March 22-28 - Northeastern ThailandMar 28, 2008
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Meaghan with the Mekong in the background (from our bungalow balcony)
Playing crib in the hammock! (not much else to do)
| Well we left Chiang Mai on route to North Eastern Thailand, but first made a stop in Sukothai. We stayed the night so that we could see the ancient ruins the next day before catching a bus to Udon Thani that arrived at 10pm. There were no tuk-tuks at the bus stop so we started walking down a slightly sketchy road, until Andrew asked directions from a nice lady closing up shop for the night - who ended up giving us a ride right to our hotel doorstep. The hotel was a little run down, but considering it housed US soldiers from the Vietnam war that were stationed at the airbase outside of town, it was alright (plus it was the cheapest place in Thailand that we've stayed at yet AND it came with a bathroom and TV - Bonus!) In the morning we caught a bus to Nong Khai but didn't stay long as we found another bike shop to rent our second scooter named "the red rocket" however it wasn't as nice as the hog with only 100cc, but it did the job so we set off driving along the Mekong River (which runs in between Laos and Thailand) until we got to a place called Sangkhom, where we stayed in a hut on the river. It had a bathroom attached that looked like a giant tree on the outside, and had a nice little deck with a comfy hammock overlooking the river. We also managed to find a street vendor that served amazing ice coffee and spent a good hour chatting with a local over a late night snack. The next day we headed toward Loei along the Mekong to do a loop to Pak Chom and back on to Nong Khai. Meaghan took over driving duties for about 40km but soon learned how sore your butt gets when you are driving - a little more then the back seat - but both burned... After a lunch stop Andrew took to the saddle but took a wrong turn that ended up being some back country road and instead of turning back we decided to 'intentionally get lost' so as to explore the real countryside. Luckily we chose all the right forks in the road and ended up back on the highway that we intended to take originally anyways! Once we arrived back in Nong Khai we got settled into our guest house and then toured around the city seeing Pra That Nong Khai (a chedi that has slide into the middle of the Mekong and can only be seen in the dry season when the river drops about 20 meters) and a sculpture park with massive concrete structures of ancient Buddah and Hindu gods. The next day we had to return the red rocket in the morning, so we headed to the train station to catch a quick 6 hr train ride to Khorat. We found out upon arriving that a huge festival was on - with a huge market taking over the streets just outside our hotel. We took a day trip to Pai Mai the next day to take in the sites of Prassat Hin Phimai National Historical Park - basically an ancient city of ruins that has been partially reconstructed. Its crazy how they built such amazing buildings back in the day! Can't wait to see Angkor Wat after visiting all these places in Thailand. That night we headed back to the market until it dropped....now you ask what dropped? That would be Andrew's stomach!! So with cheeks clinched we basically ran the 700metres back, made it just in time too...jogging through crowded streets made it a close call though. After all that we headed back into the market to get dinner and got taken by the vendor (for two very small plates of rice which normally cost 20-25 baht each - our cost 100) but we'd already eaten and when you can't speak Thai to argue back theres really no point, so hesitantly Meaghan took a deep breath and handed over the dough. Oh well...what can you do?! So now its time for another 6 hour train back to bangkok to get our Myanmar visas and look around the capital! |
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