Day P6: What's With This Luck?

July 4, 2023

Vanessa Van Edwards said it better than anyone, "Your own perception of luck changes your luck"

She's not advocating any superstitious nonsense like clicking your heels and counting to three. Rather it's the belief that lucky things will happen to you if you're open to them happening and just rolling with things as they go. It's more like an abundance paradigm and is most certainly congruent with minimalist philosophy.

Last night I felt beyond exhausted and slept like a log for almost 12 hours. I woke up just in time to catch the tail end of the hotel breakfast. I ate more than usual and it turned out to save the day.

Next was time to once again repack. Most of the clothes had dried inside the hotel from last night's hand washing marathon but some did not. As I was doing the repacking, a massive downpour started outside and it looked like biking to Panyu was out of the question.

Then I reluctantly decided to order another Didi (Chinese Uber) and put all my stuff in the car. As usual once the driver saw my bike he said "fang bu xia" meaning he can't fit my shit inside the trunk. It's luck of the draw with these guys and he was right so the bike bag went into the back seat. It was a very smooth car ride to Panyu Hotel where I knew there was an airport bus.

As I unloaded my stuff, that bus started backing out but I was pretty chill since it was many hours before my flight to Laos. I would just put the bags in the hotel lobby, chill out with a coffee, and catch the next bus.

The security guard had other ideas. The bus was just leaving at 12:30 when I rocked up. I didn't have the schedule on me since the website had said buses every hour. The guard was frantic and said "Hurry up, buy a ticket now!" I told him "It's fine I'm not in a hurry." But he told the bus driver to wait for me and then screamed at me to put my luggage down and literally run to buy a ticket. I followed his orders, and the ticket people even said it was too late to catch the 12:30 bus. I told them it's fine the bus is waiting for me.

Then I saw the schedule and literally shit my pants. The next bus was not until 3pm which would cause me to miss the flight. The service had all been cut since covid. Go figure. So I ran like hell and got on the bus.

The security guard was right! This was a clue that when Chinese people yell at you to hurry up it's not always bad, they might be trying to help you out. In this case that was definitely true and he saved the day. If there was a way to tip him I would! What drives me nuts however is that 90% of the time they're telling you to hurry up so you can wait somewhere else later. Hurry up and wait. This time was the exception.

That was unexpected. This was where my friend and I hung out last year at the water park. It felt like yesterday

The bus happened to stop here. Last year there was nothing to do but make the most of domestic travel.

Guangzhou scenery on the way to the airport

Since time was on my side again I found a quiet part of the airport and repacked my luggage again.

The benefits of minimalist philosophy began to crystallize here, in this case it means a constant packing and repacking of bags to suit the purposes on hand. And if you think about it this makes perfect sense. It's easy to pack and repack with little stuff. Then you know exactly what you have. Most people pack WAY TOO MUCH stuff and they don't even know what they're packing.

Assessing the situation this is what I decided to do:

1. Use the laundry as a defense line to protect the sensitive parts of the Black Mistress such as derailleurs, gear shift cables, etc... Pants and underwear never had a better use.

It actually worked, because the bike was flawless on arrival.

2. Put all items that had to be checked into a pannier bag with minimal weight then put that into the bike bag. This way hopefully it wouldn't go over the weight limits.

3. Distribute all the heavy items such as coins and electronics into the hand carry bag. The idea was to load it up with as much weight as possible to avoid charges from going over the 20kg limit on the checked bags.

This was all hand carry with the bulk of the weight

While this job was going on, a piano in the background played beautiful pieces of music to add some nice atmosphere. It was all AI-based. It brought back nice childhood memories of piano practice, and I kept waiting for the 'human' player to make mistakes which never happened. It was all too perfect.

There was a long queue for check in which was a great opportunity to update the blog

Most of the fellow passengers were locals and I could already hear that beautiful sound of Thai language. How I missed it! This was well over 3 years since travel to SE Asia and I couldn't believe it was going to happen again.

The bicycle + pannier bag was weighed and it came out to 22kg, slightly over the limit. I know for a fact that the bicycle itself weighs 20kg, so this had to be the check in pannier added on. The airline actually charged for that small extra, $10 per kilogram to be exact! I was not so much upset as I was elated that the early bus had gotten me to the airport well over 3 hours in advance of the flight and there was time to do a proper repacking job. My estimates were that the hand-carry pannier was fully loaded at 15kg. That saved me over $150 in charges. Now we are seeing more proof that minimalism saves you money.

