Agreed . Mukdahan is pretty ordinary if your looking to get a shot away or just get drunk. My experience of it was when a work colleague in Laos got dead on his motorcycle he was based in mukdahan . The mine manager said to our crew that if anybody wanted to attend his funeral in mukdahan then he would sign off. A Massive gesture from from the mine manager
We were 20 people on a bus from Laos to mukdahan thailand and it was only supposed to be a night in mooky . The Mine manager said fuck it were staying another night to put Jamie's ashes in the Mekong. I have a lot of time for this style of management
Found the red light area and went with my Zimbabwean colleague Mr Jonny Mariba. I'm happy to report there was no racism
Loving this post
After settling in and strolling around the grounds, our first priority was food. The 'resort', for want of a better word, was pleasant and breakfast was included but they offered nothing else, except a fridge full of beer. Our good friend Mr. Google showed a steak restaruant by the main road, 0.8km down the lane. A nice walk beckoned.
Although this is the middle of the dry season the hills were much greener than the rice fields of Nongbua.
We got to the main road, which was really busy. This is the one route East-West across the north of Thailand and it was very, very busy. Fortunately we didn't need to try to cross it. Unfortunately, Google's steak house was a school playing field. Absolutely nothing resembling a food shop as far as the eye could see.
With so much traffic flying past we weren't going to stroll along looking for a place to eat, so it was a march back up the hill to get the car. We were hungrier now and opted for a place we had been before on a previous trip. I splashed out on a 'rip eye' (sic) which when it arrived didn't look much like a rib eye to me but this was the gf's birthday dinner so I wasn't going to make a fuss.
When it came time to pay the bill I was a bit disappointed to discover that the restaurant was not part of the government's subsidised tourism scheme. So I had to pay 100%. Being the gf's birthday I didn't press her about why she hadn't checked this at the outset. This was our first trip to test the scheme and she was very vague about how it worked, or didn't work. She really gets stressed when I ask her questions she cannot answer so I try to tease things out carefully. In fact, I still don't understand exactly how it works because she still cannot explain it. TIT.
The next morning we had the included breakfast, congee basically. It was fine for me. They also had bread and a toaster, with butter and marmalade and tea. This meant I could top up the congee with some hot buttered toast. Which was trickier than expected because they had no knives. Butter can be applied with a teaspoon, I discovered, albeit not very evenly. And no milk of course, so black tea it was.
We spent the morning relaxing and doing nothing, my favourite holiday activity, until lunchtime beckoned. This time we were better informed and went for Thai food. It was pretty good.
Shrimp cakes and banana flower yum and tomyum fish.
Then came the good bit. The bill.
I was happy with the bill but of course my new best friend the Thai government would pick up 40%, so my share came to B258. Very fair.
We still had money in the kitty from our B600 per day allowance so the gf grabbed nuts and honey and noodles from the shop, all of which are F&B and all at 60% of the marked price.
Lunch was finished and we had no plan for the afternoon. 'We' being 'I'. It had not escaped my notice that the gf was dressed in a white blouse with a white skirt and, as expected, this resolved into a visit to a temple. It is a temple we had visited on our last trip and apparently you cannot visit too often. This particular temple works some kind of magic on personal relationships. Allegedly. As it turned out, I was barred from entry by some harridan because of my red shirt, so the gf had to go and do whatever was needed alone. Two minutes behind her some fat Thai bird in a bright red T-shirt went in, she didn't look like the kind of person who'd let anyone bar her way and of course no one tried. So I missed a temple visit. Anyway, the gf was happy so job done.
By evening I was suffering from stomach pains and worse that had started in the morning before breakfast and I put down to the previous night's salad. The gf was okay, I wasn't going far from the bathroom. We sat outside, it was this cool:
This also meant that dawn the next morning did not include the one thing that tourists do in Phu Ruea, which is to go up the mountain to watch the sunrise. I'm sorry we missed that before we drove home.
Huge amounts of traffic for the holiday season. Amongst the usual trucks, tourist vans and SUVs were a good many shiny Mercs, BMWs and those expensive Toyota Vellfire people carriers. I guess many people were helping the government to buy them lunch.
Great thread.
Me and the missus accidentally visited Chiang Khan on the weekend (about 15 years ago) when the temple long boat races were on- it was great.
I agree about Nakhon Phanom - nice spot - though staying at Thakek and looking back across the river at NP is as good or better.
If you haven't already, checkout Wat Phu Tok (about half way between Nong Khai and Nakhon Phanom) - you'll start thinking about Thai engineering and OSH on L6.
