In 1975 this ancient spire or that
collapsed after four days of monsoon rains. The disaster was
blamed by some people on the weather. But, in keeping with a
local fondness for legends and portents, many others said it
was clearly a warning, voicing an old belief that if the spire
should fall so too would Laos. A few months later the country
did fall to the communist Pathet Lao. (The that was subsequently
rebuilt by the Thai Fine Arts Department.)
Besides That Phanom, there are no
imposing monuments or impressive architecture in the few other
Thai towns of the Mekong. The absence, however, is more than
compensated for by a quiet, captivating charm.
There are, nonetheless, emotive historical
reminders.
For example, in Mukdahan, the last major Thai town
on the riverbanks, there is a temple which, among other vestiges,
attests to a pattern of Vietnamese Chinese immigration, especially
during the 1950s.
Another footnote to history is found
in the riverside village of Ban Song Khon, 25 kilometres upstream
from Mukdahan. This is the home of the first Thais ever to be
beatified. Proclaimed "Blessed Martyrs" by a 1989 papal
decree, seven Catholics were shot in December 1940 because they
refused to denounce their faith. They were victims of enmity
between Thailand and French Indochina, at the time embroiled
in a border conflict. Catholicism was viewed bitterly by the
Thai military regime as the "French religion."
Today a new church, displaying the glass-topped caskets of the
martyrs, and a memorial site serve the 2,000 Catholics of the
parish as well as a steady stream of pilgrims from outside.
If the few riverine towns and villages below Mukdahan lack distinction,
the Mekong itself holds its own fascination, and at the sleepy
village of Khemmarat the river reveals a striking duplicity.
Facing the settlement the Mekong is wide and straight, yet close
by are the Khemmarat rapids, among the worst encountered in the
whole Thai-Lao stretch and impassable at low water. In the rainy
season the water can reach a velocity of 4.5 metres per second.
The road route below Khemmarat becomes
less convenient, and its best to leave the riverbanks, driving
southwest to the major provincial centre of Ubon Ratchathani.
From here you can follow the Mun tributary which flows into the
Mekong at the point where it finally turns away from Thailand
to head once more in Laos. The confluence, known locally as 'Two-Colour
River' because of the brown Mekong and relatively clear water
of the Mun, is an attractive rural spot, popular with local tourists.
Close by to the junction of the two rivers is Pha Taem, a sheer
cliff with prehistoric rock paintings crudely etched on its walls.
There are recognizable depictions of elephants and fish, as well
as hand prints. Evocative rather than beautiful, the paintings
have been dated to between 1,000 and 3,000 years, but nothing
is known of their creators. Yet another mystery adding to the
awe and beauty of the Mekong along its spellbinding journey through
I-san.
