Day 2, Thursday 20 October - Ubon Ratchathani

Trainspotting....... Ubon Ratchathani is a typical provincial town not generally associated with tourism but having decided to stay for a second night, I head for the railway station, which is at Warin Chamrap south of the river Mun. Colour coded songtheaws (taxis) cover the area for just 10 baht. From Chayankul Road white songtheaws (2) go to Warin Chamrap south of the river. Directly from Intrend. blue taxis (10 and 11) go into the city and to the bus station. I spend a good couple of hours at the train station before heading back across the river stopping to take pictures of the Mun River in flood.
Thai to Lao........ In the evening I am happy to eat at a local restaurant where normally my Thai is good enough to get me what I want. However, some unfamiliar questions arise. At first, I don't understand until I realise they are speaking in Thai/Lao, a dialect which has a strong Laotian influence. Laotian and Thai are closely related as up until 1894 Laos was part of Siam. Thais can understand the Laotian dialect particularly if they come from Isan, the northeastern provinces. So today I learn some Lao. While eating they ask me 'seb baw?', which translates in Thai to 'aroi mai?' (does it taste good)? Normally in Thai I reply 'aroi maak', yes, it tastes good, but in Lao I must reply 'seb li li'. Lessons over it's back to Intrend Place.