This had to be another early start as our travels today to Laos necessitated us flying via Thailand. The flight out of Yangon meant we were on the road at 06:00 in order to avoid the horrific traffic snarls that are famous in this city even in the early morning. To add to the potential traffic problems, Pope Francis was arriving today in Yangon at around 11:30 but even at 07:00 there were security personnel and military vehicles already gathering in the airport precinct.
The flight to Bangkok was on an Air Asia (no frills) Air Bus A320 service which took just on an hour. We had a three-hour transit time in Bangkok before flying on to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. This flight took 80 minutes.
The immigration section at Vientiane was efficient and our ‘visas on arrival’ were promptly issued for the cost of US$30 plus one passport photo.
We were then met by Song, our local guide for the next few days. With there now being only six of us in our group, we had our bags quickly packed into our mini-van and were off to our new hotel called the Salana Boutique Hotel. Song explained the pronunciation of the country’s name. The country is Laos (as in louse) but adjectivally the word is Lao e.g. the local cuisine is Lao (laow)
On moving through the city from the airport, we were immediately aware of a complete change of locale. Our previous city of Yangon had been overcrowded with people, traffic and numerous roadside stalls plus all the associated issues of smog, litter, stray dogs, beggars,…. Our initial impression of Vientiane entailed the opposite, being a slower moving city, no traffic issues, clean roadsides and relatively few people.
This may be easily explained by the fact that Yangon has a population of around seven million in a country of seventy million whereas Vientiane has a population of 700 thousand in a country of just seven million. Laos is seemingly much more geared up for the western tourist trade whereas Myanmar is only just realising the financial benefits that tourism will bring to its flagging economy.
Our hotel is just one block from the Mekong River so after settling into our hotel rooms our group went for a late afternoon walk and saw the marketeers setting up their stalls along the river embankment ready for the night market.
We then strolled into the nearby restaurant area recommended by Song and had an early evening meal trying some of the local food specialities as well as the excellent ‘Beer Lao’.
By 19:00 we were back in our room ready for some much needed catch-up sleep after a day that involved a lot of travel, waiting, queuing and being vigilant within airport crowds.
The feeling in the group is that this country has much to offer and its pace and style seem admirably suited to our needs.
Tomorrow we spend the morning in the capital and then drive 150 km north to our next location where we’ll stay for two nights.