I forgot to tell you about my trip to Mukdahan which was my last little trip before break officially ended. Mukdahan is about a 2 hour bus ride south of Nakhon Phanom and is known for its beautiful National Park. Heather, Michelle and I got to the town in the afternoon and found a fancy yet dirt cheap hotel right next to the bus station. It was a bit rainy so we decided to go to Tesco (it’s like a super Wal-Mart). We had so much fun going around picking out baby gifts for Jes and just poking around the store looking for items we may not be able to find at our smaller Tesco. We bought wine, a rare find in Thailand, and bubble bath and after dinner we went back to our hotel room filled up our wine glasses and the first bath tub we had seen since leaving home and each took a nice long bubble bath. We were in heaven! Side note, we filled the bath with the shower head because there was no spout to fill the bath, it took a while but hey, it was a bath!
Saturday we took a Sawng Tao to the national park but it didn’t let us off at the park. We had to walk up a road that was about a 2 mile walk in the heat to get to the park entrance. The park was gorgeous and had spectacular views of the towns below and the open spaces of land. We made friends with some of the families that were touring the park as well but mostly they just laughed at the 3 frallangs that were climbing all over the rocks. It was wonderful to be out in nature. Although we live pretty rural lives here in Thailand it is still refreshing to get away from our trash burning villages and out breathing a little cleaner air while also getting some exercise without worrying about a dog attacking.  |
| Our pal Ralph |
On our walk back out to the bus a dog began following us just as we left the park. We thought he was going to turn around but didn’t and kept following us. We ended up naming him Ralph. Ralph was a good boy and took great care of us. As we passed other dogs who were protecting their property, Ralph would stand between us and the other dog and warn it off making sure it wouldn’t attack us. Ralph would even run way ahead at times and we thought he was going to leave us but then he would stop and wait for us to catch up. A few times cars even almost hit him because he liked wandering back and forth across the street, minor heart attacks were given. When we reached the main road Ralph didn’t disappear like we had expected. As we waited for a Sawng Tao to come Ralph stayed with us just hanging out. Then a family came along with an already packed truck but asked where we were going and if we wanted a ride back to town with them. We squished our way into the back of the truck and off we went on a windy ride. It was a sad departure from Ralph as we watched him chase the truck for a few yards before having to give up because we were gaining speed. Sorry Ralph, wherever you are, we couldn’t take you home, we wish we could have!
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| Truck Ride |
Back in town we went to the IndoChin market. This isn’t like any other IndoChin market we have been too. This one was under the walkway that lined the river. It was kind of an interesting experience to be shopping at the market underground. Mukdahan is known for selling beautiful purses so of course we each had to get one. After some time wandering the market and of course buying ice cream from a street vendor we made our way back to our hotel for another relaxing evening finishing off the bottle of wine and another bubble bath.
One last final hurrah to close a wonderful 2 month summer break = a success!
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