Blogs from Nong Khai, North-East Thailand, Thailand, Asia

We spent a couple of days in Chiang Mai the capital of the North. It has the most incredible night market where the streets are so full that if you walk down the centre you cannot even see the stalls on either side. Lots of buskers and street food but in the main not special as they were catering for the masses and had pre-cooked a lot of stuff which unless is a stew or soup does not bode well for a Thai meal which is all about fresh, made on the spot stuff. We followed the stalls into a Wat which was a lot quieter and had some dinner there – a delicious curry served by a young girl of about 8 working with her mum and grandfather. She was animated and spoke English very ... read more

I had a beautiful day today. I can't explain it better than by saying I just know I'm in the right place. Today was a long one. As with the other mornings, I had a hard time waking up, and an even harder time staying awake during the morning session. We opened class as usual, sitting in a circle with our left palms facing upwards and right palms facing down, hands adjoined, knees all but barely touching. Pancho went into detailed lecture on the Trikonasana poses of the sequence. I have to admit, I fought to stay awake, HARD. Thank goodness for note taking. I was so relieved (as always) when we finally got into the asana practice. Finally, a chance to move my body and wake up. The asana sequence feels so easy to me. ... read more

I didn´t realize there were two parts to the bus station and for half a second thought I was completely at the wrong bus station and was going to miss the bus. But I worked it out and travelled VIP style arriving early in KhonKean. Taking the bus to Nongkhai was relatively easy apart from the waiting on the bus for half an hour then moving 2km to sit and wait again for another hour. I eventually got across the border about half past nine and had met a Spanish guy who was also heading straight for immigration. So together we caught a bus into the city and quickly bought a delicious baguette sandwich before taking a tuktuk to immigration. For some reason this time you didn’t get your number from a machine but it worked ... read more

As I sit here looking across the Mekong River in to Laos from my little slice of Thai tranquillity, I thought it was time to share the experiences and adventures that Thailand has provided us with. Tomorrow we continue our journey in to Laos, another country, another culture, another beer. We have had 10 amazing days in Thailand which began what feels like a month ago in the chaos that is known as Bangkok. After a 22-hour journey with no sleep and plenty of emotions, we arrived in Bangkok. Walking in to the wall of heat that greeted us at the airport, we shed our layers of clothes and shook of the remnants of winter bracing ourselves for long two months ahead of us. After 40 minutes of flying through Bangkok traffic, the taxi driver, in ... read more

Sabadee, Hello En résumé nous sommes partis le 14 decembre au Laos pour revenir le 24 decembre en le 14 dec de Chiang kong ,(thailande) 7 heures de bateau sur le mékong. vers Packbeng. 1 dodo à packbeng. De packbeng à Luang Prabang 8 heures de bateau sur le Mékong. 3 dodos plus ou moins à Luang Prabang. Ensuite de Luang Prabang à >Viang Vieng 5 heures de bus, car l'autobus a brisé les bearing de roue. une chance le conducteur a tout changé.(route très sinueuse) effrayante. Viang Vieng 3 dodos, kayack, etc. de Viang Vieng 4 hrs de bus vers Vientiane (capital du Laos) 2 dodos à la capitale. On repart le 24 du Laos. A 25 km de là le pont de l'amitié (Friendship Bridge) , puis on arrive en Thaïlande. ET POUR LE ... read more

Nong Khai 22nd – 24rd July We took the overnight sleeper train to Nong Khai and arrived early on the 22nd. Our hostel beside the Mekong River was pretty but hot and we spent the next couple of days sweating profusely after getting too used to the cool National Park. We hired bikes from the hostel and cycled round the city, finding it to be charming and full of attractive wats (Buddhist temples). Particularly impressive was a sculpture park depicting countless Buddhist and Hindu images, all designed by one man (check out our pictures). Nong Khai 22. bis 24. Juli Nong Khai, eine kleine Stadt am Ufer des Mekongs, der die Grenze zu Laos markiert, erreichten wir am naechsten Morgen nach einer relativ angenehmen Fahrt im Schlafwagen. Unsere Unterkunft dort war etwas rudimentaerer und so musste ... read more