We leave our hotel in Luang Prabang at 10.30am, to head to the airport for our flight to Yangon, via Bangkok. Luang Prabang is such a small place, we are at the airport in no time, but fortunately the check in is open despite our being very early.
It is such a small airport, there are only a couple of check in counters with fixed scales for weighing baggage, and they cover all airlines. We head off to the departure lounge, and expect a long wait. About 30 mins before the scheduled departure date, we are on our plane and on our way. It would never happen in Australia (or a lot of other places for that matter). The plane is another ATR 72 carrying about 70 passengers.
Not surprisingly, we are in Bangkok ahead of time, and have a 2 hour stopover, changing planes to head off to Yangon. This flight leaves 30 mins late, but picks up time along the short flight to Yangon, and we arrive about 20 mins late.
The Orient Express man is there to meet us at arrivals and we are loaded into a mini bus to take us to our hotel, The Governors Residence.
Yangon is a lot more developed than we expected. The airport is modern (only about 6 years old) and immigration processing was very efficient with little delay, as was baggage handling. We have arrived at around 5.45pm, so expect a slow trip into town, as it is peak hour, but the traffic is not too bad, and the roads in pretty good condition. The only peculiarity is that they drive on the right hand side of the road, but the cars are mostly right hand drive. Our guide explains that they used to drive on the left hand side, until General Ne Win visited USA, and he changed the Country over to driving on the right on his return. The cars seem relatively new, and we are told they are mostly second hand cars from Japan (hence all the right hand drives still being popular). We have seen no motorcycles and only a few push bikes, so public transport must be very efficient.
The building in which our rooms are located
Our Room
The swimming pool area
The Governors Residence is an old Colonial Building located not far from town, as with all the hotels we have stayed in, it is very comfortable with large rooms and first class facilities. As we arrive a big storm passes over and we have to dash from the bus to reception to avoid getting soaked. During the check in we experience our first blackout. The staff quickly arrive with battery powered lights, as if this is a regular occurrence.
Our second blackout came about 30 mins later, when we were having a drink in the Kipling Bar, followed by a third one during dinner. None were of any great duration, but the power supply is obviously stretched.
Dinner in the Mandalay restaurant
The rain eventually stopped, and we had an early night.
Just outside our room door we noticed a gecko waiting in the light to catch unsuspecting insects
No comments:
Post a Comment