Dosboy's Bits and Bytes

I was doing some research today in trying to figure out what to do about my Thailand visa when I want to go back.  Vientiane has a Thai Embassy, so I figured since I'm already here it makes sense to renew my visa.  Well, it turns out that right now until June 5th the Thai Embassy here is giving away Tourist visas for free.  FREE!  Apparently Thailand's tourism is hurting (duh!) so this is a step in the right direction.  Not only that, but they're one of the few places that issues Double Entry visas... which means that, theoretically (it's all theory since most of it is up to the dude that accepts (or doesn't accept) your application - see my previous post on the hellhole that was the Philippines) I can get 180 days in Thailand and only have to leave the country once at the 90 day mark to literally cross the border and come back.  So I may return to Phuket early on in my travels so that I can tend to my investment and lick my wounds from this experience.

That's not to say I won't be back, but realistically I need a travel companion.  And I need to start making some money to subsidize these ventures.  And really, if I'm gonna dig my heels in and try to earn a living, I'd much rather do it in Phuket than Toronto, especially if I can figure out some way to 4HWW that bad boy.

So, as it stands I'll probably end up in Phuket next week or the week after.  We'll see.  But I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.

P.S. I'm writing this from some sort of internet cafe instead of my guest house, and I was averaging a screaming 25KB/s... then it started raining and chased me inside and now I'm averaging about 8KB/s.  Damn rain.