#treasuresoflaos: Your Guide for Laos

#treasuresoflaos is a blog guide for individual travellers to the well known and hidden treasures of Laos with Google Maps. You discover Laos cities, countries and rivers through the eyes of people, who have been there. Learn about the growing influence of China in Laos - and the activities of the organized crime.


#treasuresoflaos: Your Guide to the Treasures of Vientiane

See the locations on Vientiane Google Map by #treasuresoflaos

. Not to miss, when your are in Vientiane

. Hotels and Guesthouses in Vientiane with reviews of people, who have been there

. Where to eat, when you are in Vientiane

. Nightlife in Vientiane

. Relax in Vientiane: Massage and Spas

. Eco-Lodges near Vientiane

. Tours from Vientiane: Nam Ngum Lake

. Tours from Vientiane: Go tubing or organic farming in Vang Vieng

. Tours from Vientiane: Join the nature at Phu Khao Khouay National Park

. Sanjiang Market: Chinas growing
influence in Vientiane



#treasuresoflaos: Your Guide to the South of Laos - Pakse, Champasak, Mekong and the 4000 islands

. Pakse - the southern door to Laos
See the locations on Pakse and Champasak Google Map by #treasuresoflaos

. Bolaven Plateau: Waterfalls everywhere -
and a Zip-Line system in the Jungle
See the locations on Bolevean Plateau Google Map
. Lao Power for Thailand: New dams on Bolaven Plateau affect the Dong Hua Sao National Biodiversity Conservation Area

. Trekking around Kiet Ngong and Phapho wetlands - in Xe Pian National Protected Area
See the locations on Xe Pian National Protected Area and Kiet Ngong Wetlands Google Map by #treasuresoflaos

. Champasak, Vat Phou and Lingaparvata
See the locations on Champasak and Vat Phou Google Map by treasuresoflaos
. Vat Phou in Champasak - the site and its history

. Si Phan Don ສີ່​ພັນ​ດອນ - 4000 islands in the Mekong
See the locations on Si Phan Don Google Map by #treasuresoflaos
. 4000 Islands in Mekong: From laid back Area to international Hotspot for Tourists




#treasuresoflaos: Your Guide for the Laos-China-Railway

From Kunming to Vientiane: The Crossborder Service of Lao-China-Railway has started
See stations and tunnels of China Laos Railway on Google Map by #treasuresoflaos

China-Laos Railway: Timetable, Tickets and Rules

History of Chinas Railway for Laos:
Track laying has arrived at Luang Prabang at the end of 2020

History of Chinas Railway for Laos: Fast Railway Building between Yuxi and Mohan in Yunnan

History: Chinese money brings big change: A railway from the North of Laos to Vientiane and Thailand



#treasuresoflaos: Your Guide for Luang Prabang and around

See the locations on Luang Prabang Google Map
. The Jewel at the Mekong
. Between heaven and earth: The Temples in Luang Prabang
. Hotels and Guesthouses in Luang Prabang
. Climb Mount Phousi and have an amazing view
. Markets in Luang Prabang
. Pha Tad Ke: A Dutchman's Faszination with Ethno-Botanism in Luang Prabang
. From Silk to Art: Shops and Galleries in Luang Prabang
. Lick your Lips in Luang Prabang: From Laotian to French Cuisine
. Puang Champa: A house for the traditional royal arts
. Dinner Cruise on Mekong
. Bibliophiles in Luang Prabang
. The Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre
. Tours from Luang Prabang

. Another controversial Mekong Dam in Luang Prabang raises Fears
. Construction for Controversial Mekong Dam near Luang Prabang has progressed



#treasuresoflaos: Your Guide for the North of Laos

. Online Scam: How the Chinese Police raided the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in Laos
See the locations on Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone 金三角经济特区 Google map by #treasuresoflaos
. Bokeo International Airport: For two millions of Passengers - but only one Flight daily until now
. Inside Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone: A Chinese Zone in Laos, where Americans are not allowed in
. Will the Chinese Scam Networks relocate their Operations from Myanmar to Laos?
. Macao at Mekong: How Chinese money flows into the Golden Triangle

. Discover Luang Namtha ຫລວງນໍ້າທາ
See the locations on Discover Luang Namtha ຫລວງນໍ້າທາ Google Map



#treasuresoflaos: Laos - Mekong rivers as Power Battery of Southeast Asia


This guide is to be continued soon!

From Kunming to Vientiane: The Crossborder Service of Lao-China-Railway has started

See stations and tunnels of China Laos Railway on Google Map by #treasuresoflaos

The Lanexang EMU, arriving at Vang Vieng station

Finally it's possible to travel on railway from Kunming in China to Vientiane in Laos: On April 13 the first trains left Kunming and Vientiane and arrived 10-and-half-hours later at their destination. The 1,000-kilometer rail line, which links the capital of China’s Yunnan province to the capital of Laos, had been completed in December 2021, but due to Chinas’s strict “zero COVID” policies, the border of China and Laos could not be crossed.

