老挝关闭出入口岸至4月19日
老挝政府宣布，即日起关闭所有国际出入口岸，以遏制2019冠状病毒疾病（COVID-19）疫情，但商品运输不受影响。
新华社引述《永珍时报》的报道说，这项措施从3月30日至4月19日实施，直到另行通知。所有市民包括外国公民都必须待在住所内，不得外出处理非必要事务。公共交通服务也将暂停。
老挝外交部将与相关单位进行协调，为希望回国的外国人提供协助。
老挝总理通伦星期天发布行政命令，加强对冠病疫情的防控措施。公务员被令从4月1日起至4月19日在家办公，负责关键工作者除外。
根据Worldometer世界实时统计，老挝至今累计冠病确诊病例8起。
~早报网~
2020年3月30日星期一
2020年3月12日星期四
Bangkok Airways to Temporarily Suspend Bangkok-Vientiane Flights
Bangkok Airways to Temporarily Suspend Bangkok-Vientiane Flights
Bangkok Airways has announced that it will suspend routes between Bangkok and Vientiane until further notice amid a drop in the number of passengers.
The operation of PG943 Bangkok-Vientiane and PG944 Vientiane-Bangkok will be suspended from March 10, except for March 24, while PG949 Bangkok-Vientiane and PG940 Vientiane-Bangkok will not operate from March 29.
“Bangkok Airways Public Company Limited announces a decrease in flight frequency as well as flight termination on certain domestic and international routes to be in line with current passenger demand,” the airline explained.
“This also follows the airline’s expense reduction plans which were launched earlier this month due to the global economic slowdown combined with the COVID-19 epidemic,” the company added.
Further information about affected flights can be found at Bangkok Airways’ website.
~The Laotian Times~
Bangkok Airways has announced that it will suspend routes between Bangkok and Vientiane until further notice amid a drop in the number of passengers.
The operation of PG943 Bangkok-Vientiane and PG944 Vientiane-Bangkok will be suspended from March 10, except for March 24, while PG949 Bangkok-Vientiane and PG940 Vientiane-Bangkok will not operate from March 29.
“Bangkok Airways Public Company Limited announces a decrease in flight frequency as well as flight termination on certain domestic and international routes to be in line with current passenger demand,” the airline explained.
“This also follows the airline’s expense reduction plans which were launched earlier this month due to the global economic slowdown combined with the COVID-19 epidemic,” the company added.
Further information about affected flights can be found at Bangkok Airways’ website.
~The Laotian Times~
The 4000 Islands by Kayak
The 4000 Islands by Kayak
The 4000 Islands in southern Laos, low lying sandy clumps in the Mekong River, are famous for their easy-going pace, banana pancakes, afternoons in hammocks, dolphin-spotting opportunities, wide-sky sunsets, and raucous parties.
I’ve cycled over traces of the old French railway tracks through mango and teak forests, walked the slow loop of sandy trails wriggling through the islands’ small communities, and flitted about from one vestige of French power to another, to bar, to café, and guesthouse many times. I’d never considered taking to the water, though, until now.
The Mekong River can look formidable at times – a fast-flowing wide milk chocolate brown river cut with rocky islands and drowned trees. But a kayaking trip sounded exciting, and with a chance to spot the area’s rare Irrawaddy dolphins, too, I eagerly signed up.
Green Paradise’s kayaking expedition wisely includes free breakfast for its mainly land-lubber clientele. After fuelling up with baguette, egg, and thick Lao coffee at a restaurant on Don Det island, we grabbed life jackets and tucked into our kayaks. Hoping to halve the work of paddling, I jumped into a kayak with our guide, Mr. Sam.
V Patient Mr. Sam spent a good deal of time barking ‘right, right’ as our crew of 21 – Brits, Australians, Dutch, French, and Hungarians – took to the water like ducks, I mean clumsy humans, grappling with kayak balance, water flow, and huge thickets of vegetation that reared up unexpectedly.
Our first destination was downstream at Don Khone Island’s Pa Soi rapids. Early on we temporarily lost part of the group, one kayak team fell into the river, and one kayak got sucked into a cluster of bushes and became entangled. The heat was unforgiving but we giggled at these mishaps and continued on our journey navigating clumps of trees and mini islands. We parked up just before Pa Soi rapids and walked over a bridge to look at the frothing water below.
