The Thai Way

January 2, 2020

Nong Khai to Phon Phisai

The Thai Way

Leaving Nong Khai we took 3040 the road nearest to the Mekong River, which we like to do whenever possible. These not-so-big roads go right through tiny towns and the whole experience of being in Thailand is more personal. This one was in great shape and included a wide bike trail that wasn’t there five years ago. It included its own bridges over the little tributaries to the Mekong and separation in the form of cement posts every few feet that at least psychologically helped make it safer. What made me feel less safe was the number of squashed snakes I was seeing.

The bike path along the 3040 heading downstream from Nong Khai.

Every few miles another gorgeous temple.

Along the 3040. The bike trail even has its own bridges separate from the road.

I quickly added up seven squashed snakes and then I came to the most creepy one I’ve ever seen. It must have been hit by a car but was not damaged. It looked alive from a distance. Upon closer inspection I saw that it was all dried out, sort of mummified. I had to force myself to dismount and take a few photos. I brave anything for the readership, you know. I force myself to face my fears just to give you all a better picture of what we are seeing. Just kidding. I was fascinated by this mummified snake. It even died holding its head up from the ground several inches.

As I was cautiously kneeling down to photograph it two women on a motorbike stopped to see what I was doing. The driver said, “Oh, beautiful!” I cringed and told her it was not so beautiful to me. But I know what she meant. Snakes and serpents are basically worshipped in Buddhist societies. Statues of them literally wrap around temples. I couldn’t explain to the woman my simultaneous dislike and fascination, (or my devotion to my readership!)

Beautiful, maybe. Fascinating for sure. As much as I detest snakes I always feel sad to see roadkill and on a bike a person sees a lot of roadkill.

So, when I stop like that to photograph something Andrea rides ahead. Sometimes she stops if she finds shade and drinks water or looks at the route on her phone. If she can’t find shade she rides on slowly.

This time she rode on and right after I caught up to her and we were riding side by side, there was a large live snake that had come across the road from the opposite side and was nearing escape into our ditch. It happened so suddenly that I couldn’t find words to tell Andrea to stop since she hadn’t seen it. All that came out of my mouth were pre-human guttural sounds of warning. Fortunately she understands my primitive side and saw the snake and braked just in time. That snake was very much alive and thrashed the dry leaves and branches once it had gotten to the ditch in a major effort to get into the undergrowth. It was so creepy, that tail thrashing around. It was black and its pure muscled body was raised, not round like I always think of when I think snake. It could very well have been a cobra, (I always say that for effect but actually it could have been.)

That makes two live snakes that we’ve come close to running over. They both have come crossing the road from the opposite side where I am less likely to be watching. I mostly have my eyes glued to the ditch closest to us where the immediate danger would dart from. From now on I’ll be doing double duty, scanning the entire road ahead.

When 3040 connected with the much larger road, 212, we were surprised to find that the bike path continued! When it finally ended we had ridden a full 16 miles exclusively on bike paths, more than half the distance we had planned to ride. The less protected 212 had a pretty irritating headwind that slowed us down but it was another clear blue beautiful day, not a chance of rain.

This is so Thai also. Every few miles or even more often there are these rest areas by the sides of roads. We love them. This is on the big 212 highway. Notice the separation from the highway and the bike path. It won't stop a vehicle but it helps us deal with the big highway aspect of riding. We always try to avoid big highways and in Thailand it's fairly easy to do.

We see a lot of these birds in the rice paddies we've been calling storks.

Along the way we suddenly were in banana land. There were several of these huts filled with bananas. We could smell them from the road!

When we arrived in Phon Phisai, before we got to the hotel we were aiming to find, we saw some food in stainless steel trays outside a restaurant. We had to stop and have lunch. The elderly man running the restaurant was very encouraging about his food. He wanted us to try several different things from the trays. When we sat down to eat we realized it was all vegetarian food. The stuff resembling minced pork actually was some sort of protein substitute. It all tasted great and was a nice change from all the meat we have been eating. The man told us he was 78 years old and had been eating vegetarian food for 40 years. He was proud of how healthy he was and wanted to tell us. He was a character and his food was great. The restaurant might just take the prize for the cleanest down-home restaurant I’ve ever eaten at in Thailand.

