For the next leg of our journey we're heading to Vientaine in Laos. Getting there by bus looks long and tiring so we opted to fly albeit we had to go via Pakse in Laos. We left the Rose Apple after breakfast. We've had lots of 'firsts' so far on our travels and arriving at Siem Reap airport in a tuk tuk will be another to add to the list. The airport looked very new (in fact it was still being built) and was very quiet. Air side was like any other airport with shops, restaurants and cafes. Our plane was a small prop engine and like the airport appeared very new. The flight to Pakse, north east of Siem Reap takes just over an hour. It seemed quite strange flying after weeks of buses, trains and boats and we both felt that we were missing out on something by not going overland. We were the only plane on the tarmac when we arrived. Despite being in transit we had to go through visa administration and immigration. It was surprisingly straightforward if somewhat bureaucratic. There were five desks in total each with their individually assigned task. Desk one checked our visa application form, stabled our photo to the form and wrote details in a long row in a book. Desk two issued the visa. Desk three took the $35 payment. Desk four checked the visa (we think - not really sure). Desk five checked and stamped our arrivals card. We then had to check in for the onward flight to Vientiane and go through departure immigrations (not sure what they did). By now a few more flights had arrived with passengers waiting from onward flights to Bangkok, Siem Reap and like us Vientiane. We think we actually got back on the same plane that we came from Siem Reap on, it was certainly the same crew. Another short flight and we landed in Vientiane. We'd arranged for a lift with hotel but didn't they hadn't turned up so decided to get a taxi. It was all a bit confusing as the one we paid for then took two Chinese girls so we had to go back to the desk to work out what was happening and ensure we didn't pay twice. Another taxi driver then drove us c5km to the hotel, Aroon Residence which is just north of the main drag. We checked in (the manager was very apologetic for not picking us up and offered to reimburse the taxi fare), sorted travel for Saturday to Vang Vieng and the owner phoned a b&b in Huay Xai in north Laos that we would like to stay at but isn't on any booking sites and we couldn't find an email address for them. We then wandered into town to see what we should do over next few days here, in Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang. In need of refreshment we headed to a 3rd floor bar overlooking the Mekong River and across to Thailand, enjoying our first Beer Lao as we watched the sunset. We had dinner at traditional Laos restaurant, very tasty and fresh if a little spicy, before heading back to the hotel.
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| Our transport to Pakse |
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| Enjoying our first Beer Lao |
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| Sunset over the Mekong |
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