The rumors that Guangzhou Baiyun Airport has a terrible reputation are somewhat true. It is not a fun place, and they are extremely strict. I was naturally worried about security. They did a thorough check of the bike as it passed through oversize luggage and made me take out some checked items. One of them was the alcohol flask. It was empty and they reassured me it is ok to hand carry that despite my serious doubts.

There was nothing to do but hand carry the rest and hope for the best.

This caught me eye. Howard by the way is the scum of the earth who owned the franchise of the gym that he ran off with the money. He deserves to die in a different dungeon

All this airport crap had eaten up so much time, and it turns out the early arrival was essential. Had things not gone the way they went today it would have turned into a frantic rush. There a minor flight delay and despite that happening I didn't want to linger at shops. My wife gave some good advice over the phone that I should order takeout food and eat it at the boarding gate.

Gosh no. This had caused me to miss a flight the same time last year.

The flight took off only a little behind schedule and then it was one of the best flights I've ever had. I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a window seat and the passengers were quiet and well behaved the entire way. The food and snacks they served were delicious and was just super pleasant. There was only slight turbulence.

Once the planed landed it was the best airport experience I've ever had. First of all it only took a few minutes to taxi to the boarding gate unlike the long arduous taxis in most other airports in the world.

Next it was a breeze going through the visa on arrival procedures. Thanks to the pre-filled out form on the plane, there was a small queue and a window system all set up efficiently. It has changed now so that that all foreigners pay $40 while Chinese and Vietnamese pay $20. Before covid, every nationality would have a different price with Canadians getting the worst of the deal. It seems we had never mastered the secret handshake but that is all done away with now.

Step 1: give your passport and visa form to the first officer.

Step 2: pay the $40 to the second officer in the line who passes it along.

Step 3: give the immigration form to the third officer.

Step 4: pick up the passport with the visa and stamp.

Unlike Cambodia, the visa and the immigration stamp are in the same counter so you simply move along and don't need to queue twice.

Passengers in Chinese were of course asking if you can use wechat to pay for the visa. You can't (yet) but they ask for 200 RMB in cash, considerably more than $20. They are really making a killing off this business, because the majority are Chinese who are not paying in dollars.

The whole thing only took 20 minutes from the time the plane touched down on the runway until I exited the security area where the shops were. Absolutely astonshing. With so much time now, why the hell not linger and grab a coffee.

Laos kip in hand, first 30,000 spent on a capuccino

They had WIFI so I tried to contact my hotel and basically tell them I arrived. Earlier they had said they'd pick me up from the airport but it never happened. Whatever, it doesn't matter.

Nearby was a line of competing businesses offering SIM cards. I had read that Unitel was the best one, and they offered an unimited data package for 15 days costing $7 or 200 baht. They didn't have change for dollars but they took Thai baht so that was a done deal. They were super friendly.

Next door a competitor tried to steal business and tell me in Chinese I could use wechat to pay for a SIM card. Good to know for next time but I learned that carrying this Laos Kip and Thai Baht at the airport was already paying off big time. I will explain more of that in the next blog entry.

Exiting the airport, I tried to find a taxi but to no avail. Maybe there was a way to order one with an app, but nobody approached me and I had no idea how I was supposed to find a car. So I just said fuck it and decided to ride the bike. While unpacking and assembling it, someone came around and said, "Bicycle, good!" This was a hugely positive impression of Laos already.

Unfortunately I looked everywhere in my panniers and couldn't find the air pump. The air in the tires had been deflated for reasons I don't even know why anymore, and my first thought was that the staff at Guangzhou Airport had confiscated it. I cursed them to no avail then figured I would have to push the bike to the nearest gas station and fill it with air.

But I literally found this shop next to the airport.

These guys to the rescue for only 5000 kip

Then I realized I was worrying the whole time about way too much over nothing. Laos was already proving to be the exact place I needed to be where people are so chill and things aren't that big of a deal.

It was the smoothest bike ride ever to my hotel, just under 5km

The staff were super nice and said just put the bike in the room. It cost a bit less than $20 a night and it turns out is literally next door to the very first guesthouse I stayed in Laos on that virgin trip in 2006.

While unpacking I found the air pump in my hand carry bag. Amazing, it hadn't caused an issue and I was wrong to assume the worst of the airport staff.

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