Talking about changing plans... 2 days ago, we were still around 200km away from Nong Khai, and we planned to do a short day of around 50km and stay overnight in a place called Mekong Riverview Resort. We had found that place online, it looked marvellous, it had raving reviews and: it had a campsite too! So the plan was to ride there from Chiang Khan, arrive early, have a nice relaxing afternoon at the Mekong riverside and perhaps even stay an extra day and enjoy. Then take another 2 days to Nong Khai from there.
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| Our breakfast table at the room balcony in Chiang Khan |
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| Morning at the Mekong |
When we arrived at the Resort, a bit past Pak Chom, the gate was closed... I made a call to the number indicated on the signboard, and indeed: the place was closed for the day... They had no bookings, did not expect any guests, so went away themselves. This gave us 2 options: ride back to Pak Chom and find a place to stay, or continue and probably do another 50-ish km before we would find the next place to stay. We opted for the second as it was still early in the day, and indeed did another 40-or-so km, to end up in a place called Ban Meuang about 20km before Sang Khom. Result: 96km on the counter. Luckily it was nice riding along the river, definitely enjoyable. We found a nice little resort, at the river edge, with a fantastic view - and a nice Swiss couple travelling on motorcycles with their 2 children as neighbours and dinner company. This place had no internet, so also no blog post.
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| And what about this place for a coffee stop? |
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| This is what the Mekong looks like during dry season |
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| Rippled road. Nature to the right, Mekong to the left, perfect road and no traffic. It doesn't get much better than that. |
Then, from Ban Mueang, we knew it was another 100km or so to Nong Khai. The "plan": to ride at least until Sri Chiangmai, if we find a nice place to stay we do, otherwise we just keep going. We liked Sri Chiangmai as such, a gentle, sleepy town, with friendly people, a fantastic promenade cum cycling path along the river, some inviting restaurants, but: no inviting places to stay.
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| Evening view from our room in Ban Meuang |
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| Morning view from that same room |
And so we continued until Nong Khai, arriving here yesterday late afternoon after another long day of about 107km. There were some hills, but most of it was relatively easy riding, with some nice stretches where we were able to get off the main road and cycle along small, traffic-free rural roads. The main crop in this area: tobacco! Really, it makes you wonder, why on earth people grow something that looks like big green vegetables, dry it, then smoke it??? And why not just spinach, or maybe try broccoli next time??? In terms of carbon footprint: unnecessary space taken up to grow the tobacco and unnecessary stinking smoke in the air because of smoking it.
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| Very remote and desolate, and suddenly: there is a solar farm!!! |
We have been many times in Nong Khai in the past, and always stayed in the Mut Mee Guesthouse (first time would have been in 1993, and then several times in the years we lived in Thailand, usually with friends and family who came to visit us). We wanted to do this now too, only it was fully booked; this place has succeeded to stay around all these years, and is still going strong (we went there today, and it still is really nice). Arriving in Nong Khai felt a little bit like homecoming, and Mut Mee would have made that complete, but it was not to be. We did find a very nice alternative however, The Rim Riverside, a nice small guesthouse at the riverside - as the name suggests - with an extremely friendly owner, Mr Tung. He brought us to a small restaurant yesterday evening, which stayed open especially for us, to enjoy the best kaeng massaman in town! That, combined with a bamboo shoot curry, was absolutely delicious!!!
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| No, this is not spinach or pak soi, it's tobacco! |
Nong Khai has changed quite a bit over the years, it is now a big tourist destination, and when we were here last in 2011 we did not like it that much anymore. It has however managed to improve a lot again, and it's a pleasant happening place now. There is also a long waterfront promenade, at least 5km long, which is very well done. This promenade made it even that appealing to run, that I actually got up early today - and this on our rest day! - and indeed went running! It was the first time in about a month and a half, it felt great to run, and it still went very well.
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| The tobacco is being dried in the sun on bamboo pallets |
And then we had breakfast: crunchy, warm baguette with cheese!!! Hmmmm!!! Now, we're sitting on the terrace at our guesthouse on the riverside, enjoying Mr Tung's great coffee, enjoying the cool "winter" morning, and just taking it easy. The rest of the day will be much like that, probably. And tomorrow we're leaving Thailand, after almost 2 months, and we're going to Vientiane, Laos, for the next part of our journey! Thailand was absolutely great, and now looking forward to the next part!