This part of "Journeys From The Village" doesn't describe a particular journey up to the Lao border but is a composite of many Journeys (in particular the one in 1992) that Mali and I have made to the Mekong Border with Laos over the past 14 years. I had first seen the Mekong in 1981 and 1988 after trips up to the border in Northern Thailand but it wasn't until 1991 before I explored the Mekong from an Isaan (North-East Thailand) perspective.

On that trip we traveled up to the Border Town of Nong Khai just down the river from the Lao capital of Vientiane which of course is situated on the opposite bank of the Mekong. We made the trip by a local orange "squash" bus from Ban Phutsa which was pretty uncomfortable but I was a lot younger and much poorer then so it really was the only way to go. It took hours to get to the border traveling through the flat Isaan landscape observing the endless rice fields, the busy cities of Khon Khaen & Udon Thani and then more rice fields. Of course there were compensations - on the local buses,especially in Isaan you get a better feel and understanding of "Thai Time", sample some of the best hawker food in the country, and appreciate the beautiful Isaan culture where everybody speaks to everyone else.

When we arrived at Nong Khai I observed a busy Isaan town full of dust, markets, mopeds and people everywhere. Not long after we had caught a Sorngthaew  at the towns bus station  and soon I had my first glimpse of the Mekong. There in its wide muddy splendour I caught sight of  riverboats flying Lao and Thai flags respectively puttering up and down the river and on the opposite bank, Laos which to a main stream tourist like myself seemed both unreachable and exotic. We stayed at a guesthouse appropriately called the Mekong Guesthouse. On the broad verandah of the guesthouse we spent an afternoon soaking up both the atmosphere and the Singha Beer. Unfortunately , a couple of days later we had to return to Ban Phutsa due to a prior engagement but resolved to return the following year. Before we left we visited the official site on the bank of the river where the new "Thai-Lao" friendship bridge was to be built. This was about a week after the ceremonial "first sod" for the new bridge had been turned  I believe by King Bhumipol. I took a photo of my 8 year old  daughter Natalie more for memory than a sense of history.

In 1992 we were better prepared and mapped out a 10 day journey down the river from Chiang Khan right down to Ubon Ratchathani. Once again we humped it by local transport, including local buses and a Sorngthaew once we had reached Loei. Loei is the capital of Loei province which boasts mountains and the Phu Kradung national park. Whilst its mountains don't rival Northern Thailand they are certainly a contrast to the vast Khorat Plateau that makes up much of North-East Thailand.

Fifty kilometres from Loei in a valley leading onto the Mekong is the town of Chiang Khan. Chiang Khan was then and still is the quintessential border town in Thailand. The town is mainly comprised of a long row of Teak Timber shopfronts that stretch down the river. The Mekong is quite narrow here and my first impression was that you could reach out from our hotel balcony ( The atmospheric Sook Somboom) and touch Laos. In physical terms of course that was bullshit but that's how it felt. Some towns like Chiang Khan have a certain ambience that you can't  quite put your finger on - in the end that's what their intrinsic value is.

Four Kilometres down the river are the Kaeng Khut rapids which has a market and a shady park to while the time away. In 1992 we paid our first visit to the rapids and ate an Isaan lunch at the market  on the bank of the river. The special at the market was goong ten (literally dancing prawns) which were freshly caught  prawns from the Mekong which you ate while they were still alive together with a special chili sauce. Pretty tasteless but they had a novelty quality. A couple of days later we decided to move on down to Nong Khai which we had visited the previous year.

The day long journey was done first in an old knackered local bus full of villagers, chickens and farm produce. At a small river town we swapped the bus for a Sorngthaew that was going to Nong Khai. The road was winding and narrow but gave a magnificent view of Thailand's border country. We had to pass numerous Thai army checkpoints - The Thai government at this time was cracking down on illegal immigration from Laos. The two things that still linger in my mind from that trip were the large numbers of villages and people in this isolated area but most of all the contrast between the two river banks. Most of the bank on the Lao side was covered in thick stands of rainforest whereas on the Thai side many of the hill sides were as "bare as a babies bum " after years of over logging .

When we arrived in Nong Khai after just a 12 month absence it was surprising how things could  change in such a short time. The town was much busier and commercially edgier. There were a lot more Farangs in the streets and the laid back feel that we had experienced in 1991 had disappeared. Still an Isaan town but just a little different. Perhaps it had something to do with the new bridge to Laos that was being built - when we arrived we could see that the concrete pylons  had already been built. At first I thought maybe it was my imagination but a couple of days later in the town of Nakhon Phanom I expressed my view that Nong Khai   had changed over a beer with an American expatriate in the towns night market. He replied succinctly "Your right there buddy, its fucked"

About 300 kilometres down the river is the river town called Nakhon Phanom. Smaller than Nong Khai ,Nakhon Phanom had a wonderful small town feel. A long French influenced boulevarde stretched the length of the town right along the river front. At night you could eat delicious Isaan food in the night market and enjoy the breeze off the Mekong together with a beer or two or three. In the morning strolling along the riverbank you came across townspeople walking and jogging in the morning cool. The main attraction was in the pre dawn watching the sun slowly begin to rise over a jagged mountain range in Laos.

Fifty kilometres down the river is the little town of Tat Phanom. Its a scruffy little town with its main claim to fame being a Buddhist Temple called Wat Phra That Phanom. The temple is famous right across Thailand and people from all parts of the country come to pray and partake in its many festivals. Most foreigners would find it pretty non-descript but in the main have to place trust in the Thais that it is important. In 1992 on our journey we visited the temple, prayed , lit incense and were blessed by an old Buddhist nun. I too found that the significance of the Temple  escaped me but there again I have revisited Wat Phra That Phanom many times since then.

From Tat Phanom we traveled the last leg of our 10 day Mekong journey to the City of Ubon Ratchathani. Ubon Ratchathani is one of Thailand's largest cities and is an important rail/hub in the kingdom and is deemed to be the main jumping off point to southern Laos. I've always liked Ubon Ratchathani for reasons that I've never been sure. Perhaps its that its a big city but still has a country town feel, is quiet and isolated but still accessible to the rest of the country due to its air and rail links to that other big country town - Bangkok. Who would know - at the end of the day I just like the place. In Thailand that's reason good enough.

From Ubon Ratchathani we caught the train to the little rail town of Hin Dad and from there a short Sorngthaew ride back to Ban Phutsa. The train journey was made in a second class carriage on a an old Thai "rattler" traveling through southern Isaan towns such as Sisaket and Surin. My one enduring memory of that train trip was standing up having a "leak" in the train carriage's lavatory with  its window open down to waist height and seeing a group of farmers smiling and waving  at me as the train passed their rice field.

Since that trip in 1992 which I consider to be my first great Isaan experience Mali and I have traveled back to the Mekong several times since. Each time the experience has been equally as rewarding. Although the region  is rapidly modernising and booming up especially around Nong Khai , the Mekong region of Isaan still has the qualities that we found in those earlier trips in 1991/92 - a laid back lifestyle, beautiful river towns and compared to other parts of the Kingdom an almost complete absence of tourists. A place that you can truly lose yourself.