Yeah nothing wrong with Nathan phanom .at all . Quite a vibrant little town that has way more going for it than Thakhek on the other side of the river
A fair question and yes, a few reasons. As I think of them, not in order of importance.
Leaving the dogs is a problem. The gf's daugher is the only person who can come in without being bitten. She is supposed to be at uni but has odd free days because of Covid. So we are time limited.
Neither of us wants to fly for the time being. We last flew down to the coast a year ago and after all the social distancing bollox in the airport we were on an AirAsia flight that had no empty seats around us. We talked about long haul buses, she doesn't feel comfortable on the overnight routes over the mountains.
Just because places are close doesn't make them less interesting. There are still places within two hours drive of us that look worth the trip.
Our car is old. It is okay for daily use, not really the best choice for a driiving holiday. We looked at hiring a van and driver, maybe if there were 4+ travellers that would make sense.
Had many nice trips there, and duplicated your coffee on the river. Good thread!
The next trip was neither wet nor a weekend. Maybe I should retitle the thread: Mekhong Meanderings.
The plan was That Phanom. The gf liked this idea because she hasn't been to the temple there in about three years. I liked it because I like the town and I had some admin left unfinished. On the other hand, it is a longer drive, over 5 hours with comfort stops.
My turn to drive this trip. The weather was fair and the road between Udon Thani and Sakhon Nakhon has been much improved since I first travelled it 6 years ago. Mainly dual carriageway and easy driving these days, just a couple of towns that cannot easily be avoided.
First stop was Nakhon Phanom.
The whole 'Naga' thing is important to the locals and they built this giant statue about 5 years ago to give the tourists somewhere to take selfies.
The river is behind the statue and the mountains in the background are Laos.
I didn't take a lot of pictures because I used to live here and have all the pics. The one above was taken outside the Krung Thai bank, because my account is here and Krung Thai will only replace a farang's old bank book at the issuing branch. Any other questions, the answer is 'No'. Can I move my account to Nongbua - No. Can I open a new Krung Thai account in Nongbua - No.
A shiny new bank book was quickly mine and it seemed like a good time to try one of the many new coffee shops in town. I'll spare their blushes, no names. It is a three storey shop and quite a large investment. Also empty.
The young woman serving coffee was very sweet and pleasant, and pretty as far as could be seen behind her mask. Also clueless about making and serving coffee. Everyone thinks they can make coffee. They can't.
One of Thailand's great mysteries is why people start businesses with significant capital investment then leave them to fail in the hands of well-meaning, poorly trained staff. Please tell me it is not connected with the regular seizures of narcotics along the river here. Boats slip over from Laos at night and leave consignments on the Thai riverbank for later collection.
One last look at the river here before moving on.
A pleasant drive down the river took us to That Phanom. We stayed by the river and this time had an actual partial view of the Mekhong.
The first task, sorry, pleasure, of the morning is to respect the monks. We were there at 0530. That is the moon, with Venus, I think, reflected in the river. Mars was visible too.
Monks start turning up a short while later.
Then the dawn. Venus is still there.
Then more monks. There are lots of monks in That Phanom.
Breakfast is part of the hotel deal. A decent buffet. I had some toast and marmalade after the congee and curry. The green stuff remained untested.
Breakfast was very busy. The car park was full, the Thai tourists tend to arrive very late in the evening, feed the monks, feed themselves then immediately travel onwards. The hotel has about 100 rooms and Housekeeping were in every room but ours after breakfast.
We were in no rush. We had time to watch the ladyboy practise his Thai dancing. It is times like this you know you are in Thailand.
We took our time and walked to the temple, stopping for coffee en route. A much better experience this time, a very small shop run by a couple who actually know how to make a cup of coffee. I'd be a regular here.
The country is littered with business start ups with high ideals, no business plan and lack of market understanding, of course its also littered with shell businesses in the tourism sector which barely make money and are merely a front for washing money. It all adds to the mystery and intrigue for us westerners as Jeff would say
That made far too much sense to be anything jeff would say.
The main event was the temple visit. This is a busy temple, very much on the tourist trail. It is large enough to have a post office and a Krung Thai Bank branch inside the grounds. So much for money lenders and temples.
Since my last visit the small market selling tourist goodies, Isaan cloth and amulets has been moved outside the temple walls.
Three times around the stupa is the standard visit, although some people have more elaborate ceremonies and there is a good bit of dancing goes on.
The stupa is relatively new. The old one fell down a few decades ago and the Buddha relics had to be dug out of the collapsed brickwork. Breastbone, if I remember correctly.
This is a rich temple, according to some locals familiar with the place. You can donate cash, or use the helpful QR code.
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