Enjoying a Mekong cruise- Loei region of Thailand for Travel Photo Mondays

 

It is late afternoon in the sleepy city of Chiang Khan along Northeast section of the Mekong river separating Thailand and its neighbor Laos on the other side of the river. It seems like everyone is taking an afternoon siesta and avoiding the late afternoon sun, but I take a solitary walk along the water front area to check out the views and look for something interesting or vista to photograph. The river is slow and fairly straight with the other side of the bank devoid of towns or anything interesting to check out at least from this side of the river. The afternoon sun is getting to me and I duck into a cool coffee shop for a nice cool and tall mocha drink for just a buck and enjoy the dark and cool café and gallery space. The whole street area along the waterfront has been converted into trendy shops, coffee houses and waterfront cafes and catering mostly to a Thai audience since the vast international tourist sector hasn’t really discovered the northeastern regions of Thailand around the Loei district.

 

I head back to the hotel to join a group of travel bloggers on a late afternoon cruise on the Mekong so we can enjoy sunset on the long tail boats plying the river.  The walk to the boat is an easy downhill trek to the edge except that the haphazard walkways are made of warped planks of wood and wobbly bases making it a little tricky getting on the boat. We all jump on and the captain cranks the engine quickly and sets out directly to the other side of the bank knowing that many from our group have never set foot on Laos soil, so he was teasing us with this almost easy access to the banks of a new country. Of course that isn’t allowable even though there are no borders or walls between both countries from the river. I turn my view away from the riverbank and face at our captain who is concentrating on turning the boat around to the opposite direction. I take a few photos of him while he is focused on his task so I can get a good photograph of him below,  he doesn’t crack a smile or flinch when I focus on him completely to capture a perfect shot.

 

 

 

Seeing Laos from a long tail boat

 

 

 

 

Planting along the shoreline at Chiang Khan

The shoreline on the Thai side is filled with small farms planting a sea of green vegetables long the step banks of the Mekong – people live on the water and plant what they can, living a very simple life here. It’s wonderful to see that many still live this agrarian lifestyle, farming and living on the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fishing late afternoon on the Mekong

 

 

 

We pass by a variety of fishermen, boat workers and farmers taking care of their crops growing on the steep banks of the riverbed where community gardens have sprung up to take advantage of good soil and free water and drainage. It’s a colorful and ever-changing scene with lots of wildlife flying all around us. Just when we start heading back the opposite direction to face the setting sun, clouds suddenly appear out of nowhere and dampen our thoughts of a perfect sunset on the Mekong. Oh well, I’m hoping that we will at least capture some magic light as evening approaches. Even though the cloudy skies are relatively flat, the sun behind them is illuminating warm colors to the sky and creating this golden glow all around the riverbank and creating gorgeous light all around the people fishing late in the afternoon.

 

 

Sunset on the Mekong River

 

 

 

Even though the sunset isn’t perfect tonight, it still is special and it was worth the effort to be out on the water and enjoying the landscape and river views. There’s something special about being on boat and floating somewhere late in the day for sunset, it just feels so natural and wonderful enjoying the landscape and nature at twilight.

 

Night market and street foods

After the cruise we go back  to the hotel for a quick change and then walk down the main river front area of Chiang Khan. Now that it is cool and past sunset, it seems like everyone is suddenly on the street with all these street vendors on the road, selling trinkets, barbeques and strange snack foods like fried insects for sale.

 

 

 

A sampling of delicacies and sweets for sale in the evening when the streets of Chiang Khan come alive with many vendors selling a variety of exotic snacks and unusual offerings. All the shops along the street are also open for the festive night market and tourist trade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Excited about trying some grilled insects and larvae

 

 

 

More fried and grilled delicacies

 

 Music on the streets of Chiang Khan

 

 

If you would like to discover more interesting landmarks and attractions to the Northern regions of Thailand, check out my recent post here of untapped Loei in Northern Thailand here. I hope that you enjoyed this Mekong cruise for Travel Photo Mondays, if you did, please do share it with any of the social media buttons located around the post. Thanks so much. Also, please do visit all the bloggers participating below for today’s linkup on Travel Photo Mondays.

The visit and tour of the Mekong and Loei region of Thailand was sponsored by the Tourism authority of Thailand in collaboration with Tbex Thailand 2015, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

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