We arrived in Vientiane, Laos after a long journey. We left New York at around noon on Thursday. It was a 14 hour flight over the North Pole to Tokyo. There was a short layover and then about a 6 1/2 hour flight to Bangkok, Thailand. Thankfully, we were in Business Class. However, Delta Airlines has these elaborate seats that adjust and recline every which way but somehow you can never really get comfortable. Nonetheless, we got some sleep which is important when traveling over that many time zones.
At the Bangkok airport were were faced with an 11 hour layover. Luckily, we were able to get a short-term room for 6 hours that allowed us to get some sleep in a horizontal bed and a hot shower.
On Saturday afternoon we arrived in Vientiane after a 1 1/2 flight and, lo and behold, our luggage was there to greet us!
Laos, is a small, poor landlocked country that is governed by a “communist” government. We got off the plane in a modern airport and headed to immigration. Honest to God, the first sign we saw was an advertisement for Price Waterhouse. Such is “communism” these days.
Immigration in poor countries is always a challenge. The poorer the country, the more difficult the process and the more elaborate the visas are (and the higher the entry fees). There’s this inverse relationship. In the US or the European Union they stamp your passport and there probably isn’t even enough ink in the stamp for it to show up. Go to the Congo, Laos, Cambodia, etc. and there is no doubt, when looking at your passport, that you have been “officially” admitted to the “Kingdon”, the “People’s Republic” or the “Democratic Republic of . . .”.
There happened to be five of our group on the same flight from Bangkok to Vientiane. So after going through immigration we next need to get transportation to the hotel which is located in the center of the city. Amazingly, we were able to hire a van to take all of us to the hotel for the princely some of $7 US. No negotiations, no rip-offs.
I’m thinking, I may like this place!