{"id":1347,"date":"2023-01-22T14:45:05","date_gmt":"2023-01-22T14:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/?p=1347"},"modified":"2023-01-22T14:45:05","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T14:45:05","slug":"sabbatical-week-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/?p=1347","title":{"rendered":"Sabbatical Week 8"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Day 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Today’s travel day from Pai to Chiang Mai<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rest stop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Met a nice British entrepreneur guy who owns a 80-person Software company. Definitely very accomplished. I was surprised to see someone that caliber to sit on the same mini van with me. He talked his time during the dotnet bubble in SF, then how organically grew his company (Customer Service as a service). Just sharp contract with folks in the States who’s worrying about layoffs or chasing TCs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Checked into my dorm in Chiangmai again and it’s time for my first food tour in town. ($56.3, a bit pricy, but food was good.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First stop was actually the pork rice next to my hostel. I wish we started some lighter.. all proteins to come are surely too much by the 3rd round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Claypot roast?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The pork is really to die for. Very juicy and crispy skin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next stop is the grilled tilapia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clean tasting meat!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Up next was to the fresh market to check out some local produce and local snacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Organic sugarcane juice! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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egg pancake?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finally the feast!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was really full at this point, I only sampled some fruits and the sweets. I was also sick from cold nights in Pai.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Up next was this vegetarian restaurant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I have to give credit that vegetarians are in for a treat. Very unique dishes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pizza? the filling almost tastes like meat! good job!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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salad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finally last restaurant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The chicken larb is good! the real Thai food though. so much meat!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, we closed off with some local deserts! real good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s phenomenal <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I got back to my hostel just wanted to rest at this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another travel day from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai (305B VIP) – Though I stocked some cough drops for the ride. (100B)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My VIP seat! quite comfy!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Passed some Angkor Wat like temples<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 3 short hours, we arrived in Chiang Rai. It was much longer for me since I was pretty sick and trying to figure out if I should re-book a private room, which I did. (Funny how the only time I tried to plan things ahead of time, I ended up altering course)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After got to my Poshtel (it’s a hybrid between a hotel and hostel. More rooms that are private but with shared bath. Quite cheap though, only 301B a night), it’s time to feast. I think part of why I committed to the Poshtel instead of the social hostel which I have booked and paid for is the next door restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’d say this is almost fine Thai dining.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Even the Chai is fancy, it’s a coconut straw<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Just look at the presentation (75B) All the greens are edible. This is their signature dish, did not disappoint<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I was recommended this pork salad to pair with the signature dish. 150B. I was expecting more “salad” as in greens. It’s simply too meaty. also the flavor lacks a bit complexity to my like. I had to order a side of rice to digest. I gave credits to the owners though, even the pineapple that’s on the side is premium grade that tastes very nice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The sticky rice came in banana leaves! you can actually smell the leaves infused.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Total was 300B (285B + tips), not the cheapest, I think if I was to order again. I’d probably order a noodle dish to pair instead of the “salad”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we went to for a walk in the city center. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clock tower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Bavarian food lol. Wasn’t open when I visited<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Decided to try out this Irish pub instead since they offered draft. I got a local cider for 180B.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Finally an activity day! I decided to rent a bicycle for a little bike adventure (100b)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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About 30km roughly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First stop was the Oub Kham Museum (300b, a little on the pricy side, it’s also a fully guided tour and I was the only customer for the guide for 2 hours)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unfortunate, pictures aren’t allowed inside. It’s really an amazing place thanks to whoever collected the artifacts (privately owned)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My guide insists on taking pictures of me<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Non caffeinated tea to end the tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Up next was the Singha Park. I had to bike on the highway, though it was safe but annoying when big trucks pass by constantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I got chased out of the park because I was biking on the golf cart only lane.. (it was clearly built as a bike lane. It was repurposed for some random reasons)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next was to check out the white temple. The path from Singha park to the temple was quite rural and was nice with almost no traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In a short 30min or so, I arrived at the white temple<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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100b. Honestly not much value in buying the ticket since you could see everything from outside anyways<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I got a Thai Ice tea to cool down<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Flourless Pizza? huh…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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50B for my Thai ice Tea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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hmm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It’s getting late, was time to head back AH2, it’s a major highway. I purchased on cold medicine (195b) but wasn’t really effective. Thai cold medicines are different than what I am used to in China or America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Duck rice 50b<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Later on some late night snacks before bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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50B<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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60B<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spicy food did help me with my cold a bit. Though, I didn’t fall asleep until 2am despite being completely exhausted during the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Walk day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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hmm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Perhaps, one of the few countries where all religions coexist next to each other<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Saw a halal restaurant, can’t resist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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140B with 5B tip. The spicy oxtail with perfect balance in sourness, fattiness, and hotness was exactly what I needed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Walked into a fresh market <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More Chinese than China<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I decided to follow the walk path<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More temples<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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There wasn’t that much to see, it’s more for me just enjoying the beautiful weather and getting some needed exercises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(reads in Chinese “Thailand is a good country”)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Local flower festival<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Needed some electrolyte 30b<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Went back to my hostel to read Rough Guides to plan my border crossing into Laos slightly better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rooftop view from my hostel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Got a few people from the hostel to join me at the night market – sometimes all you need is to ask, the worst case is a no. No need to be shy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Went back to the flower festival. