After an overnight stopover in Bangkok, we’ve arrived at our first port of call on our trip to Laos; the Beau Rivage Mekong hotel in the capital city of Vientiane. As it’s name suggests, it’s situated right on the bank of the Mekong River, and as such our room has a direct south-facing view across the border to Thailand.

We rose early, and made it in plenty of time to Suvarnbhumi (Bangkok) Airport. You would never have believed that only a few days ago the place was full of PAD demonstrators, and had pretty much been brought to a standstill; the place looked spick and span, and travellers were flowing through like you would expect at any international airport of note.

Getting from A to B was about as hassle-free as flying can be. Queues were minimal on check-in, and getting through security seemed almost too easy. We used Laos’ national carrier, and despite the plane being something slightly more modern that what you would see in an Indiana Jones movie (I love prop planes) the short hop was practically effortless.

We arrived at the hotel at midday, by which point the sun was high in the sky and the temperature was starting to rise. A quick change out of British winter clothes (we’d been sitting in some kind of air-conditioned environment or other since we left Heathrow) and into more appropriate attire put us in good stead for an afternoon of roaming and acclimatising to the culture.

Thankfully, the hassle factor here is extremely low; it’s not affluent here by any stretch of the imagination, but people here are relaxed and fairly friendly. Tuk-tuk’s roam the street plying for trade in true Asian fashion, and around just about every corner there’s a Bhuddist temple to visit. There’s a fair bit of dilapidation here too, with some classic colonial architecture falling into complete ruin.

After taking in a tasty lunch at the Scandinavian Cafe in Nam Phu (Central Fountain), (which seemed to be very popular with foreign tourists - perhaps a sign of “Lonely Planet syndrome”?), we visited the Sisaket and Ho Phra Keo “museums”, which where essentially Bhuddist temples open to the public.

We scouted around a little more for excursions and places to stay, before heading back to base to get some much needed “jet-lag therapy” (i.e. sleep).