Now the fast train between Vientiane and Kunming South Station is running daily in both directions, starting at 8:08 am and arriving at 19.38 in Kunming (China time) and 17.38 in Vientiane. First class tickets for the full journey are available for 760 yuan ($110) while second-class tickets are priced at 470 yuan ($68). Laos-China Railway Company Limited (LCR) have launched an App on Google Play, iOS and Huawei to allow passengers to purchase LCR train tickets on their mobile phones using UnionPay cards. The service is operated with green bullet trains of China Railway and the Lanexang EMU trains of Lao-China-Railway. Find more informations on Hobomap.

For the border checks the passengers have to leave the train in Mohan (China) and Boten (Laos) with all their belongings. The stops will take 90 minutes.


Read more:
China-Laos Railway: Timetable, Tickets and Rules

The China-Laos Railway started cross-border passenger services last Thursday, with the first passenger train departing from Kunming, the capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, and heading for the Lao capital Vientiane. pic.twitter.com/efhw3Q85Qq

— JoyceChi🇨🇳（互fo） (@JoyceChi51) April 17, 2023

The Lanexang EMU of Lao-China-Railway entering Mohan station in China:

Historic moment! The first international trains on the #China-#Laos #railway departing respectively from Kunming, Yunnan province and Vientiane, Laos, "meet" each other. #BeltandRoad pic.twitter.com/R7Dphq6mO9

— Ji Rong嵇蓉 (@JiRongMFA) April 14, 2023

The green bullet train of China Railway entering Vang Vieng station in Laos:

China-Laos Railway: Timetable, Tickets and Rules

See stations and tunnels of China Laos Railway on Google Map by #treasuresoflaos


Trip in a local train (green train) from Vang Vieng to Kasi with sights

See the timetable and fares on Hobo Maps. They update the timetable every month.

Tickets can be purchased up to 3 days in advance at the stations and each person can only buy 3 tickets at a time. You have to present passenger identification documents and Covid-19 vaccination certificate, your name will be printed on the ticket. Payment must be in cash. If you don’t have a ticket, you should arrive at least two hours before departure time because you have to queue for ticket purchase and again for entry to the station and then go through security checks.

There are also ticket sales offices in central Luang Prabang and on the ground floor of the shopping mall Vientiane Center in central Vientiane. Each person can only get 2 tickets. Payment can only be made by UnionPay card or by QR Code (OnePay, UnionPay, Alipay and Wechat) at a POS machine. A service fee of 20,000 kip per ticket is charged. Hours are 10:00 am to 12:00 noon and from 12:30 pm to 15:30 pm each day.

Discover Laos Today offers a online ticket booking system for Laos-China railway. In Vientiane you can self-collect the ticket at Discover Laos Today office at ASEAN Mall from 9 am to 5 pm or they deliver to your hotel for 3$/way. In Luang Prabang you can self-collect at Discover Laos Today office at MyLaoHome Hotel and Spa behind Joma Bakery from 9 am to 5 pm or you get the ticket delivered to your hotel.
The Laos-China Railway Company Limited's Facebook page has info on how many tickets remain available for sale. https://www.facebook.com/LaosChinaRailway/

On the fast trains passengers are allowed to carry a baggage up to 20 kilogram. On ordinary trains there is no baggage limit.


Read background about Laos-China-Railway:
Chinas Railway for Laos: The construction until 2020
Chinas Railway for Laos: Fast Railway Building between Yuxi and Mohan in Yunnan

China-Laos Railway operating for 6 Months: What happened so far?

See stations and tunnels of Boten-Vientiane-Railway on Google Map by #treasuresoflaos


Trip in a local train (green train) from Vang Vieng to Kasi with sights

Just in these days the blogger Nomadic Notes has published his review of the operations of China-Laos-Railway inside Laos: A review of the Vientiane to Boten train. The first thing that stood out for him was in Vientiane "the station name is only shown in Lao and Chinese". But he found signs and announcements inside the station in Lao, Chinese and English. He discovered no food shops inside, just some food vendors outside the station and a vending machine inside. At the toilets he discovered the absence of toilet paper.
Vientiane City 2 Bus Service has startet a bus route from Morning Market to the Vientiane Railway Station of #chinalaosrailway. It leaves Morning Market at 6.30 am.

@jorgeuef on instagram shows us this video, starting at Vientiane station:

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#chinalaosrailway right now operates two kinds of services: Express trains, which serve only the following stations: Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang, Muang Xai, Na Teuy and Boten. And local trains stopping at all stations, which are in service for the moment. Laos-China Railway Info has published the timetable. Here we learn, that the local trains serve the stations of Phonhong, Kasi, Muang Nga and Na Mor. Here we can also find the chart of the ticket prices. Tickets are only sold at the stations or at offices in Vientiane and Luang Prabang, notes futuresoutheastasia.com.

