If you’ve read this blog over the last few months, you might remember that when we were in India I posted about the terrors of flying in planes with propellers – we didn’t like turbulence that felt like the plane had just hit a brick wall… you know what I mean? Anyway that wonderful experience was courtesy of Jet Airlines, who actually were excellent and have a very good international reputation.
Moving on a few months – meet ‘Lao Airlines’. Or rather don’t if you can avoid it! The only way you can easily get from Chiang Mai into neighbouring Laos is by flying, especially if you have a tight schedule to keep to (and thanks to my best friend Amit and his wedding in London in a few weeks time we do). Of course the only airline that flies from Chiang Mai to Laos is ‘Lao Airlines’ – a small government-owned company with an appalling safety record. At least, the safety record is really bad for their domestic flights. We did an extensive internet search before booking our tickets, and were reassured that the international flights used nice big planes – Airbuses or Boeings. Only the internal flights between Louang Phabang and Vientiane (the capital) used the dodgy old converted Chinese military craft. So flying in from Thailand should be fine. Absolutely fine.
As a result, when we walked out of the airport bus to see our plane was a small, propeller driven thing where the luggage was stowed just by the cockpit we were a little taken aback. Stepping cautiously on board we thrilled to see the chairs seemed to be tacked onto the floor with little more than drawing pins. But reassuringly the tiny seats were upholstered in a flower pattern coloured with violently florescent shades. Very soothing. Oh, and the final calming touch was that the seat belts attached to our chairs were completely different from everyone else’s on the plane – mine was absolutely huge, twisted, and completely unadjustable. Really useful if things did go wrong!
Anyway, as you can tell from this post we survived the flight in our lovely little ATR 72. There was a heck of a lot of turbulence in places – well it is the rainy season so we expected that. The engines made a huge amount of noise so that the whole plane seemed to resonate. And every now and then the tone on the engines would suddenly change pitch, making you feel as if they’d stalled or something. Nice!
But the pilot was perfectly good, and touched down in Louang Phabang very smoothly despite the poring rain. Actually it was probably the most beautifully scenic landing we’ve ever had due to fantastic views of the Mekong river and surrounding mountains capped with lush forests and golden temples. It took our minds off the scary flight which is saying something! As did the cute little airport which, to be honest, looked more like a petrol station. Now we’re sitting in our very atmospheric hotel room, waiting for the rain to ease up slightly as we can’t wait to explore the town. The glimpses we had from the plane and our taxi window were tantalisingly lovely to say the least. This is a smidge more remote and untouched than Thailand!
Moving on a few months – meet ‘Lao Airlines’. Or rather don’t if you can avoid it! The only way you can easily get from Chiang Mai into neighbouring Laos is by flying, especially if you have a tight schedule to keep to (and thanks to my best friend Amit and his wedding in London in a few weeks time we do). Of course the only airline that flies from Chiang Mai to Laos is ‘Lao Airlines’ – a small government-owned company with an appalling safety record. At least, the safety record is really bad for their domestic flights. We did an extensive internet search before booking our tickets, and were reassured that the international flights used nice big planes – Airbuses or Boeings. Only the internal flights between Louang Phabang and Vientiane (the capital) used the dodgy old converted Chinese military craft. So flying in from Thailand should be fine. Absolutely fine.
As a result, when we walked out of the airport bus to see our plane was a small, propeller driven thing where the luggage was stowed just by the cockpit we were a little taken aback. Stepping cautiously on board we thrilled to see the chairs seemed to be tacked onto the floor with little more than drawing pins. But reassuringly the tiny seats were upholstered in a flower pattern coloured with violently florescent shades. Very soothing. Oh, and the final calming touch was that the seat belts attached to our chairs were completely different from everyone else’s on the plane – mine was absolutely huge, twisted, and completely unadjustable. Really useful if things did go wrong!
Anyway, as you can tell from this post we survived the flight in our lovely little ATR 72. There was a heck of a lot of turbulence in places – well it is the rainy season so we expected that. The engines made a huge amount of noise so that the whole plane seemed to resonate. And every now and then the tone on the engines would suddenly change pitch, making you feel as if they’d stalled or something. Nice!
But the pilot was perfectly good, and touched down in Louang Phabang very smoothly despite the poring rain. Actually it was probably the most beautifully scenic landing we’ve ever had due to fantastic views of the Mekong river and surrounding mountains capped with lush forests and golden temples. It took our minds off the scary flight which is saying something! As did the cute little airport which, to be honest, looked more like a petrol station. Now we’re sitting in our very atmospheric hotel room, waiting for the rain to ease up slightly as we can’t wait to explore the town. The glimpses we had from the plane and our taxi window were tantalisingly lovely to say the least. This is a smidge more remote and untouched than Thailand!
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