In Nakhon Phanom after my first long distance Songtheaw trip. I was waiting for the bus on the side of the road bright and early, and when asking someone if I was waiting at the correct place he pointed at the songtheaw. I figured it couldn't hurt to try so I got in the back of the pick-up truck and was off. There amazingly cheap however can get jam packed with up to 15 people and isn't all that worth it. The scenery was great though and with the ride only being an hour it was a great expeirence. Upon getting to Nakhon, I really had no idea where the center was and since no one tells you when your at your stop its up to you to figure it out. I over shot by about a mile so ended up grabbing a 2 minute tuk tuk ride straight to the hotel ront door. Yes hotel, there are no guesthouse's here and this place see's near zero foreign visitor's overnight. Most only pop in to cross into laos across the river. So the hotel's that usually house thai businessman traveling are my only options. Funny part is it's still just 350 baht and basically the same as some of the nicer guesthouse room's, just more of a hotel "feel".

       Just after settling in I decided to Take a walk down the river and although I'd been a little unimpressed by the views in that phanom, the scenery here across the river was the best along the border yet. I walked up and down for a while watching the ferries take passenger's from Thailand to Laos go back and forth, each with there respective flags raised.... Quite a nice thing to watch for some reason. It has a similar feel to watching planes land as a child, although slightly less thrill of coarse.

      Further along the river I passed maybe a half dozen gigantic temples and it still amuzes me the sheer money that must go into these structures in such poor places....

      I walked far too long and before I realized it I was at the end of the riverwalk with no type of transport in sight. Exhausted I headed into a gas station and since they had a 7/11, of coarse, I got some shade in there and some water. Then it was what felt like a 10 mile walk back to the room for some R & R. I already paid for the 2 nights here and could use a day staying inside and just watching a movie giving my feet a break, but there isn't anything else to do here besides people watch and the river. If I wasn't tired I'd be moving on tonight... Tomorrow day off then onto Nong Khai the next day. Not sure whether I'm going to enter Laos there or go back for the River Kwai festival.... Probably won't until the time comes. We'll see.

(  Quick note also, Internet is harder to find out here in rural thailand so might be a little bit before I can get the photo galleries of the past few places up.... Getting the pics for the blog up is hard enough :-P )