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7th Sept
Not quite in Control!
I left Peace of Angkor at 07:50 after
a send off from the Peace Of Angkor Crew. Although Sa-am wasn’t in
work that morning, he came in specialty to see me off . Den had
arranged a shared taxi for me to Anlong Veng and the Thai Border. It
was $10 for a seat (or $5 for a shared seat) I picked the 1st option
for obvious reasons.
There were 3 already in the back of
the car and picked up 2 others on the way. While I didn’t share a
seat the driver did!
Yes there were 2 people behind
the wheel!
At first I thought one would be
steering and the other operating the pedals!! However only the
driver was in control; the auto gearbox makes it easier to drive
that way! The music from the minidisk was thankfully relaxing after
one of the elderly occupants in the rear asked the driver to turn it
down a bit .
The drive to Anlong Veng is much
improved. Beyond Banteay Srey and Kbal Spean, road works and new
bridge construction were in progress. The new settlements along the
road reflected the new wealth coming into rural Cambodia. Property
speculators have bought much "new" land along that road. Long
stretches of the route were unrecognizable due to road works and
forest clearance.
 At
the rustic village of Srey Noy little had changed, it was still a
dusty town of cheap wooden shacks with tin roofs. Only for a
few kilometres did I recognize the beautiful stretch of forest road
alongside the protected forest reserve.
Sadly we were soon back into road
works again with mechanical diggers and new earthmoving equipment
turning the main highway to Anlong Veng and Thailand into a
sea of mud.
At 10:30 we reached the City Limit of
Anlong Veng; this small town is little more than a developing
village. The sign suggests bigger aspirations. We dropped of a
couple of passengers driver and his mate and a quick driver change
and we were soon along the new road up the Dangrek escarpment to the
border. At 500mteres or so it was hardly an alpine pass but the
driver was struggling to keep up momentum.
We left the road to dusty track and
a groups of shacks where we dropped the remaining 3 passengers off.
Well a more wild and remote border would be hard to find. A couple
of portacabins and barrier with flags; marked the end of Land of
Laughter and the beginning of the Land of Smiles.
With all the recent stories of
difficult Thai Border guards and the strictly enforced rules about
having an onward flight out of Thailand to enter by land: I might
have expected a some questions from the guards. About 50meters walk
was the Thai Border where an affable and well spoken guard passed
the time of day with me. He gave me some advice onward
transport which was car only
and asked about me where I was going from and going to. I told him
about my work in Siem Reap. He was genuinely interested and
told him that he would be very welcome.
It was obvious that few people come
this way as there is no onward public transport. I hired a pickup to
take me to the Bus Station for Ubon Rachathani. The driver took me
for 600b around 40 mins drive to isolated cross roads; where there
was a basic shelter with a couple of guys in hammocks.
Hot Chilli!
I found out the bus was going to be
arriving at 1:30 pm. As it was just on 12pm I had enough time to
cross the busy road to the PTT petrol station opposite for lunch. I
had a pretty dent meal of pork and rice with fruit and a dip which
packed an unexpected chilli punch! which had me breathing fire
and gasping for water. The rotund serving lady thought it very funny
and quickly brought a glass of ice and water! To pay for the meal I
had to exchange US Dollars which had dropped so much against the
Baht that there was barely 30 Baht to the Dollar.
The bus was late in coming; by 2pm I
was al little concerned; but there were a few people waiting and a
couple more on motos arrived. My guess the bus was on the way was
correct; a few minutes later I was on the bus to somewhere! Well the
somewhere ticket cost 120 b which was more than I expected for
Siskathet a third of the way to Ubon R . The ticket had no
legible info which didn’t help; but some road signs did confirm I
was in the right direction. The trouble was there was no clue
in the towns and bus station where I was. I trusted the judgement of
the driver who took me to the bus stop. So wasn’t unduly concerned
but I’d look very stupid if I got off the bus at the wrong place!
Where the Fookarewe!
