A couple of quiet days in Mukdahan and Ubon Ratchathani in Isan Province

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Arriving in Mukdahan after our uncomfortable bus trip from Nakhon Phanom we climbed onboard yet another tuktuk which took us down to our prebooked hotel on the banks of the Mekong River. The river was a surprisingly long way from the bus station so the city was obviously quite large. Our hotel (once again it was named the Riverside) was very comfortable and at only $20 a night a bargain. We couldn't see the river however as the bank was lined with dozens of stalls selling food and general tourist tat. It really wasn't very attractive and we promptly decided to only spend one night there - not the two as originally planned.

After settling in we wandered along trying to find somewhere to eat. The food on display at the long row of food stalls fronting the river looked very unappetising and as all of it seem to be prepared and sitting in the open in the glare and intense heat which had built up under the blue tarpaulins of the stall roofs. It didn't take us long to decide to investigate what other eating options were available in the streets behind the hotel. And without a lot of success I might add. The area seemed to be lacking in restaurants though there were a lot of coffee shops which sold nothing else other than creamy cakes. We eventually ate spring rolls (freshly prepared) but even there the heat inside soon sent us scurrying back to the airconditioned comfort of our hotel.

Later in the day we wandered the market stalls again and enjoyed an hour of people watching. There were many groups of monks browsing and buying small trinkets from the stalls, and enjoying take away snacks. We found stairs leading to an underground area beneath all the stalls but were dissappointed when we discovered another market selling the same products for sale as upstairs. And the temperature was even hotter down there! The Talat Indojin (Indochina Market) was very bland and boring when compared with the fascinating colour of the market we had visited in Nakon Phanom earlier that day.

After checking out our guide book we walked further along the riverside to another hotel with restaurant (ours only had a coffee shop) for dinner and a drink. We enjoyed a drink at another bar first as we watched the sun set over the water - the last time we would be able to do that this trip - and headed to our dinner destination. Unfortunately I smelt the food cooking and felt promptly ill - maybe the lunchtime spring rolls hadn't been so fresh after all. Leaving Jerry to his dinner I returned alone to the hotel. I could see the lights of the Lao city of Savannakhet across the river - we had watched the lights in Mukdahan from there a few years previously. In 2006 the second Thai- Lao Friendship bridge was opened which certainly opened this region of Isan Province to western tourists.

Next morning we were up early and back at the bus station where we soon caught a bus to Ubon Ratchathani. It was the rattliest bus we had been on in our entire trip - the windows were wired permanently open and it felt like a cyclone was rushing through the bus the entire 3 hour trip. I was thankful I was able to cover my ears with a head scarf or I would have had ear ache by the time we arrived. Despite the hot day everybody on board had the hoods of their jackets pulled tight around their ears! The bus lady was lovely though - always laughing and she gave my shoulders a gentle squeeze every time she walked past me. She thought it was hilarious when I wrapped my ears up! A bucket of icy water was bought around regularly and all the passengers were offered a drink from a communal cup. It was an enjoyable trip though the surrounding landscape was very flat and brown with dust. It would look so much better if we were travelling in the rice season as the road would then be lined with lush green rice fields. Unlike the small terraced fields we had seen elsewhere in our travels the fields here were all very large and so flat we were puzzled as to how they actually filled them with the water needed to produce the rice crop.

We spent the next two days in a small hotel (Sri Isan) near the Mae Nam Mum River (Thailand's second longest waterway) in Ubon Ratchathani - though we didn't even glimpse it as the banks were surrounded by busy roads and just to get there didn't seem worth the effort. Ubon was a busy city though the area we stayed in was deserted after dark and it proved hard to find somewhere to eat. We did discover a bakery which luckily had a restaurant attached were we ate all our meals - the food was cheap and fresh and the staff friendly. Ubon's claim to fame is the annual candle festival and the park near our hotel had a large gold statue of one of the festival floats. It took a while for us to realise that is what it was - the candle in the centre was enormous, heavily carved and most unlike what we expected they would look like. There was a candle museum in town but sadly we didn't realise this until we were enroute to the bus station as we left town. On hindsight we probably should have stopped, left our luggage and checked it out as it would have been interesting.

We did little during our time in Ubon but I enjoyed checking out the craft shops and making a few souvenir purchases whilst Jerry had a Thai massage. One tiny shop (Rawang Thang) run by an enterprising young couple had some fabulous cards and Tshirts for sale, all traditional designs but with a contemporary slant. We visited Wat Si Ubon Rattanaram to visit the 7cm high topaz Buddha but it was so tiny we couldn't see it! We left to find the nearby Wat Thung Si Meuang but ended up at the National Museum instead. It was housed in a splendid colonial building (ex City Hall and 93 years old) and full of interesting artefacts. We loved the building and imagined living in it - it would fit beautifully into the streetscape of Toowoomba, Queensland, where we live. As it was now to late to visit the Wat we returned to our hotel to checkout and go to the bus station.

The taxi driver kept quoting prices to take us onward to Surin, 173 kilometers away but we declined his tempting offer. Only to arrive at the station to discover that the next bus to Surin was not leaving for two hours. In the end we did catch another taxi though it took a bit of bargaining to get it for the same price the first driver had offered. Airconditioned comfort for three hours and at least an hour shorter driving time then the bus for $50. After seeing the condition of the road and the traffic on it we were actually very pleased to have gone with the taxi option. The bus would have taken at least five hours, after the two hour wait, so it would have been a long day otherwise. Surin looked an interesting town and after checking into the Maneerote Hotel we set out to explore the surrounding area.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Great photo.
Love this one.

[lmh]

Chickens..
Thank you - I love taking photos - just wish I carried my SLR when I travelled. They always bring back memories... Linese