Thailand and Laos December 2004

Our first real stop was at the Mut Mee Guest House in Nong Khai, Thailand.  Nong Khai is just north of Udon Thani on the banks of the Mekong River

The Mut Mee charges $12.00 a night for a nice room with a queen size four poster bed with mosquito netting, very interesting private bath/shower and a private veranda.

Lynn having breakfast in the garden of the Mut Mee.

Lynn and I had been up for more than 30 hours crossing 14 time zones. The jet lag throws you off your daily rhythm for several days and, not being able to sleep, I stared up at the geckos on the ceiling thinking about the sign at the front desk. It read, "Gentlemen - Under no circumstances are you to bring Ladies back from the town to sleep with here at the Mut Mee Guest House! If you do so, you will be asked to leave."

After all these years, it's still hard not to think like a lawyer, even at 3:00 in the morning. Did the sign mean that if Lynn and I went to town, came back and we went to sleep - they would ask me to leave?  Or could I use that old vaudeville line - "That ain't no lady, that's my wife!"

Or did it mean it would be all right to bring back one of the town ladies as long as I didn't actually go to sleep. 

My musings turned to righteous anger.  What if Lynn were to bring back a young Asian male (there were lots of them available for rent also.)  She could do so with impunity, the sign didn't say anything about sleeping with young men.  

  We rented a scooter and drove around Nong Khai.  Just on the edge of town there is a Statuary Park, being the work of one artist.  

Some of these statues are 7 stories tall

  Detail of a carved door at a temple in town (Wat Pho Chai.)

  Ken, on the steps of Wat Pho Chai, trying to figure out why the GPS isn't working.

Laos

  From Nong Khai we crossed the Mekong River over to Vientiane, the capital of Laos.  Paul Theroux, in his 1975 book The Great Railway Bazaar, said of Vientiane, "The brothels are cleaner than the hotels, marijuana is cheaper than pipe tobacco and opium easier to find than a cold glass of beer". I want to assure you, things have greatly improved, now it is quite easy to find a cold glass of beer.

  Vientiane has a run down European flavour - the legacy of being a former French Protectorate.  This is the main street but we were surprised at how few vehicles there were.

  Note the man, wife and child on the lead scooter.

  A view of the Mekong River close to our Guest House.

  The sidewalk cafes are not quite the same as in Paris.  This is right on the banks of the Mekong River.  Entrepreneurs (in this Communist country) just set up tables - I am not sure who they pay rent to.

Luang Prabang, Laos

  From Vientiane we went to Luang Prabang, which is a World Heritage site.  This is the view from the balcony of our room, looking across the Mekong River at a temple on the hillside.

  Each morning, starting around 6:00, the monks walk through the town and receive their food for the day from the local residents.  The women sit on the sidewalk, and each woman puts a pinch of rice into the food bowl of each monk.

  The Nam Khan, a small river that also runs through town and joins the Mekong.

  Carved door detail at one of the local temples.

Back to Thailand

  Ken and Lynn at a temple within the old walls of Chiang Mai.