Day 9

Today we were flying to Luangprabang with Lao Airlines via Pakse in Southern Cambodia. The flight will take approximately 3.5 hours, but we did not have to be at the airport till 1.00pm.
 
We had to send some clothes back to Australia, took too many in our rush back home, so we headed to the Post Office to send 4kg of unnecessary cloths back to Australia, which was expensive – all up costing $35.00 but we needed space. We then headed to both the ‘Old and Central’ markets. Cherie wanted to buy some of the beautiful Angkor Wat silk bedspread covers and by then she had got the bargaining right and bought several, hence the space we needed. She also bought a lovely fake silver jewellery case and a ‘Shiva’ sculpture with the seven snake heads. Until now I hadn’t bought anything but that was about to change.
 
Back to the ‘Ancient Angkor Hotel’, did our final packing, paid the bill and headed off with our tuk-tuk drivers to the brand new and impressive Siem Reap Airport. We gave them a tip for all their kind and special attention to us and checked in for our flight to Luangprabang. Had a great ice coffee mocha and carrot cake with Cherie and then at the last minute I decided I would look at the Cambodian Artisan duty free shop. Viv and Gerald had been to their workshop close to our hotel earlier in the morning and bought some of their wares. I found the only thing I Siem Reap that I wanted to by. It was a plaque made out of sandstone with a decorated Angkor face. It was high quality. Had to pay $US74.00, but if it is the only thing I buy when I am away then I will be happy. It weighed 5kgs but they packed it with foam and tape and gave me a special carry bag, so I can take it on the planes.
 
We headed off to Luanprabang in our propeller driven MA60 plane (a Chinese made aircraft) and had an uneventful flight, (apart from a very fast landing at Pakse in southern Laos) and arrived just before dark at 5.45pm. The plane negotiated itself in between magnificent mountains and  over the Mekong river to the airport. We had to pay $30.00 entrance tax to get our visa and then took a taxi van to our prebooked and paid for Haysoke Hotel. It’s was fine. We had some drinks on the balcony adjacent to our rooms and then had a satisfactory meal at the ‘Parasol de Blanc’ restaurant across the road. I was feeling tired so I went back to our room and left Gerald, Viv and Cherie back at the restaurant.