The kayaks had been moved beyond Pa Soi Falls to a safe spot; we boarded them again for a journey to the bottom of Khone Island. At Hang Khone village, at the tip of Khone Island, we packed into a longtail boat to head upstream in search of the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin. We clambered up the sandy hill of a large island and looked across the stream of the fast-flowing river. The dolphins, their wet skin glistening in the sun, surfaced and ducked as they searched for fish in the food-rich pools. It was thrilling to catch a glimpse of these rare mammals. The WWF reports there’s been a slight increase in their numbers in the Mekong in Cambodia from 80 in 2015 to 92 in 2017 but not in Laos. In the Lao Mekong, there are just three. While munching on a lunch of baguette, chicken, and fried rice we saw all three of them about 30 to 40 times – all fins, snouts, sleek metal-grey bodies gleaming in the strong sun.
Back at Khone Island we fetched our kayaks and headed out downriver to a pickup point on the mainland at Ban Veunkham. The sun was crippling but, like a miracle, there on the riverbank at Ban Veunkham was a stall with a packed icebox. We cleaned it out of Beerlao and Coke before boarding a truck to visit the mother of all waterfalls – the kilometers-wide Khone Phapheng Falls.
At first sight, you can see why it defeated French colonial explorers. It’s a seething, frothing mass of thundering water swirling over sturdy boulders as it fights to enter Cambodia and the lower Mekong. The French found themselves in these parts when they were shoring up claims to the river and their Indochina colonies. The French needed to move gunboats into position to defend new territorial claims but navigating past the raging Khone Phapheng Falls – with its 21-meter drop – had defeated French minds. They built a railway across Khone Island, directly west of the Phapheng Falls, so two gunboats could be hauled across it; the railway infrastructure (some of which we saw at Hang Khone village) was later adapted for commercial traffic with steamboats on the river thrown into the mix. When roads were built in the 1930s the railway fell into disuse. Today, rusty locomotives stand abandoned at the edge of paddy fields, the last tangible remnants of island railway traffic.
After ice cream – more energy – we boarded our kayaks at Nakasang village to paddle downstream and back to Don Det Island. As the rose-pink sun began to set, the light was beautiful, the water appeared like silk, clumps of greenery took on a velvet glow, and fishermen were pootling about in pirogues.
Of course, after so much exercise, we replenished our muscles with more sundowner Beerlao as soon as we clambered back on to dry land!
GETTING THERE
Lao Airlines has daily flights to Pakse from Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Bangkok. The 4000 Islands are 3 hours south of Pakse by road.
~The Laotian Times~
The 4000 Islands in southern Laos, low lying sandy clumps in the Mekong River, are famous for their easy-going pace, banana pancakes, afternoons in hammocks, dolphin-spotting opportunities, wide-sky sunsets, and raucous parties.
I’ve cycled over traces of the old French railway tracks through mango and teak forests, walked the slow loop of sandy trails wriggling through the islands’ small communities, and flitted about from one vestige of French power to another, to bar, to café, and guesthouse many times. I’d never considered taking to the water, though, until now.
The Mekong River can look formidable at times – a fast-flowing wide milk chocolate brown river cut with rocky islands and drowned trees. But a kayaking trip sounded exciting, and with a chance to spot the area’s rare Irrawaddy dolphins, too, I eagerly signed up.
Green Paradise’s kayaking expedition wisely includes free breakfast for its mainly land-lubber clientele. After fuelling up with baguette, egg, and thick Lao coffee at a restaurant on Don Det island, we grabbed life jackets and tucked into our kayaks. Hoping to halve the work of paddling, I jumped into a kayak with our guide, Mr. Sam.
V Patient Mr. Sam spent a good deal of time barking ‘right, right’ as our crew of 21 – Brits, Australians, Dutch, French, and Hungarians – took to the water like ducks, I mean clumsy humans, grappling with kayak balance, water flow, and huge thickets of vegetation that reared up unexpectedly.
Our first destination was downstream at Don Khone Island’s Pa Soi rapids. Early on we temporarily lost part of the group, one kayak team fell into the river, and one kayak got sucked into a cluster of bushes and became entangled. The heat was unforgiving but we giggled at these mishaps and continued on our journey navigating clumps of trees and mini islands. We parked up just before Pa Soi rapids and walked over a bridge to look at the frothing water below.
The kayaks had been moved beyond Pa Soi Falls to a safe spot; we boarded them again for a journey to the bottom of Khone Island. At Hang Khone village, at the tip of Khone Island, we packed into a longtail boat to head upstream in search of the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin. We clambered up the sandy hill of a large island and looked across the stream of the fast-flowing river. The dolphins, their wet skin glistening in the sun, surfaced and ducked as they searched for fish in the food-rich pools. It was thrilling to catch a glimpse of these rare mammals. The WWF reports there’s been a slight increase in their numbers in the Mekong in Cambodia from 80 in 2015 to 92 in 2017 but not in Laos. In the Lao Mekong, there are just three. While munching on a lunch of baguette, chicken, and fried rice we saw all three of them about 30 to 40 times – all fins, snouts, sleek metal-grey bodies gleaming in the strong sun.
