(32K)My bosses all wanted me to stay in Korea, but I was still in traveling mode and didn't want to sit in one place for a whole year. I also wanted to get back to Thailand in time to catch the total eclipse of the sun. While in Korea, I heard about it on my trusty shortwave radio (thank you, BBC). Purely by accident, it was one week after my flight back to Bangkok, and the day before my birthday! I flew to Thailand, bought my ticket to Africa, and made plans to catch the eclipse. I went to Nakhan Sawan, an industrial city in the center of Thailand. I went with Gary, a young Brit who was pleasant enough, but not someone I would choose as a long term travel companion. We met up with Yves, a Frenchman, and headed for the Buddhist temple on the morning of the eclipse.
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The temple was on top of the only hill in town; elevated, and with a perfect view of the local area. As totality approached, the light became very eerie, and reminded me of twilight. As totality arrived, a collective scream went up from everyone! The brightest stars came out, and where the sun had been was a blacker-than-black disk surrounded by a fantastically bright aura. The disk was darker than anything I'd ever seen before. I snapped off three quick pictures, then put the camera down just to look at the people around me. Most people were completely absorbed with staring at the sight, but there were a few others like me who seemed more interested in seeing other people's reactions.
After it was over, I started talking to a young Malaysian man, Ravi. He and I hit it off extremely well. He's in advertising, and when I mentioned I know someone who works for Weiden & Kennedy (Nike's ad agency), we became fast friends. Until I met him, I had been planning to head for Chang Mai. He convinced me I should come to Nong Khai instead. We took a bus up to Udon Thani (famous for it's Vietnam era air base), and then to Nong Khai.
We originally intended to go to Laos, but the visa was expensive, and took five days to process. Since neither of us wanted to spend that kind of money, we found a great guest house (Mut Mee, for those heading that way) and happily sat on the banks of the Mekong river for 5 days. I had a sinus infection, and needed to not be traveling for a while, and he was working on figuring out some things in his life. It was a blissful time, just enjoying the surroundings and people we met while there. The owner of the place was a yoga practitioner like myself, and we were able to get in some sessions that really helped me get over my illness.
Near Nong Khai is a strange sculpture garden. A Buddhist/Hindu monk had spent years building from cement a huge number of these sculptures, then displaying them in Laos, and more recently, Thailand.
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