What a shit storm....

Due to a mixture of visa ignorance and visa negligence, I was forced to hop a plane to Vientiane, Laos yesterday afternoon to deal with this mess.  I actually went to the airport with no ticket purchased and no plan....but serious determination to get this shit figured out.  I landed in Vientiane around 9pm last night and took a cab into a quaint neighborhood filled with dozens of international restaurants and international faces.  So far, aside from the seriously stressful situation I have landed myself in, I am really enjoying the city.

I spent four hours waiting to apply for my visa at the Thai Embassy this morning.  Around hour two I felt the unmistakable discomfort in my lower abdomen and felt the rising panic that I was seconds away from a serious GI emergency.  I barely made it to the restroom only to the horror that there was no toilet paper and I somehow had left my emergency roll in the guest house bathroom that morning.  In my squatting state of dismay I had the wherewithal to flip through the Cosmo magazine my Mom had packed in my care package and tear out pages I didn't want to read later.  My sincere apologies to the Calvin Klein perfume models.  Total TMI....but an important slice of life in my brief and bizarre stint in Laos.  Four hours pass and my number is called.  My application was just nearing the first pass when the attendant flipped through my passport to find that I had no full blank page for the Thai Visa.  Fuck man, you have to be kidding me.  I was ordered to head to the US Embassy, apply for the extra pages ($100 fee) and return to the Thai Embassy the following day.   I arrived at the US Embassy to find out that they only see people by appointment that can only be made online.   In the classiest way I could muster up, I calmly said "I am going to fucking lose my shit if you don't let me through that door".   Luckily, a nice middle aged America woman emerged through the door and told me to find a bank that would issue me $100 US dollars and return within the hour.  I kind of feel like I am on the show Amazing Race, but I am alone, and I didn't apply to be on this stupid show, and there is no prize at the end, and all my friends and family are watching from their cozy American sofas laughing at my continuous misadventures.  

So anyway, I got the extra pages, I recovered from the GI mishap, and I am now drinking a gin and tonic in the lobby of the fanciest hotel I could find.   I will return to the Thai Embassy tomorrow morning to hopefully get the green light for my visa and then return to Thailand to continue this degree that is proving to me more full of life lessons than didactic sessions.

Some people dream of what it would be like to live an extraordinary life, but lately, I day dream of one, just one, ordinary day.