The next day I got up and checked out of my hostel and went to the cafe. It was my last day in Laos. My train woud leave around 6. Boua said she would hang out with me and take me for some food and show me a book store to trade in my Lonely Planet books at. I met her in the cafe next to my hotel where I kept going for the internet and the tumeric tea (that might have been helping). We walked up to Talat Sao market, the unimpressive "largest" mall of Laos, where there was a food court on the top floor. This looked cool. Lots of food, from all over, even Indian. Boua had never had Indian, so I got some Samosas and some Parantha. Then we got some soup that was like Pho, but maybe a bit more Laos style. The indian Parantha was different, and tasted like it had condensed milk in it. It was still good though, so I let Boua eat the majority. I bought some tshirts for some friends at home. They were so colorful that I just got some for my female friends. I got a few sizes, even though all the shirts said they were the same size on their labels. After this Boua showed me a book store owned by here friend, an eclectice elderly man who dresses like Tom Sellic from the 80s. I felt like he needed an eye patch, then we could refer to him as Captain Bookstorm, or something. He took my Vietnam Lonely Planet and let me pick one book in exchange. Sweet deal! I picked a Ken Follet book that I have since read 2 pages of.
After this, me and Boua went to the cafe and hung out until I had to go catch my train. She told me about how it would be a good investment to buy land in Laos because a railroad was being built through Laos that would connect China and Bangkok. I agreed that it seemed like the completion of this railway would cause a lot of people to be coming through Laos. Still, I wasn't down for buying some land, not yet. We said goodbye and I walked to the travel agent I got my train ticket from. On the way I stopped at an MPoint market to pick up some snacks: peanuts, mulberry tea, and toothpaste. Then I waited for my taxi next to some unfriendly Australian or British girls. Well, they didn't seem down for chit-chat and seemed to pretend they didn't even speak English. We got on our taxis for the train station. We had to take 2 trains--one to cross the border, to Nong Khai, then another one from Nong Khai to Bangkok. The first train took about 10 minutes. I sat on it and filled out my immigration stuff, and chatted wih a French guy a bit. We were both a bit confused by the fact that our tickets said our seat was supposed to be in train car 3, yet the train only had 2 cars that we were on. Whatever. We got to Nong Khai and I went through immigration ok. They didn't even seem to care that I was just staying on "Khaosan Road", which was only a little bit more specific than the "Bangkok" I used, and was denied with, at the Thai consulate.
I got on my train--it was pretty nice, not as amazing as Vietnam, but a little better than China. I opted for the Fan car instead of Air/Con since it really wasn't that how out. The Thai trains were laid out a bit differently tho. There is on aisle in the middle of the train with 1 seat on either side, but the seats are arranged in pairs, facing eachother. So you get to sit and look directly at a stranger. At bed time the seats slide down and form a bottom bed. On top of the seats is a hinged shelf that holds the upper bed. I liked this better than the Chinese trains because both beds get a seat--on the Chinese trains there are no seats but instead just the beds, so if you are on top you have to make friends with your neighbor from below.
There were 2 younger people sitting in the chairs next to me, across the aisle, who had a giant golden retriever with them. He looked so happy to be traveling. He was also very well behaved and only got scared when the train started up for the first time. Occasionally they would let him stick his head out the window and get some air.
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