Day 9 Parked in Nong Khai
November 17, 2009 by Don Ross
Filed under Blogs, Don Ross, Mekong Odyssey 09
On one side I can see the Mekong River flowing steadily past the promenade and on the other a pool table with a long bar packed with expatriates supping beer. It’s 1500 in the afternoon and I am parked in Noi and Brendan’s Riverview Restaurant and Bar, one of 10 expatriate owned pubs in Nong Khai.
It has the right business model. You can dine, sup ice-cold beer and there is free internet and even a power up if your battery runs flat.
Of course, some tourism experts would not place this SME business in tourism, but for the hundreds of foreign tourists who visit Nong Khai, the bars, tiny restaurants and a market crammed with stalls is a lively potpourri that makes the travel experience all the more worthwhile.
Just across the narrow lane stand three guesthouses. We manage to secure the last two vacant rooms on the street at Ruan Thai Guesthouse – air conditioned for just Bt400. Oh, it all comes with free internet and it is cyclist friendly.
There’s a place to park in a shady secure garden, a clothes line to hang out your washing and it’s just a stone’s throw from riverside restaurants and pubs.
Hoteliers should rethink some of the niches that they talk about. They tend to stick with honeymoons and weddings. Have they forgotten the days when they had to supply a trough and place to hitch horses? Today a niche might require a car wash to attract motor cycle groups and auto enthusiasts, or a spot for touring cyclists to hang their bikes. Even a laundry service that delivers clean kit at dawn, rather than at lunch time would help.
Nong Khai has acquired a new look in tourism. Gone are the days when it was a collection of wooden, shanty houses clinging to a river bed of mud. Instead, you can stroll along a prom clearly illuminated at night, and mainly the domain of joggers sporting Ipod shuffles. On the fringes of the riverside boulevard are boutique style guest houses and you will probable dine on river fish at restaurants run by families who have made this riverside town their home.
The town is best known for its Friendship Bridge and the journey beyond the river to Vientiane the capital of Laos. Most foreigners travel this route to renew their visas and they are in such a hurry to get back to bar land on Sukhumvit Road they rarely take the 2 km detour to Nong Khai town.
We cycled here from Sang Khom, 85 km up stream. The tiny village is the halfway point from Chiang Khan to Nong Khai and an ideal spot for cyclists or travellers who are not in a hurry to break their journey. An excellent stretch of road follows the river offering some great views, while the small town of Sri Chiang Mai makes for an ideal lunch-time pit-stop to refuel on noodles and ice-cold soft drink.
Vientiane is directly opposite the town with its single high rise building, Don Chan Hotel, dominating the Lao capital’s skyline. We noticed the Thai mobile phone system faded under the spell of its neighbour’s stronger signal. This cut us off from Twitter.com all the way into Nong Khai. The road to Nong Khai continues to follow the river although signs some 20 km are a little confusing pointing traffic inland on a newer stretch of the highway.
We stick to 212 religiously noting it is almost a country lane skirting a winding river frontage for the last 10 km until it passes under the flyover to the Friendship Bridge and merges with the main street of Nong Khai town itself. We stop at a roadside cafe where a couple of expatriate residents point us to Brendan’s place, a popular meeting point on Nong Khai’s prom.
“All the best guest houses are in that quarter and Brendan is a mine of info on travel in this neck of the woods,” Garry, a UK national tells us.
Garry is spot on. We are happily supping an ice-cold beer at Brendan’s 30 minutes later having secured a couple of rooms in a clean and well appointed guest house just across the street. Like most expatriates, who live here, Gary pops over for an evening glass of ale and he asks us about our trip and our target to ride 1,600 km for charity.
He digs into his wallet. ”Here is Bt500 put it in the charity kitty. It’s a great cause,” he tells us as he raises his glass to a couple of old codgers on their bikes.
Tale of the Tape: Today’s distance 85.05 km; average speed 21.2 kph; cumulative distance 764.88 km.
Our ride was for charity to support the Prosthesis Foundation of HRH the Princess Mother. You can still pledge support based on the total kms we rode during the Mekong Odyssey, or offer a flat donation, which is ever is convenient.
Email details to the Mekong Odyssey 09 email mekongodyssey@ttrreport.com attention Don and Peter.
