After six hours on a bus grinding over dirt and rocks through rural Laos, my head was spinning.
Did we really make it to the train station? Or had the driver just pulled over to let us die out here?
Three hours into the wait, I needed to pee. Badly.
"Toilet?" I asked. "Toilet?"
But not a lick of English. Just head shakes and a few "no"s.
Then I found the train station police officer—surely he'd know.
"Toilet?"
He looked me dead in the eyes, then pointed behind me.
I turned around. Nothing but bushes lining the edge of the parking lot.
Ah, of course—makes perfect sense.
So I peed in the bushes while Laotian taxi drivers stared at me.
Welcome to Laos.