Short cut to Cambodia

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We got up at 4.30am to get to the airport and check in for our flight to Cambodia. The Laos Airlines plane was driven by propellors... but it was actually quite modern. The flight took us down to Pakse in southern Laos where we went immigration before taking the same place across to Siam Rep, where we cleared customs, got visas, travelled into town and found a new guest house by the time we would normally be leaving for a day’s activities. Unfortunately I was still not feeling 100% and had not got much sleep due to the noisy air-con in Vientiane, so I stayed in the hostel while Sammy went exploring.

By late-afternoon I was feeling mostly better and we took a remork (tuk-tuk in different configuration) to Ankor Wat to watch the sunset from a nearby hill. The whole place was crowded with Japanese tourists, mostly elderly, who were struggling to climb some fairly steep steps on the temple at the top of the hill. It was a bit of a farce and by sidestepping them we managed to find somewhere to sit, but the view was hardly inspiring. The guide book had failed to mention that the view was the opposite direction from any of the main sites, so although the sunset was pretty, it wasn’t quite what we’d expected.

After returning to Siam Rep I tested my card on an ATM and found that it worked (obviously my bank doesn’t like the Laos bank or something), so, finally, I felt like I had enough money. We found somewhere to eat in the nearby Psar Chaa area, watching the street below teem with western tourists - a far cry from the capital of Laos we had left that morning.

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