"inexhaustible source" of counterfeit goods. Russia, according to the index of happy old age, is between Laos and Nepal How to get to Luang Prabang from Chiang Mai
And also about how to get back from Laos to Thailand 🙂 and a little about the peculiarities of passing the Thailand-Laos and Laos-Thailand border.
Border crossings Thailand - Laos
In the northern part of Thailand and Laos, the main border crossings are:
- Chiang Khong - Huaisai. It is convenient to use it if your further path lies in Luang Prabang.
- Nong Khai - Vientiane. It is convenient to use it if your main purpose is a visa to Laos, i.e. obtaining a Thai visa in Vientiane or visiting Vang Vieng.
- Passage to Huay Kon (Nan province) - Muang Nguyen. This crossing of the Thailand - Laos border is still not very popular with tourists, but it is quite convenient for those who cannot spend 3 days and 2 nights moving between Chiang Mai near Luang Prabang, but want to sail on a boat along the Mekong. From Huai Kon to Pakbeng village, where boats from Huaisai to Luang Prabang stop overnight during the two-day route, it is only about 2 hours away.
There are other border crossings between Thailand and Laos, but tourists mainly use the first two. If your goal is only visa wounds, then use the second border crossing, but if the goal is travel and rest in Laos, then the route can start either from Huaysai (or immediately from Luang Prabang) and move south, or from Vientiane and move north. By the way, all travel by bus from south to north for some reason is cheaper.
How to get to Laos from Chiang Mai
How to get to Huaisai from Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai - Chiang Khon - Huaisai
1. Take the direct Green Bus to the border town of Chiang Khon. Buses leave from Arcade Bus Terminal, it is better to buy bus tickets in advance - when we were traveling, there were no empty seats on the bus!
Three flights per day: 8:00, 9:30 and 14:30. Drive about 5.5 hours.
VIP tickets (huge comfortable seats) cost 406 baht, regular tickets 266 baht. Convenient bus with toilet. Cookies and water are given out on the way.
Queue for Green Bus tickets. It is advisable to buy tickets in advance 
Our bus Chiang Mai - Chiang Khong 
It's not a pity to overpay for the VIP class! Very comfortable seats on the bus and a delicious snack 🙂
2. The bus makes a stop 3 km from the border, where you need to change to a tuk-tuk. The fare in a tuk-tuk is 50 baht per person, the price is fixed, bargaining is useless.
Tuk-tuk to the border costs 50 baht per person, only 3 km away 3. After passing the border on the Lao side, a tuk-tuk will also wait for you and for 100 baht or 25,000 kip will take you to the center of Huaysai.
Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai - Chiang Khon - Huaisai
1. Bus tickets Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai (Green Bus) 165 baht. The bus runs frequently.
2. From Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong, every hour from 6 am to 5 pm, buses leave both from the old bus station in the city center and from the new bus station on the outskirts of the city. The fare is 65 baht. Despite the fact that there are usually good comfortable buses in Thailand, for some reason an old bus without air conditioning travels along this route! Travel time is 2-2.5 hours.
How to get to Luang Prabang from Chiang Mai
By plane
From Chiang Mai, you can easily and quickly get to by plane. The cost of the flight is not low - from $ 150. But if you calculate the money and time costs for the journey by land and water and compare with the cost of a plane ticket, then on vacation or in the absence of time, you can use this option. Honestly, I was thinking, maybe we can fly by plane to Luang Prabang from Chiang Mai, but I'm glad that I chose the route by boat along the Mekong. Still, such a trip left an indelible impression 🙂
On the ground
Get to Huaysai using the methods described above, and then change to the Huaisai - Luang Prabang bus. Two flights a day: 12:00 and 16:00. Ticket price 120,000 - 130,000 kip (~ $ 15)... Travel time from 12 hours.
I must say that I did not consider such an option to get to Luang Prabang - I read horror stories about a terrible road, drunk bus drivers and accidents on the roads.
By land and water (option 1)
Get to Huaisai, and then buy a ticket for a boat on the Mekong
- The slow boat runs for two days with a stopover in Pakbeng. The cost of Huaysai - Luang Prabang - 220,000 kip
- A fast boat goes - floats - rushes through the water for only 6 hours (but what 6 hours! They say that extreme is something else!) - the cost is 320,000 kip
By land and water (option 2)
Use the border crossing Huay Kon - Muang Nguyen. I don't know exactly how to get to this border by public transport, but I do know that Green Bus has buses to Nan city.
Also in Chiang Mai you can buy a tour along the route Chiang Mai - Huay Kon - Muang Nguyen (overnight) - Pakbeng - boat to Luang Prabang. This route takes 2 days and one night and will cost approximately 1,700 baht per person including all transfers and one overnight stay.
