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Khon Kaen Wat Nong Wang Muang--nine tier chedi

I had planned on skipping Khon Kaen.  I was thinking about taking the bus from Nakhon Phanom to Khon Kaen and then taking  the overnight bus to Chiang Mai.  But after 6 hours on the bus I changed my mind and found the freindly Phu Hotel just 5 minutes from the bus station with the usual Chinese Hotel mod-cons including Wi-Fi in my room.  I am so glad I did.  The city is lovely with a restive Beung Kaen Nakhon lake, several museums, wonderful temples, and great day and night markets with endless places to eat.

So I am here for the day until 8pm tonight when my bus leaves for Chiang Mai.  My next posting will be from Chiang Mai.

Tat Phanom

The route from Nong Kai to Nakhon Phanom was not clear.  I asked at the bus station several times and received conflicting information so on the travel day I showed up in the morning and hoped for the best.  A couple of options exist.  It is possible to take a bus to Udan Thani and then change to Nakhon Phanom.  There is also a direct bus.  I was ushered onto a bus that was to be leaving at 8:30 am so with ticket in hand I had a seat on a bus and was ready to go.  A few minutes later I was directed off the bus I was on and asked to wait for a bus that was to leave at 9;30 that was “direct” to Nahiom Phanom. The bus arrived and little did I know it was a local bus that stops along the way for people to get on and get off.  The route was interesting in that it followed the Lao Thai border.  But saying that it took all day to get to nakhon Phanom.  I arrived late Sunday afternoon and selected the friendly Windsor Hotel.  The room had a balcony, A/C, fridge and tv with muliple channels including BBC and wifi could be assessed from the lobby.  This was for a mere 350 Bhat.  I was delighted and stayed two nights as I wanted to visit the highly revered That Phanom temple in the village 50 kilometers from Nakhon Phanom.

Tat Phanom main temple