Andrea can tell you how well my brakes work when I see stainless steel trays of food. It is old style food with flavors that, for me, go back to the '70's and I've never experienced in The States. This particular food was all vegetarian, a little bit unusual in small towns.

We wonder if this man did all the cooking as well. There wasn't anyone else around so, maybe.

There is a photo of the former king but not the present one.

Our bellies full we went just a few more blocks and found the hotel Frankie had stayed in two years earlier, the Rim Fang Khong Hotel - 500 Baht. It still seemed new and was just right for us on the ground floor which meant we could easily wheel our bikes inside our room for the night.

Rim Fang Khong Hotel in Phon Phisai, Thailand.

We have seen these beautiful flowers our whole trip. They are the most wonderful shade of yellow. This one was right outside our door of the hotel.

We needed to go to a bank in Phon Phisai. I used the inside counter and at the end of my transaction and without my asking, the woman gave me a rolled up calendar. I had been wanting one for my archives since it features a large photo of the new king, but I was not going to ask for one. The teller probably just wanted to get rid of the pile as quickly as possible. What was I, a foreign tourist, going to do with a large Thai calendar? Andrea used the ATM machine out front which did not dispense calendars. When she saw that I had one she said, “It’s too bad we don’t have an outhouse.”

A shrine on a street corner in Phon Phisai. So Thai.

Riding back to our hotel we came across some food made by two elderly women and it made me stop abruptly because I saw one of our favorites; a sort of fish custard made with coconut milk and baked in a small banana leaf deep dish. The women also had an excellent looking curry. They bagged it all up for us including both regular rice and sticky rice and we were off to get our bowls we travel with. Then we went down on the promenade which is a very nice promenade in Phon Phisai. The townspeople use it a lot and in the evening it seems that half the town comes down to walk, run or gossip.

It was a lovely evening. We took a bench overlooking the Mekong and a woman came over to try out the English she knew. As typical of Thais, she also wanted to know not only what we were eating but where we had gotten it. We told her that there were two women selling the food in front of the Mini Big C. The Big C store is equivalent to and in competition with Tesco Lotus over here or something like WalMart over there and now the Big C store has Mini Big C stores that are identical to 7-Elevens. There are more 7-Elevens in Thailand than any other country on earth so they need some competition.

Then three people sitting a little ways away were curious and they shouted some questions to the woman we were talking with. We heard her tell them, “In front of the Mini Big C.” “It’s alloy maak” - very delicious. It’s not like they were going to rush over to get some of their own, Thais are simply curious about food since it’s so much a part of their lives. Food is everywhere in Thailand. Thais are always curious about the price as well. It’s all part of the Thai way and all in good humor and friendliness. I love this about the Thais.

This food may not look appetizing to some people but I can assure you that it was some of the best food we've had.

When we were finished eating we went back to our room to wash our bowls but quickly returned to the promenade because it was so beautiful with all the people enjoying the finish to the day overlooking the amazing Mekong at sunset. This is an old promenade and either there never were big jagged rocks dumped along the shore or they have since been covered up with soil because all along the banks were many peoples’ vegetable gardens meticulously cared for. Another thing Thais love and do well - gardening.

lovebruce

Old house right on the promenade. Earlier there was an old woman on her porch. I can only guess what she has seen in her lifetime. She may have lived in this house her entire life and saw a lot of Lao and Hmong escaping war by swimming across the river at night.

Beautiful well maintained gardens all along the river.

This platform overhanging the Mekong is a free library.

Leftover decorations from the big New Year's party on the promenade. Everything here is made of bamboo, (except the light poles and lights.)

For some reason the Lao especially like to light fires around sunset time, which, in this case really mucks up the sunset viewing from the Thai side.

Today's ride: 28 miles (45 km)
Total: 806 miles (1,297 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	9
Comment on this entry	Comment	3

Scott AndersonTWO live snakes now!! I feel so discouraged. I’ll never catch up.
Reply to this comment
4 years ago

Jen RahnTo Scott AndersonReaders are watching you two and your snake counts closely.

No pressure!
Reply to this comment
4 years ago

Ron Suchanek“It’s too bad we don’t have an outhouse.”
It sounds like you have a new project to work on once the garage is done.
Reply to this comment
4 years ago