My last day and a half on Don Khon were pretty uneventful but I really enjoyed just staying still. Went out for dinner and was invited to join by the girl two bungalows down from me and chatted a while which was becoming a nightly routine. Called it a night pretty early after that.

     I woke up the next day to the islands electricity gone and having no sign of being restored soon. Kinda stunk because I was planning on using the day to update the blog and browse the internet lazily by the river. I spent about 6 straight hours in the hammock and the chair outside my room relaxing but it was beginning to get a little dated and I could tell it was time to move on. Before heading out for dinner I grabbed a ticket to Cambodia for the morning to Kratie, where I finished my bout of sickness two years ago in the local hospital. I loved the town before even though I saw only a bit of it so seeing it properly is something I'm really looking forward to. Plus entering from this side of the country opens the door to visit more places I havne't been before. Tried to get to bed early so I could get up early enough for my 8am departure but of coarse this is the one night everyone decides to drink and party inside the guesthouse grounds and not at the bar.


      Managed to sleep well enough and woke up around 630am and got ready to depart for cambodia. Boat ride to the mainland was easy enough and once at the pier I sorted out the visa ahead of time with the bus company so I wouldn't have to worry about it at the border. After an hour or so wait we boarded the border bound bus and arrived about 20 minutes later. In pure Lao fashion I just walked across both borders just yelling to the customs officers " my passport is with the guide " and got the "OK" response lol. Only here can you walk across borders by word alone and skip immigration. So many laws broken its not even funny. Heres were the fun ended though. About 20 minutes later someone comes over with my passport and gives most people back theres by motions me towards the customs counter. 

      He tells me that my visa pages in my passport are full and that I should go back to Laos! What?! Sure my passport is almst full but theres 3 empty pages. Well it turns out that the last 3 pages in passports are for entry and exit stamps only to make sure you have room for enough stamps to get home. Then came the line I knew was coming... "We can give you visa on wrong page for $20". Son of a bitch. They had me by the balls and knew it but I wasn't paying that. So I sat down and watched the next show to take place after mine. A guy not wanting to pay a bribe of his own was snapping away pictures of the officials and threatening to take them to there bosses in Phnom Penh which really pissed them off. I was positive this guy was going to jail. But he passed of the camera to a friend who left with the pictures and they gave him his passport bribe free with the promise of deleting the pictures. I felt like clapping but realized that was my anger talking, he pulled this stunt for $2 mine was alot different. I took the oppurtunity to step in and use this to my advantage and was able to talk them down to $10 for the law breaking. What really got me was that its cambodia and they knew they were going to but the visa in anyway they just saw a place to exploit someone. As an extra slap in the face they wouldn't do it unless I signed an official waiver form I couldn't read but knew it covered there asses after taking a bribe. I love this country but this time I just had one thought in my head, welcome to fucking cambodia.