In Nong Khai the long Friendship Highway that was built with assistance of and used by the United States for logistics during the Vietnam War ends. If you go further north you have to cross the Mekong on the Thai-Lao friendship bridge. After hours on Thai busses, watching and listening to the Karaoke programs on board this is the best place to reload batteries and get some relaxiation. I checked into the Pantawee Hotel, a great place to stay with lots of amenities for affordable prices. Every room is even equipped with a flatscreen TV, DVD player and internet computer. And it is the perfect place to do some laundry and eat a BBQ cheeseburger with french fries, which I did :-). I can tell you it was the best burger ever (in fact it wasn't, but just that I haven't had fast food for such a long time made it the best...). There are lots of westerners here, most of them expanding their visa by travelling over to Laos for a couple of days. So I enjoyed my time having a Thai massage and checking out lots of great restaurants and some Mekong fish. And as most of the people here just adapted the "river flow" wandering the river boardwalk and dozing while looking over to Laos. The Mekong is very dangerous for travellers getting stuck here because of the great atmosphere and the enjoyable gastronomy and nice people around. So at the last night I sat there eating my fish right at the river listening to old songs from the seventies playing at the restaurant and being one of those victimc of the Mekong vibe discussing a stay for another day with myself.
But I conquered my weaker self and made it. After two lazy days my batteries were reloaded for my awesome trip with a local bus westwards along the Mekong. It was an exhausting, but amazing trip and the views, experiences and the people I met were more than worth it. The local busses don't have air condition, so their windows and doors are open all the time which is really nice to get a feeling for the dusty atmosphere on the street...My guide said the coast trip along the Mekong hitting the towns of Si Chiangmai and Pak Chom is one of the nicest in Thailand. And it definitely is amazing! Rice fields, mountains and green tropical forests on both sides of the Mekong, the Laos side seeming more wilder still. It took me about 4 hours to the town of Pak Chom, actually in the middle of nowhere, when the bus driver told me the bus ended here. So the buddhist monk and I, that were the last ones on the bus, left it. No taxis, no tuktuks, no Songthaews, what now?
Again something happened on this trip that for me as a believing Christian isn't only a coincidence. A nice elderly man sat there on a bench, walked up to me and greeted me in best english. He learned it by studying the bible he said and helped me with my further travel arrangements. We both felt kind of guided and brought together by god and had the greatest chat about religion and faith there in that little Thai town comparing buddhism to christianity until my so called bus, something like a military truck transformed into an open air minibus arrived. He even offered me to stay at his house for the night, but I had to continue my journey to make my itinerary for the next day. We hugged each other and divided again after such a deep experience. After a three hour trip to the town of Ban Tad. where I had to change again. I finally made it to Chiang Khan just on time for the sunset, the destination of my day's journey. I ended up in a plain guesthouse right at the Mekong using my sleeping bag and shared bathrooms, but the day and the location right at the river were worth it. I had another great Mekong fish with chilly spicy and sweet souce for dinner, unfortunately I forgot to take the camera to show you the whole fish I ate. They serve it with head, tail and everything, its so tasty!
The next day I went down to Loei and changed to an AIR CONDITIONED!!!! bus to Udon Thani, where I am staying for one night. Flying to Bangkok with Air Asia tomorrow to meet my girlfriend Ellen who is flying in on Friday. So I'm going to spend tomorrow and Friday in our nice Bangkok hotel to pre-checkout the rooftop pool before we explore the city together the next days. Can't believe three weeks are over already and the day has come I was looking forward to so much when Ellen is flying in...Getting back to city life in Udon Thani tonight with its big mall and all the American food around. It's interesting to see the McDonalds menu here that has lots of Thai food and Thai burgers and Ronald McDonald greeting in Thai. I'll probably hit KFC or a Pizza place again :-). Maybe even going for a movie at the theatres tonight, although there isn't anything interesting playing and not much in english, but maybe a nice change after zapping through Fox News and Law and Order as only shows on the channels for the last days in my rooms...