by Di Li

Released by VietnamNews

My husband had a one-week business trip planned with his colleagues to Vientiane. We had only been married for a short time, so even a few days apart felt like a struggle for me. When he saw how upset I was he hesitated before saying:
"Maybe you could go with me? Consider it a holiday? I don't think anyone on the delegation would have a problem with that."

I was over the moon and wanted to run around the house in celebration. Three days later, we flew to Laos.

***

My husband's colleagues turned out to be very easy-going and simply took my presence as a matter of course. While they attended their seminar during the day, I toured the city in a hired tuk tuk. Vientiane was so small that it only took about ten minutes to see everything. There were no supermarkets or shopping to enjoy and I eventually became a bit disgruntled. Nevertheless the work-week flew by. When the weekend came, the organizing board planned a tour for the delegation to places I had already seen. I asked my husband:
"I heard there is a big supermarket in Nongkhai. Do you think we could go there?"

"We have to stick with the delegation. You're not Sun Wukong from the novel The Journey to the West to fly at will, you know!"

He obviously was not very enthusiastic with my suggestion but I started to nag him about it. He was clearly upset and finally grumbled:
"O.K. But that means we'll have to cross the border to Thailand. We don't know their language and will struggle without a guide. So if we don't return, it will be your fault!"

I was upset with him for uttering such unlucky words, but at the same time I was beaming. When the car was on its way from Buddha Park to the inner city, my husband asked the head of the delegation for permission to leave the delegation to visit relatives nearby. The whole delegation joyfully bid us farewell and said:
"Lucky you to have relatives nearby!"

The Nongkhai border gate was three kilometres away. We queued and waited to complete our customs procedures. The customs officer looked at me attentively and then took my passport inside for quite a long time. I was a bit afraid, but my husband cracked jokes about the situation:
"Maybe you look like some of the girls they're looking for. Perhaps you're a suspect."

I looked at the black and white photos hanging on the walls inside. They were photos of Asian girls with dense lines of words written in Lao placed beneath them. My guess was that they were victims of kidnapping, or maybe just missing or hunted by the police. I was unable to smile because of the photos. After a long time, the customs officer returned and stamped my passport. We heaved a deep sigh and returned to the bus to travel to the border crossing on the other side. After the entry procedures were completed, we entered Thailand. Several taxi drivers rushed over to us trying to attract our business. I used sign language to ask how much it would cost to reach the centre.

"Ten dollars," said one.

I shook my head "five dollars" and tried to convey that it was only a short distance away. A handsome man in his early thirty's wearing fashionable torn jeans and a light green shirt framed by highlighted blonde hair spoke to me in pidgin English:
"Yes, it's short, but you can't walk, right?"

My husband continued signing that we didn't have much money and would not be able to get more. To prove it, he took out a bunch of kip and a two dollar note. The other drivers standing around were still trying to calculate how much money he was waving around when the young man quickly grabbed it and told us to wait. The drivers said something to us in Thai and then the rest fanned out, bursting into laughter. We stood alone in the broiling sun at the border gate of a strange country with not a soul around. I was worried.

"What's taking so long? I'm afraid he won't come back."

"Don't worry, dear. It's only a few dollars, not worth stealing. Maybe he had to park far away."

Five minutes later a silver car pulled up to us. The handsome driver got out and opened the car door. I was taken aback. The car was quite luxurious. It could easily belong to a senior official. My husband guessed:
"My guess is that he didn't come by this car honestly, so he dares not stop in public."

"All right, please, hop in!"

Everything inside the car was very luxurious. A TV equipped with a fancy sound system held a prominent position. When he asked where we were headed I tried to explain that we wanted to go to the trade centre. He didn't say anything, only switched on some noisy hip-hop music and drove the car at full speed on the left hand side of the road.

"Where are you from?"
"Viet Nam"
"Tourists?"
"Yes."

