Nakhon Phanom - Once Upon A Time (2)

Other major tourist promotions in Nakhon Phanom includes two annual festivals:

Fire Boats. Communities from across the province build large scaffolding out of bamboo, which they put on boats and float down the river in the annual fire boat festival. Tin cans are filled with kerosene and stuffed with rags, then arranged on the scaffolding to form images of temples, the king, dragons, etc. At night the boats float down the Mekong river for the appreciation of spectators. Held one night a year, at the end of Buddhist lent (normally November).

That Phanom Festival. In February of each year, a festival is hosted in That Phanom to commemorate the rebuilding of the Wat That Phanom The city draws thousands of Thai and Lao tourists and the generally sleepy town is packed with people, markets and food stalls.

Late this year, a bridge (the 3rd Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge) will be completed and the hopes are the cross-border commerce will increase. At present, one gets to Laos by means of a ferry. 

In the Tha Uthen district, you can see a bicolored river - not as big and impressive as seeing Mun merge with Mekhong in Ubon Ratchathani, but there is a nice small restaurant on the river bank. From there you can enjoy the laid-back life at the end of the world. When I went there for lunch, the two border guards rose for the hammocks to leave their post for a lunch break. I bet smugglers and illegal immigrants also take lunch breaks and that's why the border guards don't need to be alert all the time - I mean, that would make their job too stressful  LOL 

An attraction I didn't catch while in town was the supposedly beautiful sight of Sri Kontraboon at dawn. I was told that the beach (actually, the river bed that is exposed during the dry season when the river's water level drops) will be golden in the wee hours as the early morning sunshine reflects as golden rays.


My excuse is that it was difficult for me to get up early as I spend the evening exploring the promenade along the Mekhong River. Many interesting buildings, bars, and restaurants although the nightlife was pretty tame.


Maybe the nightlife was lame only during my visit because the few nights I was in town, swarms of white insects with a short life were attracted to any strong light source. 
So, under street lamps, the road surface would be covered in dead or dying insects and the road would be slippery like wet soap. There were so many insects and they died so fast that if you parked your car for a few minutes with the lights on, dead insects would pile up. And eating at sidewalk restaurants became a bit annoying with dead insects constantly dropping into your bowl of rice.