Last new year time was the long weekend. My sister and her assistant, my wife, my son, and I rented a 12 seats car to Nongkhai via Udornthanee between December 31th-January 2nd, by which we spent 2 nights at the Napalai Hotel in Udornthanee. There were very heavy traffics on the ways back and forth. We spent almost 12 hours from home to Udornthanee and the same hours coming back
I wonder why people in Thailand go out of the houses for the long weekend such as new year time whereas the people in many cold countries travel back to their hometowns and stay with the families. It is winter time for them. Those people, I assume, have special vacation and do some travelling in any appropriate time. Their holiday are out of the cities such as camping or touring aboard.
For Thailand, I try to explain to myself that, it is the warm country and dense population, it is good to travel all year round, and many people can not afford to provide holiday from working days, while they get less pay and uncertain job security. Mostly, they are in the service business such as retailers, workers, etc and need to work almost everyday. When the seasonal holiday starts, they plan happily to travel.
This year, the hotel in Udornthanee was not full. This city might not be the tourist spot or the economics were down. After getting to the hotel before midnight on the new year eve, we had the comfortable rest and heard about midnight counting down while we were half asleep. And we heard the tragedy about the pub in Bangkok was in flame in the morning. We felt sad for the deads and injured. Why these tragedies always happen while we are having a good time. Are we all in the stage of unluck?
The next day which was the first new year day, heading to Vientiane, we travelled to the Thai-Laos Border where the tourists crowded. At the immigration check when we departed, it was not hard to take a bus from the Thai customs to Laos' for 20 baht each. But on the way back, there was a mess of crowd waiting for buses, after trying to get on the bus with the having already purchased tickets but did not work out, we decided to pay for a 12 seats car with the another 300 baht for crossing that one kilometer Thai-Laos Bridge. No other car allowed but the licensed or the authorized ones.
Actually, there are many gateways from Thailand to Laos, for examples, from Ubonrachathanee to Chumpasak, from Mookdaharn to Savannakhet and go directly to Danang[Vietnam], from Nan to Luangprabang, etc. But, if we want to shop in Laos, Vientiane is the best place. The stuff are such as silk, silver wares, modern electronic goods[cell phone], etc. Besides, if we spend the night in Vientiane, there are many entertainment such as Bar Rumwong[folk dance bars], restuarants, and riverside drinking places. Like anywhere in the world, the more money we spend, the pleasure we get.
I had not been to Vientiane for more than 10 years, but going this time, somewhere had changed. Now, there were big shopping malls. I went to one. It was the big 4 storeyed building. The shops were seen as many small rooms showing goodstuff in the building and on the ground surrounded the building. Quality goods were quite cheap after we bargained a little. Bargaining was a common habit for Thais. Other memory was the toilets, we had to pay 5 baht for entering each time. We should always collect coins in the pocket. The sum was for the cleaners, I guessed. Finally, the last destination we visited in Vientiane was the temple where a monk whom my sister knew staying. We had a good chat and exchanged some small gifts as tradition. After coming back to Thailand, we went straight to Dang Vietnamese Restuarant in Nongkhai. The food was delicious and cheap. We spent about 600 baht for dinner at Dang restuarant. This restuarant was located on the riverside and the open market in the city center. The scenery was also not bad while we were eating outdoor by the resting path along the riverside.
The last day, we left Udornthanee heading for Nongkhai again before taking off long trip home. This time was for last minutes shopping at the open market and the packed Vietnamese food from Dang back home and for friends. And then, started driving back home through very heavy traffic along the way, we stopped for late lunch by having fried chicken, somtam[papaya hot salad] and glutinous rice at Kao Suan Kwang, Konkaen. And we had dinner at almost 10 pm in Muaklek, Saraburi. The restuarant was crowded and the waiters were too busy to find us. We waited more than half hour before being able to call a waiter for ordering. Besides, for the payment, they charged the sum which was over 140 baht than the exact price. In addition, the toilet was a little dirty and bad smell. [I, therefore, suggest anyone, don't stop at this big roadside Restuarant in Muaklek.] Finally, We got home at midnight time with exhaustion.
The next and the next second days were also holidays, we spent time in Bangkok with peace. we went on shopping, and visiting our sick old lady who was staying with my wife's sister in Thonburi. We felt at ease travelling on the Bangkok roads. As a matter of fact, we missed Bangkok traffic atmosphere among the long weekend because the majority went out of the city. However, it was good for me to see Vientiane again after last seeing more than 10 years time. We would like to go back there in the future but I am not certain I can afford it. There are so many places we would like to visit again, Chavalvut Chainuvati
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