Sawasdee ka from Nong Khai

Monday - 5 April 08

What can I say but what a freakin trip to get to Nong Khai!

We got picked up late by our mini bus from Bluestar guesthouse at Kanchanburi yesterday and the mini bus was packed full young Israeli people, who were quite friendly, and luggage, we left Kanchanaburi at 2pm and arrived in Bangers at 4pm. It took just over 2 hours to get to Khao San rd in Bangers and man what a hole. There are heaps of excellent markets in Khao San rd but as for the rest of Bangkok its an overcrowded, polluted shit hole. We didn't even get time to get our backpacks out of the mini bus when a Bangkok taxi driver was in our face wanting to know where we wanted to go, I told him he could wait until I had a cigarette. The taxi driver took us to the Hualampholong train station and he was a nice guy but they just don't give you time to breathe and are in your face as soon as they see you. Anyway, when travelling in Thailand avoid Bangers at all costs!!!!

The train station was disgusting, we had a 4 hour wait to board our train which was scheduled to leave at 8.45pm. We put our luggage into the luggage hold which costs us 180 Baht but it was better than carrying it around for 4 hours and went had KFC for dinner as it was the only eating place at the station we trusted enough to eat at. We went for a walk around the streets near the station to fill in some time, had a look through some small markets and then sat out on the steps to have a smoke and watch the traffic, the dogs and the chaos that is Bangkok, now I know why I avoided putting the place on our itinerary.

Our train left at 8.45pm and it was on time leaving. Our 1st class air conditioned sleeper compartment was quite compact with a top bunk and bottom bunk and a sink to have a wash in. We were the last compartment in the very last carriage right next to the toilets. The toilets were absolutely filthy and stunk of urine and mould and badly in need of disinfecting, obviously they don't have cleaners that know how to clean. It was a 12 hour train journey and lucky it was at night and we could sleep for some of that time. The trains and train stations in Thailand are Non Smoking and I managed to hold out the 12 hours without a ciggy. Rick and a couple of other passengers didn't and snuck into the toilet to have a puff, the guards wouldn't have noticed the smell of smoke anyway the urine smell was too strong.

We arrived at Nong Khai in Isaan, North Eastern Thailand at 9am this morning and far out it was hot. You can tell its monsoon season as the humidity is stifling. We got off the train and low and behold we had a flotilla of Tuk Tuk drivers in our face, nice but pushy. I told them to wait I wanted to have a smoke and then we would tell them where we wanted to go. We didn't have any accommodation booked but I had a list of 2 guesthouses that I wanted to check out. The Tuk Tuk driver brought us to the Pantawee Hotel in the centre of Nong Khai and had no idea of the where these guesthouses were. Rick and I asked the hotel reception to show us a couple of their different priced rooms and we settled on a 700 Baht ($25 Aud) room per night, including breakfast, it was too hot to walk around looking at others. Our room is basic but clean, air conditioned, towels, toilet paper and it has cable TV, a real 'hot' shower and a computer in our room with 24 hr free internet so Rick is in 7th heaven. Its not the Ritz but its clean, central to everything with a couple of freebies thrown in and we will probably only be here for 3 days max and then head an hour south to Udon Thani.

While we waited for the housekeepers to finish cleaning our room we took a walk down to the Mekong Riverfront. The Mekong River divides Thailand and Laos so when you look across the river you are looking into Laos. There is the Friendship bridge which connects the 2 countries which was built by the Australian Government as a gift to both countries, it is a border crossing so requires a visa. We are going to get a Tuk Tuk up to the bridge tomorrow but won't be crossing the border. We had a look through the markets which are great, cheap and the people leave you alone to look, they are not in your face trying to get you to buy.

Rick spent the arvo on the computer and I had a much needed nanny snooze and we then went for a walk back to the river front and had fish and chips at a pommie bar/cafe. It was ok but expensive. Nong Khai is a fairly large town, quiet and not many tourists as it really is only a drop off point for travellers going to Laos. We met a guy from Orange in NSW on the train who was going to Laos to have a look around. We are going to have a quiet night in our room with the air con. We could both do with a good nights sleep. I have taken heaps of photos since we got to Thailand and have managed to send a few postcards which will probably take a while to get to Aussie. So that was today and so far the journey has been, to us, interesting and educating. Until tomorrows post.

Ra-Tree Sawasdi (Goodnight)