22 May 2011….You have to like the number of public holidays in Thailand this time of year.  It creates opportunities to have three and even four day weekends – perfect if you want to explore northern Thailand and see the sights on the banks of the Mekong River as it separates Thailand from neighbouring Laos.  On such a recent weekend we jumped in our car and headed north to this area of northern Isaan that we probably otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to explore.

Well, to be honest, we had originally hoped to drive across the Friendship Bridge into Laos and spend the weekend in their capital Vientiane.  But we didn’t have the necessary paperwork for our car (“Where you passport for car?” was the first indication we had a problem) so we quickly went for Plan B and spent the next couple of days exploring the Thai side of the mighty Mekong.

The drive from Bangkok north to Nong Khai, which is the town on the Thai side of the Mekong, was a beautiful trip through mainly flat agricultural fields, mixed with gum trees, palms and the occasional town.  The divided four lane road would put Australia to shame but the motorbikes coming the wrong way right at you, the cars and trucks travelling anywhere from 30 to 130 kph and the normal criss-crossing of various moving objects meant you could never nod off. 

From Nong Khai we turned east and followed the Mekong through the small villages, occasionally stopping to see the boats and fishermen on the river.  Different villages would specialise in different products for sale on the side of the road, depending on what they were growing nearby.  That’s why at one stage we passed dozens of stands selling beautiful bananas, later it was huge ears of corn, further down the road pineapples.  The land near the Mekong was clearly fertile for the locals.

The Mekong at this stage of its travels and this time of year is quite high and full – brown and fast moving.  The people living on its banks watch it rise and fall with the rainy season each year, fish in it, clean in it, irrigate with it, rely on it for their day to day life.  They probably don’t view it as one of the great rivers of the world, slicing its path through numerous countries, travelling thousands of kilometres, forming a geographical and political barrier for millions of people.  But the Mekong is all of this and more.

Our target that afternoon was Wat Phu Tok, about 175 km from Nong Khai.  Yes, some people will say that I will drive any distance for a good wat but this place was exceptional.  But we also unequivocally proved it wasn’t easy to find.  The signs were all in Thai and the numerous small roads, some not even paved, made it tough to navigate.  Despite our best efforts and asking many many locals where it was, Wat Phu Tok proved quite illusive.  Eventually by late afternoon we found it, or it found us as we spotted it on the limestone face of a standalone mountain.

Up the creaky steps we climbed, steep, straight up, very hard work.  The trail took us through tunnels, past shrines, around the corner and eventually out on a wooden ledge that was suspended on the side of the cliff.  This remarkable walkway, hundreds of feet above the next landing spot, was an engineering marvel as its suspended path circumnavigated the cliff face.  We (carefully) took photos of the valley below and of us in this most unlikely situation before scrambling up some tree roots to the very top of the mountain for more views of the surrounding fields and villages.  What a spectacular afternoon!

The drive home, part of which was in the dark, was memorable for a long drive through millions of large flying ants with a substantial wingspan and a knack for splatting on the front of the car and the windscreen.    Not pretty.  But we were rewarded with a beautiful dinner in a restaurant on the banks of the Mekong in Nong Khai. 

The next day we headed the other way – west – our targets being the famous Wat Hin Maek Peng and the Phu Phrabat Historical Park.  Along this stretch the Mekong changes its personality with numerous islands and sand bars, even sections with substantial rocks which divides its path and creates areas of treacherous rapids.  Again, predictably, we stopped many times to take photos and soak up the scene, made even more fascinating by the mountainous Laotian side as our backdrop. 

When we found this so-called famous Wat it really wasn’t much chop, hardly worth a photo except for lotuses growing in the ponds nearby.  And anyway, it was all in Thai and virtually no one was there.  On we drove until we found – in English – the real Wat we were looking for, justifiably famous and quite spectacular (including the sacred Madame Tussaud-like wax monk). 

We stopped in the small town of Pak Chom and found a little local restaurant with its 2005 calendar on the wall where we enjoyed our favourite khao phat gai before leaving the Mekong, sadly, and heading south.  This hilly farmland was as rich as any we’ve seen in Asia, although most of it had been cleared from the surrounding rainforest.  The local farmers grew bananas, rubber trees, mangoes, papaya, oil palm, countless fields of rice and other stuff we couldn’t identify.  It was green, lush, fertile and productive for the farmers.  This is one reason why Thailand can export a lot of crops (they are the largest exporter of rice in the world) and why their economy continues to grow at a wild rate.

After a missed turn that cost us an hour (but we enjoyed the scenery!) we finally hit Phu Phrabat Historical Park.  This place was worth the trouble as it had a series of strange sandstone rock formations carved from millions of years of water and rain, including huge overhangs, towers, tunnels and other odd shapes.  The locals had created stories around some of these structures and also carved Buddha images and divinity idols. 

But the highlight for us was the petroglyphs drawn onto the rocks under some of these overhangs, now estimated to be 3,000 years old.  It is mind-boggling that ancient hunters and gatherers could have come through this remote thick jungle area so long ago and left their mark that still stands today. 

So what started out as a hopeful trip to Vientiane ended up as four days exploring (and getting lost in) the northern reaches of Thailand, far away from the hustle and bustle of the big smoke, where the river and mountains and local people have co-existed for thousands of years in a beautiful a prosperous area.  We can learn a lot from travelling to these areas, and yes, appreciate what we have, but also get a broader understanding of how the big system works.  And in this area it works pretty well.