Ubon Ratchathani

I'm writing this from Pakse in Laos, after spending most of the morning travelling from Ubon Ratchathani across the border into Laos.

Ubon was a pleasant surprise. The guidebooks don't say all that much about it, and I can see why since there's not much by way of tourist attractions, but it was still an excellent opportunity to experience a bit more of Thailand away from the farang. We crossed the road from our hotel and ventured into the local market. For about $4 we ended up with pad thai, spring rolls and about 20 satay sticks (I only asked for five - lost in translation) plus salads and two cokes. Throwing caution to the wind, I tucked into street food hoping for the best and luckily the food was as good as it tasted as it all went through okay! Definitely a highlight of the trip so far because nobody there spoke any English, and all the signs were in Thai, so it was a good opportunity to mingle with the locals. I think they were pretty excited to have us there enjoying their cuisine.

This trip is certainly reinforcing why I love thai food...