Pakse to Siem Reap

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Just enough time to wolf down a cup of tea and a few slices of pineapple before being transferred to the airport. The guide and driver are relieved that the bags are lighter. We were the first customers to arruive and had to wait to check our baggage and verify tickets. A 2 hour wait. It will be a long day with a 6 hour layover in Vientaine before going on to Bangkok to catch a connection to Siem Reap. Direct flights from Pakse are available, but not every day.

We use the time in Vientaine to visit the National Museum. A good assortment of national treasures and the displays explained some unanswered questions we had about the temples we had visited. I especially liked the section on the Plain of Jars. It was something I had hoped to include in our itinerary but had to forsake for lack of time. and it's isolated location. I think it is comparable to the Nasca Lines in Peru; more intriguing on paper and photos than in reality.

Of interest also was the section on the French and American colonial periods. What barbarians, both of them. Then again, this communist propoganda must be taken into account. But a picture IS worth a thousand words.

We fly Air Lao to Bangkok. Again, great service and lots of smiles. In Bangkok, we are met on the tarmac by an Air Bangkok agent and wisked off to the other end of the airport to make our connection.

We arrive in Cambodia at 8 pm and by the time all the immigration formalities are completed, we arrive at our B&B, Journeys-Within at a little after 9. We are given the suite, a 2 story bungalow, beautifully laid out with white walls, tiled floors, 2 full baths, kitchen, living room and a huge bedroom upstairs. Nooks in the wall hold Hindu statues. The upstairs shower is surrounded by pebbles through which the grey water is filtered, so it is like bathing in a stream. We have a view of gardens and a swimming pool. The flowers must be gorgious in the rainy season. The songs of frogs and crickets add to the ambience.

Pleasant dreams tonight, fer sure.

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