A strange accident of birth has left me with a “funny” passport. Most of the time everything is fine, but problems kick in when I travel, especially around Asia, which seems to be incapable of making up its mind as to whether my country of birth actually exists. What this means is that I am always applying for visas, which means I am always hanging around entry points which means I keep my laptop close, which in turn means that I am always online gambling. It really means that I am having a great time even though I am stationary. But I have to keep myself under control and not jump around or yell with excitement when I win for fear that the border guards will not let me enter the country he is guarding. So I generally play in some quieter online casino and turn the sound button to very soft or mute it completely. Yesterday I sat on a low stone wall next to the entry point to Laos overlooking the muddy Mekong River, while two inscrutable Laotian border policemen tried to read my passport, while holding it upside down and firing questions at me at the same time. In answer, I opened my laptop, logged into an online casino and selected online baccarat to play, while the representatives of the government made a decision. I haven’t really played online baccarat before and I found this game highly exciting under the circumstances. This online gambling game is a bit like blackjack, but it is the hand closest to 9 that wins. If your hand totals more than 9, the 1 is dropped, meaning that if you are dealt a 7 and a 5 giving you 12, the one is dropped and your score is 2. You then call for another card. In this game only 3 bets are possible – the player wins, the dealer wins, it’s a draw. And the action is superfast. The guards finally grunted approval for me to enter their country and walked around to see what I was up to. They stood glassy-eyed watching. They smiled when I did and groaned with me. I made a couple of hundred dollars while I was waiting, enough pay for a week’s stay in Laos! Posted on: November 24, 2008
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