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Finally back to the night Bazaar for my Hot pot (100b! incredible value)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was another recovery \/ slow day. The only thing on the destination list was the Blue Temple. As it’s not about the destination but the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Roughly the path I’ve walked.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Nice bike path<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View of the Koh river on the bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Rural walk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Looks like a Korean Church? not sure<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After about an hour or so, I finally arrived to the Blue Temple<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s very generic, just in a different color<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Grabbed an Ice Tea outside of the temple to cool down before starting to walk again<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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View of the second bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I was pretty exhausted at this point, decided to take some local food (20b for each dish you order)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is my damage for 70b. the dishes are a bit cold. Not bad though for the variety<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Beautiful tree near the city center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Had to take this picture. Can’t be more Chinese, a backpack with a suitcase followed by an umbrella in not so hot weather<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Went back to my hostel to take a nap in digesting the food and beer, and soon was nightfall and time for dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The clocktower at night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First I took some BBQ, unfortunately most things ran out of stock. I also didn’t take any pictures. (50b)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up next was the red pork wonton soup for 45b… incredible <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last picture for the night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Went back to my hostel to chit chat. One American who’s lived in PNW for 30 years and was reaching her 50s was quite interesting. She actually road the entire Mae Hong son loop! what a legend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 6<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Travel day to Laos! (Huay Xai)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First was to board a local bus to Chiang Khong (120b), it took about 2.5hrs, it’s quite a cramped bus ride, and it also didn’t leave until 30min after the departure time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quite a few cargos on the bus in addition to the full bus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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the scenery was not bad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finally we arrived at the border. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s quite grand and no pedestrian crossing is allowed <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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crossing the Mekong river on the friendship bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Took a little walk to find where to eat<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The view is stunning on the Laos side<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sunset on the roof top restaurant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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My fried veggies. quite western with sweet and sour sauce. 30k kip<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Fried fish. also, doesn’t feel like Laos. not terrible for 80k kip<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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night market.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We later on decided to get some BBQ which is very similar to what I’d have in China. I ordered some extra plus a beer for 50k kip or so. Lovely place to see locals celebrate a kid’s birthday. Unfortunately, I didn’t take photos<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Went back to chat with a few guests before went to bed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 7<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Chinese New Year Eve. I decided to stay an extra day in Huay Xai, Laos to just see how the locals celebrate here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Got myself a cup of coffee from my hotel for 10k kip and chatted with two Belgiums who are waiting for their Gibbon Experience. (I could have gone one if I was smart enough to walk in and asked…)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Noodle soup for 35k kip. First purpose Laos meal! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After sorting on my sim card for 130k kip. We decided to do a little hike to the local temple in town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Up next was the old French Fort. It’s a bit run-down, scenery was nice. A few monks hanging out there<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Had a BeerLao and took a nice 45min nap. Soon was sunset time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here’s me shining! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After darkness, we went to have some local whiskey (didn’t take any pictures, sadly. 15k per shot. Quite nice!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dinner time was Lao hotpot, I managed to convince the French, the Belgiums and the Germans to try out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I think it was around 478k for 6 with a beer each<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We went to a river front bar to wait out for the Chinese New Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The BBQ was great, only 105k for 6 of us. The locals even gave us 2 free beers! How lovely. They also tried to talk to us and complimenting on how pretty the girls are.. (a bit weird but okay)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s it for the week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expenses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Week 8<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
Day<\/td>Food&Drink<\/td>Lodging<\/td>Transportation<\/td>Other (tickets\/tours etc)<\/td><\/tr>
1<\/td>$2.27<\/td>$7.44<\/td>$6.06<\/td>$58.37<\/td><\/tr>
2<\/td>$22.76<\/td>$19.42<\/td>$9.24<\/td>$6.67<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>$6.97<\/td>$10.30<\/td>$3.03<\/td>$18.03<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>$19.68<\/td>$11.77<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>$6.97<\/td>$12.57<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$0.47<\/td><\/tr>
6<\/td>$15.63<\/td>$9.38<\/td>$6.67<\/td>$45.00<\/td><\/tr>
7<\/td>$14.60<\/td>$9.38<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$8.13<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>$88.88<\/td>$80.26<\/td>$25.00<\/td>$136.66<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Total<\/td><\/td>Grand Total:<\/td>$330.80<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
(The only tour I did might have threw the balance up a bit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 1 Today’s travel day from Pai to Chiang Mai Met a nice British entrepreneur guy who owns a 80-person Software company. Definitely very accomplished. I was surprised to see someone that caliber to sit on the same mini van with me. He talked his time during the dotnet bubble in SF, then how organically… Continue reading Sabbatical Week 8<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1457,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347\/revisions\/1457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}