Out and about around Nong Khai

After seeing Isaac and Kent, our revival team from home we took the overnight train up to Nong Khai to start some volunteering!!

But first to organise the visa. Nong Khai is the gateway into Laos, so we headed straight through Nong Khai and into Laos.
We were only there about 24hours to apply for and get a 2 month tourist visa for Thailand. We stayed the night in Vietenne, the capital of Laos. Laos was very different to Thailand, definitely less developed. You could really see the french influence around Vietenne. And thank God for the french, we found our first delicious, fresh filled baguettes since leaving home and some good coffee too. A fleeting visit but we will definitely go back.

Where we were we look across the Mekong River to Laos on the other side. It is a small town about the size of Ashburton.

We had our own apartment which was a real novelty. We could actually unpack our things (which took all of about 5 minutes) and settle in for more than a few days.

The place we volunteered was a free learning center for children and adults to come and learn English. We taught different classes Monday through Friday, from 4 - 7pm (much to Brock's immense relief as he was extremely concerned at the prospect of having to get out of bed at any hour earlier than 9am!).

There were a lot of different volunteers from all over including another kiwi girl and her Irish husband. We have had a lot of fun reminiscing and enjoying another piece of home!!

And we have managed to find some great locals for food, coffee...

Down by the riverside, at 'the beach'. This part of the Mekong River (in the drier season) has a sand bank where the locals come to swim in the river and eat at some of the stalls. The fish come straight from the river to the grill.

Digging in to the fish!

Happy Brock and the fish no more

We weren't so keen on the idea of swimming in the warm water of the Mekong. One of the other volunteers gave it a go and lived to tell the tale so it can't all be bad! The Mekong runs between Thailand and Laos. The Friendship Bridge (in the background), built by Australia, joins the two. 

This sort of swimming was much more our scene. The resort pool where we spent many busy days.

Laos on the left, Thailand on the right

The Friendship Bridge is open to pedestrians on the weekend so we thought we would wander between Thailand and Laos.

On the road to Laos

One of our favourite places in Nong Khai is the promenade along the river. It's a busy place with a lot of cafes and about the only breeze you'll find in Nong Khai. Thanks to Kent bringing our running shoes over when he visited, the promenade was also a good spot for running. Not many Thai people run as a form of exercise and so are very intrigued and often will look past you to see what is chasing you or causing you to behave in such a way.

 

The Friendship Bridge to Laos

Sunset along the promenade

As well as relaxing and trying to blend in as locals, we did try to get out and do some touristy 'must sees' in Nong Khai.

What we can only assume is a 'welcome to Nong Khai' sign.

Some touristy areas around Nong Khai - the old post office on the river.

We had quite a few big rain storms in Nong Khai. What we would call torrential, but to locals, no big deal. We did arrive on the day of a very big storm which tore down trees, stalls and roofs. Pretty impressive.

Lunch after being caught in a rain storm

Some local low key local transport. Maybe it is really dark at night on the highways in Thailand.

No quite sure how this one is ridden?

Getting around and exploring Nong Khai. We had bikes at Isara that we could use to get around town which was great for our explorations.

Brock keeping fit. A concrete weight for working on those biceps.

 

Nong Khai football. Our friends Tom and May invited us to a local football game. It got very heated, the Thai people are very passionate about their football (I feared a riot)! The final score was 2-2 with plenty of red cards, and injuries! A lot of action. They bring along big drums and sing songs and chants, funnily enough most of them were to well know tunes like 'Oh when the Saints go Marching In'. And of course there were great half time snacks!

 

Brock engrossed in the action

We thought the sideline medics were hilarious. The ran on at every opportunity! And there were plenty of opportunities with all the drama on field and a lot of 'injuries'.