IN UBON RATCHATHANI (UBON), THAILAND

We took an eight hour bus ride from Korat to get to Ubon. The guidebook says the ride should be five to six hours, but Jim managed to book us on a local bus which stopped at every town along the way, and even some towns that weren’t on the way. Now, we are back where we got stopped last year because of meeting new friends. This year those friends have spread to other parts of the world, and we are back. Brenda is in Lao, Mick is in Pattaya, Thailand, and Lars is home in Denmark.  

At the bus station we met the same tourist office lady, Pla (which means Fish in Thai), who helped us last year.

While walking around we happened upon this 1952 Chevrolet for sale. 

  We were tempted.

After seeing the 1952 Chevrolet we then happened upon this car show featuring vehicles with huge sound systems.

We are again staying at the Sri Isan hotel, which has more senior travelers than we have seen in any other hotel. When we checked we met Udi, who is 85, traveling by himself, is retired from dealing in furs and skins, and is from Denmark. 

 So, we have a few years left to travel if he is any example.

One advantage of the Sri Isan hotel is that it is across the street from the morning market. Sri Isan provides coffee and toast for breakfast but we go across the street to the morning market to get Vietnamese food for breakfast. Here's a photo of the seller of Jim's breakfast sandwich (Bahn Mi).

One morning this portable monk was at the market collecting alms.

Last year there was a weekend night market in front of the hotel. This year they moved it to a bigger street in front of a government building. For us the highlight of the market were these cowboys who 

performed bluegrass music. 

One night we watched them arrive on their motos. Both had their instruments on their back while riding their motos. It was quite a sight to see the base fiddle stick three feet above the head of the driver.

 Ubon is located on the Moon River so we keep thinking of Andy Williams. Here is a photo of fish farms on the Moon River. 

One of our favorite temples is here. It's not so much the temple that we find wonderful as it is the library at the temple. The temple is set in water to keep bugs away from the manuscripts inside. We like to go into this temple, sit and look at the Thai Buddha for people born on Friday, which we both were.