Ubon Ratchathani

Train ticket to Ubon (from Don Muang Airport)

Hey all,

Felipe and I arrived at the Bangkok airport a couple of days ago and caught an overnight train heading east to Ubon Ratchathani. The heat isn't too bad here but the humidity is killer.

Our hotel

We're in one of the poorer parts of the country and there are a lot less foreigners here than I had anticipated.

Our lovely squat toilet

Almost all the signs are in Thai script and very few people speak any English. Everywhere we walk we keep hearing people muttering the word 'farang' (Thai for "foreigner"), which gets on ones nerves a little bit. But just about everyone we've talked to has been quite friendly.

Felipe demonstrates the fuse attached to the room key (so you can't leave anything turned on when you go out)

I'm not really sure where to start describing what it's like to be in such a different place. Felipe and I ate in a restaraunt yesterday by simply pointing at a random item on the menu. I spent the better part of an hour stalking a cockroach the size of my palm all over the room. I had to pull my bed apart and flip it over before I was able to capture the little bugger in a trash can. Then I took it out into the hallway and bashed it to death with a broom.

Gecko on hallway ceiling (no enlargment available)

The hallway of our hotel has small lizards all over the ceiling at night. Most of them end up clinging to the light fixtures for warmth. Our room with two beds and a private bathroom costs 220 baht per night, which works out to about $8. There are a fair number of ATMs around and I'm happy to report that they all seem to work with my bank card.

Grocery receipt

A bottle of Thai beer costs about a $1.05 at the grocery store. The internet cafe I'm in charges 15 baht per hour (about 50 cents), which is much cheaper than I'd hoped. The only problem is that it's abysmally slow. I'd say I'm getting about a 14.4 connection right now or less, and Felipe is using half of that as we speak. I don't think we'll be staying in this town much longer. There's an island I've been reading about in the Gulf of Thailand called Ko Phangan that I think we might go check out. I'm sure a lot of what I'm writing about sounds negative, but I'm actually having a great time. Small, everyday tasks have become interesting challenges. The prices of things make me feel rich, and the people make me feel welcome. Scott

Riding in a tuk-tuk out to Wat Pah Nanachat

Before leaving Ubon I made a trip out to Wat Pah Nanachat which is about a forty minute drive from Ubon. This forest monastery is famous for being mostly populated by foreigners who have come to Thailand to ordain as monks.

Walking around Wat Pah Nanachat

As a teenager I had read Tim Wards "What the Buddha Never Taught". An account of the brief time he spent at Nanachat while traveling throughout asia. Unfortunately the day I visited all the monks were out on a nature hike, so I was only able to talk to a layman from England.

In the main hall they keep the skeleton of a woman who committed suicide and a dead baby preserved in a jar. I think they were meant to be reminders of the impermanence of life. If you look closely at the photo you can see the bullet hole in the side of the womans skull.

More Ubon Pictures...