Blogs from Nong Khai, North-East Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 6

I woke up this morning firstly to the sounds of cocks crowing, during the early hours of daylight, & then the sound of the school children singing what I assume was a patriotic song with drumming. First impressions are that this city is much poorer than the other areas that I have visited (which is what I expected). But also more regimented - almost military with soldiers in uniform much more prevalent than anywhere else. I took breakfast this morning at a restaurant/guest house at the end of the road, which seems to be more of a hippy colony for westerners. It is sited on the bank of the mighty Mekong river, this being my first sighting of both the river itself, & Laos beyond. I spent the rest of the morning fixing up my room, ... read more

Still at NakonPhanom in northeast Thailand. took boat across the river to Laos. 50 baht Got passport stamped, returnedacross the river then went to large temple south at ThatPhanom Back to Nakon Phanom for the night. Busses here are old and worn out, by only way to travel except private car. tomorrow will go to ban Phai... read more

Sa-waad-dee (Hello) Today, Saturday 8th September was up and breakfast and then more Thai language learning. Rob, Jordanne and I have lots of laughs - poor Nic he is so patient. At lunchtime, I tried to find the markets. Thought I was heading the right way home, but had to get a tuk tuk as time was running out. Yep, I was going the wrong way. We had an interesting afternoon with Toto telling us about the Openmind start and how it has progressed over the time. Then it was an exciting time for the three of us volunteers as we were handed a piece of paper with the ingredients for tonight's meal written in Thai. We were given some baht and had to go to the market to get our ingredients. My lot was prik ... read more

It isn’t the destination itself, but what happens there that sticks with the traveler. She was in a group of four. Under all other circumstances, I would have avoided them. They arrived at the same café for a late breakfast. They, unlike me, ordered as if they were at Friendly’s. I had the rice soup with pork. At first sight, there was nothing extraordinary about their appearance or behavior. They spoke a bit too loud and giggled, but did not offend or annoy anyone. Immediately, they brought me back to a class I once taught, one in the early morning with a bunch of chatty, yet erudite girls. Girls, as a whole outperform the boys in my classes, no matter what the hour of the day. Thailand is a repose from any remnants of a high ... read more

Hi again, well we have been all over the place this last week, from pai to sukhothai then khon kaen and now nong khai. The last day in pai we hired a motorcycle and rode around the local hill tribe villges went up to the pai canyon and then the amazing hot springs which we soaked in for well over an hour. Then back on the bus and on to sukhothai via chiang mai. This first bus ride was the first of the week of hellish bus rides. The road from pai to chaing mai is famous for its beautiful scenery and also for being trechorously winding. on the way to pai it took 4 hrs to arive, on the way home it took 3 hours and it was pouring with rain. so i dont ... read more