Saturday 22 December
Apart from the fact it was a 0700 departure the one hour flight in Smile Plus was a pleasant experience. Less so the next leg of upper journey.
It is about an hour’s taxi ride from the AirPort to the border at Chong Mek on a pretty smooth highway. The challenges is undertaking the journey at anything less than Formula One speeds. Luckily the road at 0830 was empty so we were spared the zig zagging between lorries, buses and cars.
Arriving at the border exiting Thailand was really very smooth but sone one had then decided it would be a good idea to contrast an underpass between Thailand and Laos which involved carrying cases down in Thailand and up again in Laos.
Luckily at the exit was our guide for the visit Mr Serd who we had had flown down specially from Vientiane. We stopped for a reviving cup of Lao coffer before heading to the visa office. A form, a couple of photos and USD 35 each was all that was needed - ah ! not so fast! an extra dollar each was needed for the ‘express service’. Without it I guess it would have taken a while. Welcome to the People’s Democratic Republic of Lao.
After purchasing a 4G data sim for USD 6 we headed off into Pakse on again a surprising good road. Along the roadside it was clear that there was prosperity at least in this part of Laos near the Thai border.
Pakse has some old French charm and the hotel certainly did. Baguette sandwich for lunch and a short walk. At 1600 we were picked up for a quick tour of the local monastery and a drive up to a viewpoint above the town which lies on the Mekong.
Rooftop bars are available so we took a sundowner on the roof of the Pakse hotel taking advantage of happy hour and a fresh coconut Pina Colada.
We decided a foot massage was called for and we though that the Panorama restaurant where we had had the drink would be a good dinner choice. We were wrong. The Pad Thai was lukewarm and even after it was sent back things did not get better. So it was pizza down the road.
Apart from the fact it was a 0700 departure the one hour flight in Smile Plus was a pleasant experience. Less so the next leg of upper journey.
It is about an hour’s taxi ride from the AirPort to the border at Chong Mek on a pretty smooth highway. The challenges is undertaking the journey at anything less than Formula One speeds. Luckily the road at 0830 was empty so we were spared the zig zagging between lorries, buses and cars.
Arriving at the border exiting Thailand was really very smooth but sone one had then decided it would be a good idea to contrast an underpass between Thailand and Laos which involved carrying cases down in Thailand and up again in Laos.
Luckily at the exit was our guide for the visit Mr Serd who we had had flown down specially from Vientiane. We stopped for a reviving cup of Lao coffer before heading to the visa office. A form, a couple of photos and USD 35 each was all that was needed - ah ! not so fast! an extra dollar each was needed for the ‘express service’. Without it I guess it would have taken a while. Welcome to the People’s Democratic Republic of Lao.
After purchasing a 4G data sim for USD 6 we headed off into Pakse on again a surprising good road. Along the roadside it was clear that there was prosperity at least in this part of Laos near the Thai border.
Pakse has some old French charm and the hotel certainly did. Baguette sandwich for lunch and a short walk. At 1600 we were picked up for a quick tour of the local monastery and a drive up to a viewpoint above the town which lies on the Mekong.
Rooftop bars are available so we took a sundowner on the roof of the Pakse hotel taking advantage of happy hour and a fresh coconut Pina Colada.
We decided a foot massage was called for and we though that the Panorama restaurant where we had had the drink would be a good dinner choice. We were wrong. The Pad Thai was lukewarm and even after it was sent back things did not get better. So it was pizza down the road.