Back at Khone Island we fetched our kayaks and headed out downriver to a pickup point on the mainland at Ban Veunkham. The sun was crippling but, like a miracle, there on the riverbank at Ban Veunkham was a stall with a packed icebox. We cleaned it out of Beerlao and Coke before boarding a truck to visit the mother of all waterfalls – the kilometers-wide Khone Phapheng Falls.
At first sight, you can see why it defeated French colonial explorers. It’s a seething, frothing mass of thundering water swirling over sturdy boulders as it fights to enter Cambodia and the lower Mekong. The French found themselves in these parts when they were shoring up claims to the river and their Indochina colonies. The French needed to move gunboats into position to defend new territorial claims but navigating past the raging Khone Phapheng Falls – with its 21-meter drop – had defeated French minds. They built a railway across Khone Island, directly west of the Phapheng Falls, so two gunboats could be hauled across it; the railway infrastructure (some of which we saw at Hang Khone village) was later adapted for commercial traffic with steamboats on the river thrown into the mix. When roads were built in the 1930s the railway fell into disuse. Today, rusty locomotives stand abandoned at the edge of paddy fields, the last tangible remnants of island railway traffic.
After ice cream – more energy – we boarded our kayaks at Nakasang village to paddle downstream and back to Don Det Island. As the rose-pink sun began to set, the light was beautiful, the water appeared like silk, clumps of greenery took on a velvet glow, and fishermen were pootling about in pirogues.
Of course, after so much exercise, we replenished our muscles with more sundowner Beerlao as soon as we clambered back on to dry land!
GETTING THERE
Lao Airlines has daily flights to Pakse from Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Bangkok. The 4000 Islands are 3 hours south of Pakse by road.
~The Laotian Times~
2020年3月2日星期一
Vietnam to Check Visitors from Laos for Coronavirus
Vietnam to Check Visitors from Laos for Coronavirus
Vietnam has announced that the country will carry out mandatory health checks on people entering Vietnam from Cambodia and Laos.
Those who cross the border from Cambodia and Laos must undergo health checks at the border if they wish to enter Vietnam, said Vietnam’s Foreign Affairs Ministry Deputy Spokesman Doan Khac Viet.
The rule also applies to those who have traveled to China, through China, and areas where there’s been a coronavirus outbreak for around 14 days.
As of February 20, Vietnam had 16 confirmed cases of Coronavirus infection, of whom 14 have recovered and been discharged from hospitals.
Meanwhile, Laos has not seen any confirmed cases so far.
Lao authorities have warned people not to travel to virus outbreak areas and have installed thermal scanners at border crossings with China and at other strategic locations to stop the virus from entering the country.
In addition, the government has also urged people to be on their guard and take precautions.
~The Laotian Times~
Vietnam has announced that the country will carry out mandatory health checks on people entering Vietnam from Cambodia and Laos.
Those who cross the border from Cambodia and Laos must undergo health checks at the border if they wish to enter Vietnam, said Vietnam’s Foreign Affairs Ministry Deputy Spokesman Doan Khac Viet.
The rule also applies to those who have traveled to China, through China, and areas where there’s been a coronavirus outbreak for around 14 days.
As of February 20, Vietnam had 16 confirmed cases of Coronavirus infection, of whom 14 have recovered and been discharged from hospitals.
Meanwhile, Laos has not seen any confirmed cases so far.
Lao authorities have warned people not to travel to virus outbreak areas and have installed thermal scanners at border crossings with China and at other strategic locations to stop the virus from entering the country.
In addition, the government has also urged people to be on their guard and take precautions.
~The Laotian Times~
Luang Namtha to Become New Regional Transport Hub
Luang Namtha to Become New Regional Transport Hub
Laos’s northern province of Luang Namtha is poised to become a regional transport hub with investment in a dry port, leveraging its strategic location.
The province is expected to serve as a prime site for an international trade center for the country after the construction of a 414-km railway from China into Laos at the Boten border checkpoint is complete.
The USD 5.986 billion construction project, which began in 2015, is set for completion at the end of 2021.
The railway is part of the Kunming-Singapore Railway project, which connects Kunming with Singapore, passing through Laos, Thailand and Malaysia, Bounsong Keomanivong.
