dreaming about going back there ever since, so wonderful was my visit to Laos.. the people are so very sweet and friendly, the towns are a beautiful combination of French colonial buildings and Lao houses with Lao style Buddhist temples on almost every streetcorner.. the whole atmosphere in the cities is one of calm and peacefulness.
The great thing about being back here after two years was to find out that it wasn't just my memory that had made it so wonderful, this time around Vientiane was just as charming and friendly as before. Even the police/army patrols on every streetcorner didn't destroy the atmosphere, I even had a nice chat with one of these guys.. they all know about Dutch soccer. :)

So all in all it was quite a nice trip and next time I need a visa I'll just go to Vientiane again, it's just such a great place to spend a few quiet days enjoying life.
See some pictures from my previous visit to Laos in the Lao 2002 album at YahooPhotos.