Ride the Laos China Rail (Vientiane to Nateuy) on Youtube:




@miwmiw.05 on instagram shows Phonhong Railway Station (Lao: ສະຖານີລົດໄຟຄວາມໄວສູງໂພນໂຮງ):

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@joy_sonyotha is posing in front of Vang Vieng Railway Station:

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@deechai_1982 on instagram shows Luang Prabang Railway station:

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On June 1 the Namor Railway station in Oudomxay province has been opened.

Since its launch in December 2021, the China-Laos Railway has handled over 3.09 million passenger trips as of May 23, the Chinese state agency Xinhua reported. Some 2.71 million passenger trips were registered in the railway's China section starting from Kunming, provincial capital of the country's Southwest Yunnan province, in which 23.5 pairs of passenger trains were operated per day on average, according to the China Railway Kunming Group Co Ltd. The amount of passenger trips on the railway's Laos section has increased steadily to reach 380,000, with nearly 5,000 recorded on the peak day.
The China-Laos-Railway has been built to connect Kunming in China with Vientiane in Laos. But due to the Covid-19-pandemic passengers can still not travel across the border from and to China. So Laos still misses the income from Chinese tourists. Only freight trains can use the whole railway line.

To improve convenience in freight transportation Thabok Thanaleng Co. Ltd has invested in the construction of a 1.2 kilometer rail line from the Laos-Thai Railway to Thabok Thanaleng, while the Laos-China Railway Company has constructed a new line from Vientiane Southern Station to Thanaleng, covering a distance of 2.8 kilometers. From 26 June, after both routes have completed construction, freight will be moved from the Thai line to the Laos-China Railway line at the Thanaleng Dry Port. Freight stations have opened at South Vientiane, Nateuy, Vangvieng, Luang Prabang and Phonhong to facilitate the shipment of goods.


For Laos rising debts are the consequence of the investment in the China-Laos-Railway. The annual amount of debt-service payment has risen from US$1.2 billion in 2018 to US$1.4 billion this year. This has been revealed by Minister of Finance Bounchom Ubonpaseuth, addressing National Assembly members on June 20. He assured that the government would not allow the country to slide into default.
Lately Laos has not only been strucked by Covid-19-Pandemic but also by rising fuel prizes due to the Russian war in Ukraine. Therefore Asia Times has published an article with the title Perfect storm of turbulence for indebted little Laos. It said: "Slow Covid recovery, rampant inflation and unsustainable debts are shaking the credibility of nation’s communist rulers."

Boten: A Ghost Town waits to be waked up by China-Laos-Railway

A video from July 2020 shows the development of Boten (Chinese: 磨丁市, Lao: ບໍ່ເຕ່ນ) town in northern Laos, at the border between Laos and China: Many highrisebuildings, some finished, some under construction - but only a few people on the streets and in the shops. Millions of dollars have been invested in this Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Laos by Chinese companies, in anticipation of the construction of China-Laos-Railway. The railway in both countries is now finished, but still the border is closed for passengers due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The investors will have to wait longer for the return of investment - if it will arrive ever.




The plans for the new Boten city (sometimes written Borten) are centered around an international finance centre in a cluster of 20-storey towers and a 30-plus-storey International Trade Centre. They aim at attracting nternational commerce and finance, international duty-free logistics and assembly, international education and medical industry and international services. Residential housing is dimensioned for 300,000 people. This at the location of a once small and sleepy rural village nestled in agricultural fields and surrounded by mountains covered by tropical forests. Promoting this new city is Haicheng, a private real estate development company headquartered in Kunming, where it has built commercial and residential properties. Since 2016 Haicheng has got a 90-year land lease. It has already invested around US$1 billion, completed 80% of land clearance, 258,526 m2 of commercial and residential real estate and is planning to invest a total of US$ 10 billion and complete the project over 10–15 years. This we can read in the publication "The BRI and Urbanisation" (February 2021) by Research Gate. Se this promotion video.



Much of Haicheng’s investment in Boten has come from bank loans made by the China–Laos Bank, a joint venture between a Laotian state bank and the Yunnan Fudian Bank, say the authors of Research Gate. Jinxin Fertility Group, a private healthcare company with hospitals in China, has recently acquired the first medical facility in Boten, the Rhea International Medical Centre, and plans to upgrade it for dealing with COVID-19 patients.

For now Boten has attracted mostly Chinese corporate and individual investors who have purchased the bulk of the completed commercial and residential properties. And a flood of Chinese workers and entrepreneurs have come to Boten, notes Murray Hiebert in his book "Under Beijing's Shadow: Southeast Asia's China Challenge". He also notes that Lao people are only hired if they speak Chinese.

Docoumentary Photographer Nicholas Bosoni shows the rising of the new city in his essay "Boten: the renaissance of Laos' Golden city".

CNA Insider has produced a documentary: The Rebirth of Casino Town Boten, Laos / Borderlands, a powerful and intimate look at the people who are living at this border town:




Get impressions of Boten City by these pictures on Instagram:

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The railway station in Boten:

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