Luang Namtha would be part of the east-west economic corridor that runs from Myanmar to Vietnam and between Thailand and Vietnam, shortening travel time to just a few hours, said Bounsong Keomanivong, President of the Luang Namtha Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as quoted by Vientiane Times.
“This will be suitable for investment to provide services for travelers from these countries,” he said.
In 2019, more than 743,000 people visited the province via Boten across the Lao-Chinese border while its economy grew by 8.8 percent, with its GDP per capita income reaching about USD 1,700.
~The Laotian Times~
Laos’s northern province of Luang Namtha is poised to become a regional transport hub with investment in a dry port, leveraging its strategic location.
The province is expected to serve as a prime site for an international trade center for the country after the construction of a 414-km railway from China into Laos at the Boten border checkpoint is complete.
The USD 5.986 billion construction project, which began in 2015, is set for completion at the end of 2021.
The railway is part of the Kunming-Singapore Railway project, which connects Kunming with Singapore, passing through Laos, Thailand and Malaysia, Bounsong Keomanivong.
Luang Namtha would be part of the east-west economic corridor that runs from Myanmar to Vietnam and between Thailand and Vietnam, shortening travel time to just a few hours, said Bounsong Keomanivong, President of the Luang Namtha Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as quoted by Vientiane Times.
“This will be suitable for investment to provide services for travelers from these countries,” he said.
In 2019, more than 743,000 people visited the province via Boten across the Lao-Chinese border while its economy grew by 8.8 percent, with its GDP per capita income reaching about USD 1,700.
~The Laotian Times~
Tougher Screening Procedures on Visitors from S Korea, China
Laos Imposes Tougher Screening Procedures on Visitors from S Korea, China
Laos has toughened its screening procedures for foreigners who wish to enter the country after visiting South Korea and China, citing coronavirus concerns.
All foreign nationals who have visited either China or South Korea in the past 14 days before entering Laos will be subject to tougher screening processes, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Visitors entering Laos from China or South Korea must fill in a health declaration form when entering Laos, while those who show symptoms of the virus such as fever will need to pass a close examination up to three times, the ministry said, without providing further details.
The South Korean ministry confirmed that such measures became effective from February 28.
Laos is the latest to join the list of countries that impose restrictions on visitors from South Korea.
More than 80 countries are imposing entry restrictions and tougher quarantine procedures for travelers from South Korea over renewed coronavirus concerns. Among them, a total of 37 countries are barring the entry of South Koreans and foreigners who have visited South Korea in the past few weeks.
The news comes after the Lao health authorities told travel agents in the country last week to suspend package tours to areas where the new coronavirus has been reported, especially South Korea.
Lao Airlines also decided to halt its flights to South Korea from March amid massive cancellations from passengers over coronavirus concerns.
Three South Korean budget airlines, namely T’way Air, Air Busan, and Jin Air, halted their flights between Laos and South Korea until end of March, also citing concerns over the virus.
South Korea reported 476 new cases of the coronavirus on March 2, bringing the total number of infections to 4,212. So far, 22 people have died there due to the virus.
~The Laotian Times~
Laos has toughened its screening procedures for foreigners who wish to enter the country after visiting South Korea and China, citing coronavirus concerns.
All foreign nationals who have visited either China or South Korea in the past 14 days before entering Laos will be subject to tougher screening processes, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Visitors entering Laos from China or South Korea must fill in a health declaration form when entering Laos, while those who show symptoms of the virus such as fever will need to pass a close examination up to three times, the ministry said, without providing further details.
The South Korean ministry confirmed that such measures became effective from February 28.
Laos is the latest to join the list of countries that impose restrictions on visitors from South Korea.
More than 80 countries are imposing entry restrictions and tougher quarantine procedures for travelers from South Korea over renewed coronavirus concerns. Among them, a total of 37 countries are barring the entry of South Koreans and foreigners who have visited South Korea in the past few weeks.
The news comes after the Lao health authorities told travel agents in the country last week to suspend package tours to areas where the new coronavirus has been reported, especially South Korea.
Lao Airlines also decided to halt its flights to South Korea from March amid massive cancellations from passengers over coronavirus concerns.
Three South Korean budget airlines, namely T’way Air, Air Busan, and Jin Air, halted their flights between Laos and South Korea until end of March, also citing concerns over the virus.
South Korea reported 476 new cases of the coronavirus on March 2, bringing the total number of infections to 4,212. So far, 22 people have died there due to the virus.
~The Laotian Times~
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