After a few friendly questions, he discretely watched us through the glass as he nodded his head to the music. For the rest of the drive, our chauffeur was as silent as a grave. I figured his English was so poor that he felt it was useless to talk. We were also silent as the car sped along the expressway. Outside we saw the heat waves spreading over the tropical fields, so I wanted to stay inside the car for as long as possible to enjoy the cool air. The road was fairly quiet with only a few cars passing us on the ‘wrong' side. I was sure we had already gone three kilometers when the driver suddenly turned onto a small roadside lane. I was startled by the sudden slow-down and the darkness that overtook us as we passed beneath dense foliage along our path. I glanced at my husband who muttered a few worried words to our driver in English:
"Is it the road to the city centre?"

"Yes," he answered in a cold voice filled with formality.

The music was still very noisy. I was worried. Express ways from the suburbs to the city centre were typically the shortest and easiest routes. Why was this guy taking us on this bumpy road? If it were a short cut, we should have seen other people, but the area around us was completely deserted. Not a soul to be seen. I was pretty sure no one lived nearby.

Why was this smart-looking guy driving a luxury vehicle standing among that bunch of poor-looking drivers? I suddenly felt frightened and tried to stick closer to my husband who was holding my hand tightly. I was trembling.

We were so stupid. I began to think he probably thought we had a lot of money on us because we were clearly not tourists from Laos. I hazarded a quick glance at him. He was a bit taller than my husband and stronger, but we were two. But what if he had a knife or a gun? A lot of scary ideas cropped up in my head.
I was extremely tense but I answered when the guy posed a question:
"Is this man your husband?"
"Yes."

He hesitated.
"Does he know English?"
"No", I replied in the moment of confusion.

He was silent for a moment.
"So he is a very lucky man…. Because…. he has a very beautiful wife."

My throat choked up. I received compliments like this every day, but in this case… I caught his eyes in the mirror. They were cruel and crafty eyes. I began thinking about not only the possibility of robbery but also…. it became hard to breathe. Maybe his gang was waiting somewhere nearby. Maybe they would tie us up and throw us into a pit in a deserted area of the forest. I did not translate the short conversation, but my husband seemed to understand. The car was cool but my husband's forehead was wet with sweat. I felt so sorry for asking him to go with me on this foolish trip. I had heard of a lot of crimes occurring in this far-flung area. If we went missing, the police of three countries wouldn't know where to begin looking for us.

***
 

The car suddenly stopped and I trembled. The driver gave us a quick glance as his eyes roamed around the area is if he was looking for something. The thick foliage was behind us by then and two immense fields basking in the hot sun lined both sides of us. He took out his mobile phone and began speaking rapidly in Thai with occasional glances our way. My guess was that he was saying someone's name. I could see my husband looking around and thinking hard. The man suddenly yelled into the phone something that sounded foul. He stepped from the car and opened my husband's door as well, signaling for him to get out. I tried to open my own door but the man stopped me. I began begging him to take everything we had but to spare our lives. If we died I wanted to die by my husband, so I begged him to let me out. He rapped out a flurry of angry-sounding Thai words and slammed the door in my face. His hands were waving in all directions. I burst into tears. He signaled to my husband to go to the back of the car and put his hands on the bumper. My husband's face was pale. He refused the order so the driver flew into a rage. I gestured to my husband to do as he was asked. My husband did it, and the driver quickly got into the car. I closed my eyes. Oh, God, that was it!

When I opened my eyes, I saw the driver waving his hands out of the door, urging my husband to push. After a few moments of surprise, my husband tried all he could to push the car. It began moving and eventually the machine started. The car ran smoothly for a short distance before the driver applied the break and waved my husband to get into the car. The car moved along for a few metres before turning onto a small lane. The crowded trade centre opened up before our eyes. He pulled the car forward into the shade and began speaking:
"Lotus."

A huge billboard with the word "Lotus" was displayed on the top of the building. I was surprised that such a huge trade centre was located in such a desolate area. The guy got out and opened the door for us, smiling. He said "Thank you" several times as he pointed to the car, clearly happy that we helped him push the car. My husband shook his hand and said thank you as well. He smiled again, raising his finger: "Viet Nam…. very good, very good."

We entered the Lotus. A tanned sales girl greeted us with the familiar words of welcome: Sawadee Khaaaa./.

Translated by Manh Chuong