trip to the Lao border

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Our teacher OnAnong and her sisters invited me and Julian to their home in Ubon Ratchatani, in the northeast of Thailand (Isaan, or Esarn).

We took an overnight bus, east from Bangkok to Ubon, ate a lovely breakfast of Vietnamese food, then headed east again. From their Isaan home to the Lao border was about an hour's drive, well worth the trip.

As you can see, the water level is high. We had fine sunny weather for our weekend stay, but recent rains as far north as China and down through Laos to Isaan have swollen the Mae Kong (they say Kong as if it's going to be "cone", then end with the "ng" which is a single letter in Thai).

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The above both show the Thai side of the river with a slim glimpse of Laos in the distance.

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At the border, Laotians come across to sell their produce. This woman had fresh (live) crabs on a plastic ribbon.

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And here you see Laos, temptingly close (would've cost less than a dollar to take a sweet little boat across), but we teacher assistants have only single-entry visas to Thailand. Alas!

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