Sunday, February 1, 2014
The drive out was not as bad as I remembered it from the day before. 90 minutes after setting off we regained a sealed road and glad for it. The road still had pot holes but we weren’t going to get stuck. We made a b-line to Ubon and once we arrived proceded to drive aimlessly around town looking for hotels and a non existent Starbucks. common sense prevailed and we headed to the Top Choice of lonely planet and we happy to checkin and shower. Although we have been in Thailand for almost 2 months now, navigation is still a challenge. There are multiple names for every place and more often than not places are not where they are meant to be. We were both extremely hungry. And it did not take long to find food and coffee.
Around 4pm our street started to transform into the Night Markets, and by 6pm was in full swing. As the sun went down and the temperatures became bearable, we emerged from our room to wander the streets some more. Many people were on the streets celebrating the Chinese New Year, making much noise and generally having a good time. We must have passed half a dozen Wats with festivities. The neighbourhoods we wandered through all felt a little rundown, and in other cities we would have worried about our security in such a situation. But here it all seemed fine. Caroline was craving steak and we Eventually found a western style restaurant that did serve steak, but we ordered pizza and beer instead.
In summary, a relaxing travel day without any temple visits.
Sunday, February 2, 2014 (Election Day)
The Thailand political situation is in a bit of a mess. The duly elected but maybe self-serving government is under pressure from the People Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) who wish to reform the current democratic system by forming a government not elected by the People. So, today is the day the people against the current government try to stop people voting the current government back into power. All the controversy is playing out in Bangkok with the rural regions mainly unaffected by it all. Regardless, today was a good day to keep a low profile.
Over breakfast we got chatting to a couple from Kansas who are seasoned travelers around South East Asia, Laura and Jim. We traded stories and got some sound advice on Burma / Myanmar.
Ubon seems to have a temple on every street corner. Not really, but there are certainly lots and lots of Wats here. We decided to drive to some of the outlying temples leaving the nearby temples for later in the day once it got cooler. First we visited Wat Phra That Nong Bua; amazing. A 55m modern Chedi covering a much older and smaller Chedi. All brightly painted in white and gold and quite impressive. Next up was Wat Ban Na Meuang with a temple or boht sitting on a ceramic boat. Not very impressive. Stopped at Tesco to pick up a box matches, a most important item if you ever plan (or don’t plan) to go camping, making the difference between a hot meal and not. Found a nice Japanese restaurant and Carline got her steak craving out of the way.
The afternoon was spent in the hotel planning our Burma / Myanmar trip. It was too hot to visit temples anyway. And booked a flight from Bangkok to Yangon and a return from Mandalay back to Bangkok. We will also visit Bagan probably via a combination of plane, boat or train, and will decide once we are on the ground. We have 12 full days in Burma / Myanmar to get a taste of the place. Also sorted out some hotels to stay at. We were pretty excited about this side trip which became so much more real once we booked the flights in and out.
All the pubs we closed for Election Day, so we had a few quiet beers in our hotel room to celebrate our afternoon of planning.