Now, near the village of Pakbeng, a bridge is being completed and it is possible that some regular buses will be launched soon.
Near the village of Pakbeng in Laos, a bridge is being completed, which means that transport will soon be launched and tourism will begin to develop even faster How to get to Vientiane from Chiang Mai
By bus through Udontani
1. From Chiang Mai, drive to the city of Udontani, which is located 50 km from the Thailand-Laos border. There are buses from several companies in Udontani, tickets can be bought at the Arcade Bus Terminal. Some buses stop in Udontani near Central Plaza in the city center, some at the bus station on the outskirts of the city.
The cost of a bus ticket Chiang Mai - Udontani 650 baht first class, 840 baht - VIP class. Travel time is about 12 hours.
2. Drive to the border. If you come to Central Plaza in Udontani, minibuses for 50 baht per person leave from there to the border. Drive about an hour.
You can also walk a few meters and buy a ticket at the central bus station. international bus before, the cost of a bus ticket from Udontani to Vientiane is 80 baht. Travel time is 2 - 2.5 hours. BUT:
- The first bus leaves quite late, around 8:30 - 9:00 in the morning, and if your goal is to apply for a Thai visa at the consulate on the same day, then you may not be in time or end up in time. About our experience in obtaining a Thai visa in Laos.
- Despite the fact that Russians do not need a visa to Laos for up to 15 days, they do not always sell tickets for the Udontani - Vientiane international bus without a visa in their passport. But for us (Ukrainians and Belarusians) this option is not suitable - the bus will not wait until we get a visa to Laos at the border.
3. After passing the border, you can get to Vientiane by tuk-tuk - 100,000 kip for the whole tuk-tuk or by bus number 14 for only 6,000 kip or 30 baht. The bus will take you to the Khua Din bus station.
If you are not in a hurry, then cheaply from the border you can go to the city on this bus. Only 30 baht or 6000 kip and about 40 minutes on the way and you are at the bus station in Vientiane By bus through Nong Khai
From Chiang Mai, you can take a bus directly to the border town of Nong Khai. Previously, there was only one bus on this route, in December there were at least three of them 🙂 Bus Chiang Mai - Nong Khai VIP class, with comfortable wide seats (2 + 1 in a row, not 2 + 2), warm blankets and delicious food ... The ticket price is 840 baht.
I advise you not to spare the money and choose this particular bus - you can sleep quite comfortably in it at night.
I advise you to choose a VIP bus with comfortable seats for night transfers. And the food is good everywhere 🙂 The bus arrives at the Nong Khai bus station, from which you can take a tuk-tuk to the border for 50 baht per person or a direct bus to Vientiane for 55 baht. Buses to Vientiane leave at 7:30, 9:30, 12:40, 14:30, 15:30 and 18:00.
Also, from the Nong Khai bus station, you can go directly to Vang Vieng at 9:40 for 270 baht.
By plane
The low-cost airline Nok Air has a very convenient flight Chiang Mai - Udontani. If you buy tickets in advance, you can catch tickets for only 800-900 baht per person and you don't have to shake all night on the bus 🙂
From Udonani Airport, you can get to the border by minibus for 200 baht per person. Travel time is about an hour.
How to get to Laos from Bangkok
Bangkok to Luang Prabang
By plane
Dyuti fries on the border of Laos - Thailand
I really wanted to get to Duty Free before the New Year and buy alcoholic beverages. Lao Dyuti Free disappointed, maybe everything was sorted out before the holidays, but maybe it’s always like this, BUT: Martini was not, Martini Asti too, I had to take Lambrusco (only red was available) for $ 15 - I didn't like it at all at Christmas ... several bottles of mangosteen flavored beer (!). Nothing so sweet 🙂 No sweets and Belgian chocolate were found in Lao Dyuti fries either.
By the way, this Duty Free is very unusually located: not between countries on neutral territory, not after passing through passport control, but front Lao Border! Those. if you live in Vientiane, you can safely go to Dyuti Free for drinks on the bus number 14 🙂
Lao Dyuti Free is in front of passport control Features of the passage of the Thai-Lao border
Thailand's border with Laos at Chiang Khong and Nong Khai runs along the Mekong River. The bridge across the Mekong between Chiang Khong and Huaisai was built quite recently, earlier it was transported across the border by boats 🙂
Thailand - Laos border (Chiang Khong - Huaisai)
We took a tuk-tuk to the border from the highway for 50 baht per person and saw a new, almost empty building 🙂 There is a free toilet (clean) and currency exchange nearby. At passport control, the employee looked at my passport with 3 Thai visas for a very long time and asked questions about what I was doing in Thailand, but still let me go. Although he could not not let me go ...
