Monday November 19th and an early breakfast for an eight o'clock getaway. We were to travel all the way to Mukdahan via Vientane and Nong Khai. The view from the breakfast verandah was unparalleled, certainly in my experience and obviously why our travel agent had chosen it. Harry and Neville had the same view from their verandah, a sight they won't forget in a hurry. There was plenty of European choice for breakfast, lots of crispy bacon, hash brown's and omelette on toast for me.

Off we went, in the little white pickup's to the old Air America airfield to board the coach. Apparently there are development plans for the airfield site and it could certainly do with being utilised better I think. The leg from Vang Vieng to Vientiane is hilly and twisting, but not to the extreme of Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. The construction sites for the railway seemed more obvious this time. In one area it looked as though the railway would run smack bang through the centre of a large village and impact it massively.

I wondered what rights the villagers had? There will be great disruption to their lives and some of them will definitely lose their home's. I wondered if they will receive decent compensation? We had been on pretty flat ground for quite some time and at one point passed over another Bailey Bridge built on the columns of a previously bombed one. In the background, the columns of the new HS railway bridge were under construction. Shortly after this we climbed up what was to be the last incline although we didn't know that then.

Underneath us is the last tunnel before Vientiane. Stretching into the distance is the route of the HS railway heading south to the Laos capital. The rollover shows a screengrab of the area in question in conventional map format i.e. north at the top of the image, south at the bottom. I've highlighted in red the birds eye view of what this image is showing. We descended on to the plain below passing Phonhong and Phonsavang. It was around here that we stopped at a service station for a break.

We moved on towards Vientiane, we knew we were getting closer when an airliner could be seen descending from the sky. As we entered the outskirts of Vientiane, I noticed how much waste plastic was lying around particularly plastic bags. On arrival at the Wattay Airport we hung around in the Arrivals lounge for a while. I was pleasantly surprised that a computerised system was in use for checking in. I think it's a recent addition though as plenty of signs of the old system were still in place.

Unfortunately we were all too busy eating to remember to take pictures. Lunch over and we made our way back to ground level to board the coach. We took the opportunity for a group picture and boarded the coach to head of to the Thanaleng border crossing. We passed the new U S Embassy on the outskirts of the city. Cy was keeping us entertained with his stories, the one about seeing his wife for the first time in a number of weeks springs to mind. Apparently his marriage works better when he's away from home, earning a crust.

We passed through Thai Immigration quite smoothly. I got the impression that the Officers on duty knew our trip organisor pretty well. We now faced a 330 kilometre, four hour journey back to Mukdahan and the River Front Hotel. The frontage of the Mekong in Mukdahan is undergoing an upgrade. The Chinese Market vendors have had temporary stalls built very close to the front of the buildings. Again, showing all his skills, the driver manouvered his vehicle in a very tight situation perfectly.