Laos
Bak chor mee at the airport isn't the best, but hard to complain about noodles for breakfast. Less great was a 4.5 hour delay due to an world-wide emergency maintenance directive for Airbus A320-series aircraft, but at least Scoot gave us snack bags during the delay. A 3 hour-ish flight on board an ULCC is pretty survivable, brought my own bottle of water and stuff to read, and managed to keep all my devices topped-up during the long wait at the gate so lack of power onboard was not an issue.
Arrival in to Vientiane was pretty uneventful, the airport has a bit more style than expected, and immigration, especially since I had obtained a visa before I left, was very efficient. Was quite glad I had done that instead of applying for a visa on arrival (that line... ouch), and then it was a quick ten minute ride to the hotel. Not sure what kind of minivan the hotel used; while not a luxury make per se, it was quite nice.
Rooms at the Amari Vientiane are well-appointed and spacious, the rooftop bar has a lovely view of the Mekong River and the adjacent night market/amusement park, and the sunset was beautiful. Opted to eat at the bar, which was mostly tasty if generic (first two dishes-- shrimp and sashimi-- were very good, the latter two not so much), and then went to bed. Hitting up night market was tempting, but honestly after such a long day at the airport, I was not feeling it.