It took me a while to get going this morning. Had a bit of writing to do, and lots of photos to look at. Hadn’t gone through all of them the previous night.
For breakfast I had leftovers from last night. The shrimp patty sort of thing and the betel leaf wrapped pork was actually pretty good cold. Surprisingly.
This morning I made a good choice to do what I thought was going to be a really touristy thing to do. I decided to go to the Ho Kaeo Mukdahan: City Observation Tower. I think it’s also called Mukdahan Tower. Apparently the tower is 215 feet tall, and you do get a pretty good view of the surroundings.
I was impressed with the museum and educational displays they had there, and it gives you a really good sense of the cultures in the area.
The Mekong River, with Laos on the other side, is pretty wide at this point, and I could see another place I wanted to go: Wat Roi Phra Phutthabat Phu Manorom (วัดรอยพระพุทธบาทภูมโนรมย์) with its white Buddha on a nearby mountain.
I don’t know if other cities around Thailand market themselves well, other than by reputation, infamous or otherwise, but I have to say they did a good job. I haven’t had a chance to look at the literature yet, but it should be interesting.
Next province: Nakhon Phanom
Before long I was heading north up towards Nakhon Phanom. I drove up into the southern part of the province, my 67th, then turned to Sakhon Nakhon. Unfortunately it’s a rainy day, and I decided not to explore much here because of some other things I would like to see on this trip. I’ll be back!
Province two of the day: Sakhon Nakhon
I stopped at a temple in Sakhon Nakhon. I found some good examples of memorials there, and even one that I think the panel had fallen off. It looked like ashes were in an urn inside it. What prompted me to stop at Wat Chaeng Saeng Arun was the ornate gate. It is impressive!
Third province today: Udon Thani
I picked up some coffee at the Corner Room, and was off to Udon Thani. The drive was uneventful, except for a 20 minute nap at a PTT. I would like to get 8 hours of sleep every night, but that is just not happening!
For supper I went to Da Sofia, a restaurant in the bar area of Udon Thani, and had a salad and lasagna. I discovered this place on my first trip here a couple years back.
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