By John Hoskin Chiang Rai hides its age well. It
is, in fact, thirty-five years older than Chiang Mai, northern
Thailand's largest and best known city.
Founded in 1262, it was
briefly the capital of King Mengrai's budding Lanna kingdom,
but history passed it by when, in 1297, Chiang Mai was created
as the North's permanent capital.
The world's 12th longest, 10th largest river, the Mekong rises in the
Tanghla mountains of northwest China and flows through the heart of
peninsula Southeast Asia before reaching the sea at the southernmost tip of
Vietnam
Nowhere
along its 4,200-kilometre course does it enter Thailand, although
much of its middle passages skirts the Kingdom, forming the national
boundary with Laos. The river touches Thailand briefly in the
far north, but it is much more extensively viewed in the northeast
where its passage provides the focal point for a fascinating
tour of the region's riverine towns.
For the people of I-san, as northeast
Thailand is known, as well as for their ethnic cousins, the Laotians,
the Mekong plays a traditional and integral role in their lives,
dependent as they are on wet rice cultivation and fishing for
their food staples. The river also figures large in legends,
popular beliefs and folk culture, all of which adds colour and
interest as the traveller passes through stunning scenery in
a landscape mostly untouched by modern development.
The most convenient gateways to the
Mekong in I-san are the provincial centres of Loei, Nongkhai
or Ubon Ratchathani. Road from Bangkok provides the easiest access,
although Ubon is served by domestic THAI flights, while both
Ubon and Nongkhai can be reached by rail from Bangkok. Once in
the region, travel by car is easiest; alternatively public buses
link the main towns.
For touring purposes, a journey starting
in Loei and finishing in Ubon, or vice versa, covers the Mekong's
entire passage in the northeast, with a road bordering the river
for most of the distance. A shortened excursion takes Nongkhai
as the starting point.
The Mekong first joins the Thai border
in I-san a short distance to the east of the small town of Chiang
Khan, lying about 50 km due north of Loei. Set in a large valley
surrounded by wooded hills, Chiang Khan is a typical riverine
settlement in these parts; lost in its own tranquility and remarkable
purely for its pretty setting and fine views of the river.
From Chiang Khan a road parallels
the river on its eastward passage towards Nongkhai. A short distance
downstream of the town are the Kaeng Khut Khu rapids, where the
Mekong makes a sharp curve to pass a rocky outcrop. Apart from
scenic spots such as this, the route along the riverbanks remains
consistently picturesque, the forested hills of Loei reflected
across the valley in the even more verdant mountains of Laos.
Dotting the surface of the water
are small islands and sandbanks many of which, like other natural
features along the Mekong, are associated with local legends.
Two islands near Pak Chom, for example, represent, so one tale
has it, a Thai man and a Laotian woman who were deeply in love,
but their union was thwarted by insurmountable obstacles that
eventually led to their deaths.
True tales, too, exemplify the mythical
status attributed to the river by popular belief. On both sides
of the Mekong people talk of how the river can become "hungry"
for a human soul, and how, if not appeased, the rains will not
come and so the rice crop will fail. Such beliefs are not idly
held.More
For touring purposes, a journey starting
in Loei and finishing in Ubon, or vice versa, covers the Mekong's
entire passage in the northeast, with a road bordering the river
for most of the distance. A shortened excursion takes Nongkhai
as the starting point.