Border crossing Thailand Laos To get from Thailand to Laos, you need to cross the Friendship Bridge by bus. The cost of a bus ticket depends on the time of day and day of the week.
- 20 baht from 8:30 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 16:30 and 25 baht from 6:00 to 8:30, from 12:00 to 13:00 and from 16:30 to 18:00 on weekdays days
- 25 baht on holidays and weekends
The border is open from 6:00 to 18:00.
We buy bus tickets to travel across the Mekong bridge between Thailand and Laos 
And here is the bus itself, on which we have to drive literally 5 minutes On the bus we pass over the bridge over the Mekong, get off, here we are almost in Laos ходим We come to the Visa on Arrival window, where you need to take an application form and a migration card.
Visa to Laos for Russians up to 15 days need not... If you have a Russian passport and want to stay in Laos for up to 15 days, then fill out only the migration card and immediately go to passport control. If you want to stay in Laos for a longer period, you need to fill out an application and get a visa for 30 days.
Visa to Laos for Ukrainians and Belarusians need, issued directly at the border.
Documents for a visa to Laos:
- Passport
- Completed form
- One photo
- $ 30 (if there are no dollars, then you can either buy them right there in the bank or pay with Thai baht, but not at a favorable rate)
A visa to Laos for 30 days is obtained without problems at the border We filled out the questionnaires, handed over the documents and literally in 10 minutes received passports with visas. Although I read that visa processing can take an hour and a half. We were in no hurry, but they gave us our passports quickly. Immediately, they put an entry stamp on the visa, so you no longer need to go to passport control, but immediately go to Laos 🙂 Everything is quick, clear and easy, but still the process took about an hour. On the Lao side, currency exchange at the normal rate. You can immediately withdraw money from the card.
If you don't need a visa, you have to go straight to passport control. And with the obtained visa - immediately go to the city 
There is a normal exchange rate exchange and several ATM machines on the Lao side Border Laos - Thailand (Vientiane - Nong Khai)
There were many, many people on the Laos-Thailand border. After Duty Free, we went through passport control and stood in line to buy a card to leave Laos!
Since we crossed the border on a weekday and before 16:00, we received such a card for free, but for passing the border on weekends or from 6:00 to 8:00 and from 16:00 to 22:00, foreigners are charged a fee 11,000 kip or 50 baht.
The Vientiane - Nong Khai border is open from 6:00 to 22:00.
To cross the border, you need to get (and sometimes buy) just such a card and immediately throw it into the turnstile, like in the subway 
The cost of crossing the border of Laos - Thailand We buy tickets for the bus on the Friendship Bridge over the Mekong (20 baht or 4,000 kip) and in a few minutes we are on the Thai side. And here there are even more people for passport control! This is certainly not under New Year, but there are a lot of people.
Waiting for the bus from Laos to Thailand 
The queue to enter Thailand is striking in size 
I wonder if there are always so many people here or is it a full house because of the New Year? While standing in line, we fill out migration cards. The sun is very hot, hot, stuffy, nowhere to sit. We stood in line for over an hour. Fortunately, the border guards did not ask any questions, did not ask for tickets from Thailand, or 20,000 baht per person ($ 700), although we had supplies with us just for such an occasion, but simply put a stamp and let us go home to Thailand ! Everyone, we are at home 🙂
Hope this article helped you figure out how to get to Laos from Thailand. If you have any questions - ask them, please, in the comments!
Answer to the 5 letter crossword puzzle with the letter K:
CHINA
What does the word mean CHINA in dictionaries:
- Question: "Inexhaustible source" of counterfeit - Answer: CHINA
- "Celestial Empire"
- Great Wall Address
- Asian power
- An Asian country where women are put on wooden blocks from early childhood in order to keep their legs small before marriage
- In which Asian country is "cricket fighting" especially popular?
- In which country were the synanthropes found - primitive people?
- In which country did badminton originate?
- Which country first started using decimal fractions?
- In which country did noodles first appear?
- In which country is the most fish caught?
- In which country do the most people live?
- Which country has the most camels today?
- Which country has the longest wall in the world?
- In which country did the first paper money appear?
- In which country did the world's first restaurants appear?
- In which country did the first guns appear?
- In which country did the first theater puppets appear?
- In which country did the compass appear?
- In which country did you come up with a toothbrush?
- In which country did you come up with sauerkraut?
- In which country did the uprising of the "yellow bands" take place?
- In which country is the Disney cartoon "Mulan" set?
