After enjoying an awesome seafood dinner at the Seafood Bar located in Terminal 3 of Heathrow Airport (The seafood platter is highly recommended), drinking a bottle of white wine to myself (Not recommended when flying!) I was snuggled up in Business Class on a free upgrade courtesy of Eva Air making my way east to Bangkok.
The following day my girlfriend picked me up from Ubon Ratchathani airport with an entourage consisting of aunts, uncles, cousins and her mum. I jumped into the back of the pick up truck before we all proceeded to dive the 3 hour journey to Mukdahan province, which is located on the Laos/Thai boarder in North East Thailand.
After a late night in Bangkok, I was in no doubt I had got onto the correct plane when we stopped of at a local market and I saw snakes, frogs, insects, intestines and lizards for sale, all ready to be bought home and cooked up in spicy broths.I decided to go safe and ordered half a split roasted baby pig:
Before heading to our hotel, which is of amazing value at 350b (£7) a night with aircon, TV and hot shower, I was to visit my girlfriend’s rural village to greet family and friends.
Bamboo huts lined the few dirt roads in the village while nearly everyone housed in each individual hut were sitting on straw mats out on their pouches either preparing or eating food. This is present in most Thai villages due to the lack of entertainment apart from televisions. I exchanged a hundred or so wai’s with friends and family, while at the same time turning down glasses of white rice whiskey coming from multiple directions. I was knackered and was happy to just sit back and watch the locals interact with each other in their own surroundings. This is what traveling is about to me, not so much the history, sights or standard tourist attractions, but the local people. It was very interesting to watch considering how different life is here compared to what I was experiencing a few hours beforehand. I was then given a motorbike and headed to the hotel.
The last few days have been spent cooking with anyone that will cook with me, eating edible-looking foods and drinking lot’s of beer leo. Luckily my 2 day depression from lack of internet syndrome disappeared when I discovered a nice coffee shop next to the mekong river crossing that ferries products and passengers between Thailand and Laos, where I’m now trying this blog post while sipping a nice, hot steaming espresso.
No comments yet.