{"id":185,"date":"2015-02-15T04:58:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-15T04:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/?p=185"},"modified":"2024-08-05T09:05:51","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T09:05:51","slug":"luang-prabang-bangkok-commute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/?p=185","title":{"rendered":"Luang Prabang &#8211; Bangkok Commute"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">pieterneele | 15 February, 2015 04:58<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A series of trips over the past two years. Lost count. From my pied \u00e0\n terre in Luang Prabang to Bangkok. To catch a cheap Air Asia flight to \nChina or a plane to Holland, or to move on elsewhere in Southeast Asia \nor meet friends in Bangkok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It can be done within 24 hours now that the international bus from  Luang Prabang to Loei is running \u2013 leaving at 8.00 am, changing to a  night bus in Loei and getting to Bangkok by 5.30 am. But usually I break  the trip in Loei, staying in the same hotel each time, cheap and  adequate. Within walking distance from the bus station if I have packed  lightly. Which mostly I haven\u2019t. The chargers alone, for laptop,  smartphone, spare phone, camera, electric toothbrush, and all the  equipment they serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"150\" data-id=\"82\" src=\"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/m3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-82\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"150\" data-id=\"80\" src=\"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/m1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-80\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"150\" data-id=\"81\" src=\"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/m2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-81\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Along the way in Laos I watch the Mekong from the bridge near \nXayaboury, and further on the train of concrete trucks from Thailand \nheading to the construction site of the dam in the river. I order fried \nrice for lunch from the boy in the bus who calls ahead so that food is \nprepared when the bus pulls in at the restaurant. I see the small town \nof Paklay where one had to stay overnight when the international bus \nwasn\u2019t yet running. From here it took five different <em>songthaews<\/em> and <em>tuktuks<\/em>\n to cover the final 100 kilometers to Loei \u2013 fun breezy rides. And I see\n the village of Nam Xong where Y. lived, in the alley behind the temple \non the bank of the Mekong. She lives in Thailand now and after crossing \nthe border and having changed to Thai sim I\u2019m tempted to call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few familiar faces among the officials of Lao immigration, and to \nsome of them I am a familiar face too. No pleasantries at the Thai side,\n no unpleasantries either, while customs check luggage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I usually sleep on the night bus to Bangkok. Upon arrival at Mochit \nbus station, too early to go anywhere, I have a long morning coffee, \nsame stall each time. Then make my way to the Nouvo City Hotel, New \nWorld Lodge before and New World House before that, and I am happy to \nmeet the long-time staff I have known for many years, some over two \ndecades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>pieterneele | 15 February, 2015 04:58 A series of trips over the past two years. Lost count. From my pied \u00e0 terre in Luang Prabang to Bangkok. To catch a cheap Air Asia flight to China or a plane to Holland, or to move on elsewhere in Southeast Asia or meet friends in Bangkok. It &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/?p=185\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Luang Prabang &#8211; Bangkok Commute&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[152,154],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-laos-english","category-thailand-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":717,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions\/717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pieterblog.rdeman.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}