- In which country is the movie "Shanghai Express" starring Marlene Dietrich set?
- Which country created the world's first printing press?
- Which country did the silk road lead to?
- In the name of this state, you can hear a mammal and an exclamation
- Owner of Taiwan
- Second US creditor after Japan
- Where does Andersen's fairy tale "The Nightingale" take place?
- State in Asia
- Borders with India and Russia
- Borders with Russia
- Until 1912, the flag of this country was the image of a dragon on a yellow background.
- Do the inhabitants of this country most of all use snake meat for food?
- Shy country
- Where does the orange tree come from?
- Which country was fenced off by the Great Wall
- Which country launched the Neptune spy satellite group from the Broker by John Grisham?
- Which state has the "cn" domain?
- To which country does the whole world owe the invention of toilet paper?
- What country do Sinologists study?
- Where do almost all poaching rhino horns sell?
- Between Russia and India
- The name of this country comes from the name of a group of Mongol tribes - the Kidans
- Name the state, the symbol of which is a mythical animal with deer horns, tiger paws, bull ears, camel head, demon eyes, snake neck, eagle claws?
- Napoleon believed that right behind the Urals begins ..
- One of the nicknames of the son of Yuri Dolgoruky - Andrei Bogolyubsky, under whom the construction of the Moscow Kremlin began
- On the territory of which country did the Chinese Eastern Railway
- Celestial country
- Riga is Latvia, and Beijing?
- Mao's homeland
- Homeland of Mao Zedong
- Homeland and patrimony of ruler Mao
- Home of inexpensive goods
- Home of silk and paper
- Home of silk and gunpowder
- Close to Laos and Vietnam
- Close to Nepal and Laos
- The largest country in Asia
- Most populous country
- Collection of short stories by the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami "Slow Boat in CHINA"
- Neighbor of India and Russia
- The country hidden behind the wall
- The Mongols called the capital of this state Khanbalik
- The country is the main supplier of the world's population
- Land of Li and Chans
- Country around Beijing
- Ming dynasty country
- The country beyond the "Great Wall"
- Country of Wushu and Kungfu fans
- A country led by the city of Beijing
- A country with a billion people
- The country with the most remote point from all oceans
- The country with the world's largest theater
- Country with capital Beijing
- The country where the yuan is in use
- The country where fireworks first appeared
- The country where acupuncture was born fifty centuries ago
- The country that gave the world gunpowder
- The country that gave the world silk and umbrellas
- A country famous for the wall
- A country full of rice lovers
- A country full of rice gourmets
- Country, supplier of every fifth inhabitant of the Earth
- Country, homeland of paper
- Country, home of wallpaper
- Country, homeland of the Pekingese
- Country, homeland of gunpowder
- Country, homeland of porcelain
- A country known as the birthplace of acupuncture
- A country with two troubles: quality and quantity
- The area around Beijing
- The third country in the world to send a manned spacecraft into space
- Which Asian state has the capital Beijing?
- Which country has the most borders with other states?
- Which country has the longest border in the world?
- Although, as you know, freshness is only the first, in the cuisine of this country there is a recipe for "three freshness soup"
- the photo shows red flags with asterisks
Completely unexpected for myself in Sam-Nea (Sam neua), a mountain town where, according to LP's description, there is absolutely nothing to do, I found my favorite place in Laos. There were surprisingly friendly people here, and young people on the streets even said "Hello" and asked all sorts of questions in English, like "where?" and where?".
There was a colorful market with friendly vendors and a bunch of all kinds of normal food, from donuts with delicious fillings to shaved fish. Nobody tried to sell anything here and people were just nice. The most informative office tour was here. information throughout Laos. And in general it would be hard to find the best place for the end of my trip to Laos.
On the second day, we went to Vieng Xai, located 28 kilometers away. At 6.30 in the morning we left the guesthouse and found ourselves in a city shrouded in dense fog. So in the cold season in the north of Laos everywhere. Until nine in the morning, until the sun breaks through the fog, it is impossible to live here - you can only survive. Very-very cold!
I never expected it to be so cold in northern Laos - it was cold in northern Myanmar in February, but still not so. A Russian person, of course, is no stranger to cold weather, but this is when we can go to a warm cafe and eat hot soup, come home, where it is warm, take a hot shower that will flow as long as we like, and not three minutes, which is enough for a tank with heater. There is nowhere to hide from the cold here - everything freezes here, and the locals do not seem to know about heating devices. Here hotels freeze through and through, and the temperature in the room is the same as outside - 5-10 degrees. It is impossible to be in it without a sweater or under blankets. And it is also very difficult to get around, because in buses, frost-resistant locals constantly open their windows. And very often only songthaews (blown through pickups with roofs and benches on the sides) travel for distances up to several hours, and such a trip early in the morning can turn into torture.
