Today is flight day. We want to go from Taipei to Da Nang in Vietnam, top-off there and then continue to Luang Prabang in Laos. Since the winds are "against us", so we always have headwind, we expect 9-10 hours flight time. We wanted to leave around 10:00 clock. But for the first time on the trip, we both overslept :-) The flight the day before into the night was probably more stressful then we thought. So ... change flight plan, inform handlers, have breakfast and go to the airport. There we have to refuel.

Fast refueling, and off we go!

Nice view on the "101" of Taipei, and we are over the clouds.

The flight over the South China Sea runs quietly. We always have to deviate a few thunderstorm cells. Otherwise we listen to the radio. Again very different than in Japan.

In Da Nang we land just before sunset. We top-off quickly ... again briefly on the toilet and we are back in the air. We are surprised how smooth and quick we have been. Nevertheless, we are late.

Final Da Nang

Just before Take-Off in Da Nang

It gets dark right after the start and the weather over Laos does not look good. Shortly before we are crossing the border to Laos, we have to descend because of icing. At 16,000 feet we approach Laos. The rain is increasing and getting stronger. We are in a strong monsoon rains. The rain is pounding against our windshield with full force. The positive thing is that the plane gets a free cleaning. What concerns us, how much water our turbine can handle. The water runs through the turbine directly into the combustion chamber. How much water can into the turbine before it extinguishes the fire? There is no exact information from the manufacturer. There are great videos on the internet where you can conduct appropriate tests. However, since we can not "measure" how strong the rain density we fly through, there remains a strange feeling. Especially at night over mountainous terrain. We discuss the emergency and decide to land in the Mekong in the event of a turbine failure. Although this is not easy at night, but would have the highest probability to work.

But our RollsRoyce turbine is working perfectly. Despite the huge amounts of water she has to swallow, she continues to turn without even a single suspicious signal.

Here is the video for the approach to Luang Prabang with the radio of the Tower.

It is raining heavily in Luang Prabang. Our guide brings us umbrellas :-)