Wednesday 1 January 2014

Ban Phaeng to Nakhon Phanom

Tues 31/12/13, 109km

Overnight text messages would seem to indicate I will be meeting up with a friend in Cambodia after all. I shall have to revisit my plans, this may mean looping back up Vietnam and back into Laos is no longer feasible. Anyway...

Nice early wake up as the sun was rising over the river. Had coffee, and was on my way. According to my maps I could spend half the days ride on quiet roads by the side of the Mekong and after I'd picked up a bunch of apple bananas for lunch/ ongoing snacks off I went.

The 40km of riverside road varied from good asphalt to dirt road, mostly dictated by the density of population: the more dense the population the more likely the road had worn away to dirt. Dogs were a little annoying however on the whole it was very pleasant cycling. Lots of tobacco being grown, some rice paddies, some corn.

I exited the road early in order to check out some dinosaur tracks up by the highway 212 (another road side attraction...).  Worth a brief stop, as was the two coloured river a few kilometres further on.

What with my general tardiness and stops it was mid afternoon by the time I reached Nakhon Pranom. Finding a half decent hotel was a little difficult although there are some quite acceptable cheapies in town (The Grand at 220 baht on any other day than NYE would have been great, basic but clean, hot shower and not too small a room). Found someone up to my high standards after a bit (The Phometel, 580 baht), checked in and had a late lunch.

Not overly impressed with Nakhon Prahon itself. Don't get me wrong, it's ok but possibly not the best place to spend new years eve. Oh well. Had a couple of beers, got a couple more from the 7-11 and ended up watching Thai TV until I nodded off well before midnight. So long 2013, you had major degrees of suckage and quite frankly I won't be sorry to see the back of you.

Tobacco fields by the Mekong
Uh-oh...
Dinosaur footprints! 
The bi-coloured river 

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