By 4 PM I expected to be I Ubon
Rachathani where Mick was waiting for me; but the bus took a
roundabout route deviating through other towns. After a couple
of false arrivals where t one place there was big bus station.
Looked outside; but there was no indication where I was. I asked
around and managed to get confirmation that I was still on the bus
to Ubon Rachathani; but not there yet.
I had more confirmation as a 25km to
Ubon sign came up. But it still took an age to get there; passing
yet another big town and river crossing and a long drive along some
impressively wide roads for over half an hour.
I finally arrived at a large bus
station terminus where every one got off. I saw the smiling faces of
Mick and his Thai friend Kriangsak Champasam (Khean) who had a tuk
tuk waiting . It was only a few minutes drive to the grandly names
Lake View mansions Hotel. Newly built and immaculately clean; the
hotel was a little out of town on a small Soi off a major
road. Checked in by Phum the Manageress. She was friendly
enough; but was very insistent that the deposit and room rate was
paid immediately. This was not so easy as I only had a small amount
of Baht from the journey. Anyway Mick sorted the bill out for me and
we had a long chat in the lobby.
Wrong Way Inn
Khean took us out via the ATM in town
then to an expats bar, amusingly called the Wrong Way Inn. Well the
food was great, the atmosphere pleasant. Met Trevor, a
Londoner and a few others.
A lot of tiger beer was consumed as
there was a 2 +1 free offer on Large bottles of Tiger. We had 3 free
ones so had 9 between us that night. By 11:30 when most of the
guys went out to a night club later. I we were ready to be
taken by tuk tuk back to the hotel. 100Baht was all that we had
between us in small change. I managed to prevent Mick giving
500B for fare; the driver seemed OK with that.
Well what is there to see in
Ubon anyway?
9th September
With no breakfast facilities at the
hotel and nowhere nearby, Mick took me on his moto to a 7-11 store
and also dropped into see Khean. He ran a small café on a side
street a km or so away.
We arranged for a pickup to take us
on a sightseeing tour of Ubon. We hade late breakfast in the hotel
lobby and after an hour or so Khean picked us up for some
sightseeing.
At first appearance Ubon has little
immediately to see other than a river front along the Moon River and
a big park or two. Ringed and dissected by 6 lane highways It was
very spread out with no obvious centre.
We drove to the TAT tourist office to
see what info they had. Not a lot which was readable anyway! Not
even a map of the area; so Mick suggested to go to the Tourist
Police Office where he knew a couple of the girls there who would
have info .
Well we did pick up a useful ad well
written mini guide to the city. This had only recently been
published for the Candle festival in August. This is the big event
of the year for the city; where dozens of floats made out of candle
wax are driven through the city. I had seen a small example of a
candle float in the Tourist office. It was in the shape of an
elephant. Mick told me that it was just a small one as the real one
would be the size of an elephant.
Wat Jang and Wat Tung Sri Muang
 We
moved on to the small Wat of Wat Jang which had an immaculate Lao
Style wooden temple amongst the trees. Mick had not seen it either;
so it was of some interest of both of us.
The next place was Wat Tung Sri
Muang. It was built by during the reign of Rama III to house a
replica of the Buddha Footprint . The ancient scripture hall is
cantered on a reflecting pool which was to protect the scriptures
against ants and termites.
The shrine was dark and wood floor
was littered with pigeon droppings. Mick warned me about the danger
of bird flu. I was more concerned about camera exposure! Outside we
met Alex a Buddhist monk who invited us to a group mediation session
to help clean our minds, I thought our minds had been thoroughly
cleansed by the quantity of Tiger beer drunk the previous night!
Alex prove to be a very intelligent
and also well travelled man. He was born here but spent a lot of
time in Australia and lived for a while in Cape Town. He converted
to Christianity and then became Buddhist again later when he
returned to Thailand.
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The
creation in wax was huge probably around 10 meters long and at least
5 meters high. The Boat shaped and intricately carved candle float
took my breath away. Apparently there were 80 of these parading
through the streets of Ubon and yet few tourists ever go there as
few people outside of Thailand know of it! 
