We almost made it #1 at breakfast again, but had to settle for #2 this morning. It was then a quick 10 minute trip into the airport. It was during this trip that we discovered our guide made jewellery and had her own store, that kept her Lyn chatting for the short journey.
It was little confusing at the airport as, although our first flight was domestic, back to Bangkok we were treated as International passengers as we were flying onto Laos. 95% of the flight checked in at the Domestic terminal, the rest of us at the International. Once the flight was called, we walked to the aircraft and met up with the passengers from domestic. All I can think of was that we cleared immigration at Chiang Mai rather than in Bangkok.
At Bangkok we felt a need for some “normal” coffee, so we grabbed some from McDonald’s! Flying in to Luang Prabang in Laos we thought the airport to be some way from the city centre as there were no large buildings visible. We were wrong we landed close to the centre of the second largest city in Laos, population 50,000. Laos is a small landlocked country with a population of around 7 million people.
Once through the various immigration formalities which were quite rigorous i.e. fill out arrival and departure card, get visa in the passport and pass though immigration, we emerged into the airport landside. It only took about 10 minutes as we had a guide to fast track us. He told us it can take upwards of 2 hours to complete immigration normally. Luang Prabang was a throw back to the 1950’s. No high rises or apparent modern buildings. The room was totally different to any we have been in so far, and to me is of the French Colonial style. There is even a 1947 Citroen out side. Laos was a French colony until 1945 when it then endured 2 years of Japanese rule and then the French took over again after 2 years until the 1980’s.
The area was perfectly safe to go walking after dark, so we headed off to a local restaurant for some local food. We also needed to get some local cash as you cannot obtain it outside the country. The exchange rate is ridiculous….. we changed $50 and came away with 800,000 kit!
Tomorrow we head off exploring the local area.