Viengsai (Vieng Xai) - this is a "hidden city", in the caves of which during the Indochina war from 1964 to 1973 the communists of Laos lived, led by Comrade Keison Phomvihan. And together with them, 20 thousand local residents fleeing the daily massive bombing by the Americans took refuge in the caves.
Yes, by the way, a little information about the bombing of Laos. Many times I came across a quote from one of the US politicians of that time, who promised to return Laos "to the Stone Age." On average, one bomb was dropped from the air every 8 minutes (24 hours a day!) On poor little Laos during the 9 years of the war. From 1964 to 1969 alone, 450,000 tons of all kinds of explosive crap were dropped on the country, and during the entire war - 1.9 million tons, half a ton for everyone who lived in Laos at that time, including babies. And in general, during the Indochina War, more bombs were dropped on Laos than on all of Europe during the Second World War.
Now Laos is home to six million people, and it is the country with the smallest population density in Southeast Asia, but with the highest birth rate.
Viengsai is a very strong place. Bomb craters are visible around the limestone hills, and the cave conditions in which people lived are terrifying.
Each of the caves where the communist leaders lived has a special room with a tight-fitting door and a massive Soviet-made iron oxygen apparatus pumping air from outside in case of chemical attacks (which, fortunately, did not exist in this region).
There are stands with interesting comments around, and tours in English are held twice a day at 9 am and 1 pm. By 9 o'clock we came together with Sani, and we were assigned a very pleasant and interesting guide.
At the Viengsai tourist office, they made me happy as a family. They immediately said that their boss speaks Russian, they called him, they sat us down at the table, gave us tea, another Russian-speaking Lao came to work in Comrade Cason's museum in Vientiane, and the three of us tried to remember Russian together. Both Laotians graduated from the Volgograd Pedagogical Institute in the early 90s, spoke very warmly about Russia and were very upset that Russian tourists did not come here - before I could remember only one visitor from Russia.
I was amazed at the warm welcome and was glad again that I would end my trip to Laos with friendly people.
That seems to be all. It was interesting to see Laos, but this is not my favorite country, and I hardly want to return here.
My Laos Top 5 from what I liked and remembered the most:
The picturesque village of Tat Lo in the south with waterfalls, pleasant villages with friendly locals within a motorbike reach;
An amazing party in, although in some places I did not remember it;
Sam Neua, as the city with the most welcoming Lao people, and Vieng Xai, as a sad place, a must-visit for anyone interested in modern history.
Contrary to my expectations, I didn’t like it at all, and, because they had a completely rotten atmosphere, the highest concentration of tourists in all of Southeast Asia (in my experience) and the most inhospitable locals I’ve ever met.
In general, in Laos, almost everywhere I was delighted with the village children - because of their happy smiles and joyfully squeaky "Start!" And the markets were the most picturesque of all that I have ever seen, although I am terribly sorry for all the little birds and animals whose corpses are sold there. And it seems to be the quietest, because there are no vehicles outside the cities at all, and the most rustic country I have ever seen.
Goodbye Laos! After all the negativity that I have heard about Vietnam, I will probably remember you in kind words more than once. Even with all your indifferent people who don't want us white people in their country.
1.10.2013 19:49
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Russia is in 78th place in the ranking of the Happy Old Age Index. The place of Russia turned out to be between, frankly speaking, not the richest countries - Nepal and Laos. The rating was compiled by experts from the non-governmental organization HelpAge International.
The purpose of the rating is to assess the quality of life of older people around the world. The rating compilers took into account 13 different parameters for 4 key areas: health status, material security, education and employment, observance of civil liberties and the level of security.
The top 10 on the Happy Old Age Index includes Swedes, Norwegians, Germans, Dutch, Canadians, Swiss, New Zealanders, the USA, Iceland and the Japanese.
All the BRICS countries in the ranking were higher than the Russian Federation: Brazil was in 31st place, China - in 35th, South Africa - in 65th, India - in 73rd. The last places in the ranking, which included 91 countries, were taken by Afghanistan, Tanzania and Pakistan.
Some low-income countries are in the top positions, according to researchers. So, Sri Lanka in the ranking took 36th place, which is caused, according to experts, by long-term investments in education and health, and Bolivia, which is the poorest in the Latin American region, is in 46th place.
HelpAge International was founded in 1983. It was founded by five organizations at once, which decided to consolidate their efforts to help older people cope with various difficulties caused by poverty and discrimination. Currently, the organization has about 100 representative offices that operate in 65 countries.
