Here is the rest of my story. Last I wrote, I was waiting with plenty of borrowed money from the angelic girl from holland for a new bank card. A few well fed days past as I had my bank order a new card and send it. But quickly after finding out my card was not coming as fast as I'd hoped, some things changed. I ran into another speed bump in my life. My Laos visa was running out. Forced to use a massive portion of my only money to eat and sleep on a new Laos visa to be able to stay, I was back to one meal a day while I eagerly waited to be able to move on from Thakhek. Thakhek is a town with not much substance. I actually really love it now. But if you pass through its like passing through Shashone Idaho. Just a few roads a few buildings. You can buy a chair, or a saw, or some tubing. But once you spend a lot of days in places like this, getting to know the markets and the people, it grows on you. The travellodge, really the only guest houses, was the best part. And now feels like home. Anyway, the days past, telling my story to travels passing through. Eating only bananas and left over rice. And expecting my card to arrive the next afternoon. Thinking I would just get my card tomorrow, and then to be able to leave Thakhek and go rock climbing. Then more and more days past, more expectation, I had then ran out of my borrowed money, left with less than $1, and still no sign on when my bank card would be in, still sitting in the guest house, still telling my story 100 times a day, but thinking for sure it couldn't take this long having payed for 2-3 day shipping. Days came and went, and sorry if I don't fill the meat of this post with all the triumphs and tragedies that happened over my days stuck in Thakhek, and the seriously crazy unluck that followed my card, though they are quite good stories, I've just repeated them to many times to write it now. By day 19 I began to lose some hope. I had at this point finally got a tracking number, and it was in transit to arrive 5 days before. And had not been updated on tracking for 7 days since it was scanned leaving Singapore. Crazy! So abandoning my hope of "Ah! My card is definitely coming tomorrow!" Knowing my card was lost in the mail, I borrowed money from another seriously kind traveler to pay for the nights I slept. And decided to just hitch hike to the rock climbing and figure it out there. While I really joyfully enjoyed every day in Thakhek. Talking with travelers and finding out how to eat that day. 19 days was a long long time to wait.
Looking back I can't see lots of things I could have done differently. Like staying at green climbers for the 19 days, or getting a job at travellodge for accommodation. But it never made sense to because honestly every day I thought my card was coming the next day. And the same the next day. And it never made sense to have money wired from home, because western union is expensive and why do it when my card would arrive the day after.
So now, still with no bank card for 24 days, I'm finally climbing. The place is called Green Climbers Home. It's only some bungalows and a restaurant in one of the most beautiful jungle valleys I've seen. Surrounded by limestone cliffs full of rocks to climb. My plan was to spend a month here climbing, but now with 19 used in Thakhek, just a week. And that's why I'm doing! Climbing and waiting and living with no money. As the great Haruki Murakami said, "At least sunshine is always free." I'll update again in a while. NOOOAH
wow
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