At the Thai Border

The road had been opened to safe public travel only a handful of months in the past 10 years. I was to arrive in the late afternoon, the time the weathering Mekong Delta flooded. Yet I felt a quaint hint of serenity in the midst of a storm. It was here at the "Friendship Bridge" that ominous stories of the road had reached me all through my journey in Vietnam. There were various versions of travelers being killed, of a truck being blown up -- or attacked by robbers, or tribesmen, or Communist guerrillas. At the border, I had all but given up hope of making the journey overland. But the road was still there, the buses were still running, and the boat is still running. Apart from the advice that "you should take the slow boat and not the speed boat", I was determined to stick with the slow boat ride, apparently two boats collided last two days when the river flooded and visibility was poor.


just experience \| just sights \| just blah \| just write all photos, travelogues and journals are made available for non-commercial use only. © 2000 JSL
*LAOS - LAND OF MILLION ELEPHANTS*
Land of Million Elephants \| From Chang Mai \| At the Thai Border \| Crossing to Laos \| Truck to Luang Prabang \| Nam Ngum River \| Van Vieng \| Luang Prabang \| End of Journey
	At the Thai Border The road had been opened to safe public travel only a handful of months in the past 10 years. I was to arrive in the late afternoon, the time the weathering Mekong Delta flooded. Yet I felt a quaint hint of serenity in the midst of a storm. It was here at the "Friendship Bridge" that ominous stories of the road had reached me all through my journey in Vietnam. There were various versions of travelers being killed, of a truck being blown up -- or attacked by robbers, or tribesmen, or Communist guerrillas. At the border, I had all but given up hope of making the journey overland. But the road was still there, the buses were still running, and the boat is still running. Apart from the advice that "you should take the slow boat and not the speed boat", I was determined to stick with the slow boat ride, apparently two boats collided last two days when the river flooded and visibility was poor.