As agreed yesterday, Pao, the Mut Mee’s manager, is personally taxiing us to Chiang Khan in her shiny red pick-up, since the bus schedule didn’t fit with ours. The 160km drive follows the Mekong river almost all the way, and we’re expecting some very pretty views, but in addition to that Pao has recommendations for a few stops along the way, for a bit of additional sightseeing.
Her first suggestion is the Lotus Lake - we’re right at the peak of waterlilies’ blooming season, and some of the local reservoirs get absolutely covered in them, creating a surreal sight as the lakes turn pink with flowers. She takes us right to the edge of a huge expanse, almost entirely covered with waterlilies in bloom - we can barely see the other side of that sea of pink. There’s paddle boats for hire to take us even closer, and on her recommendation we set out, silently gliding through the flowers as we gently loop around the lake. It’s an incredible experience - a real-life recreation of that scene in Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Narnia Chronicles) where the crew reaches the end of the world, a sea covered in white lilies.
Encouraged by this spectacular first stop, we follow Pao to a couple of local temples - mum is excited but for us they are a bit run-of-the-mill after the splendours of Bangkok and Northern Thailand. We set out rather late so it’s already time for lunch - and conveniently we’re right by the river and near a string of little waterside eateries. The food isn’t particularly special but eating on a bench with our legs dangling over the Mekong is!
One last stop before driving on to Chiang Khan: a cliff top temple with beautiful views down to the river plain. This one is well worth it, both for the fantastic views over the Mekong valley, and for the temple itself. The main hall is reached via a broad staircase framed by two gigantic, brightly coloured Nagas, with more serpentine guardians surrounding the doors at the top. There’s no subtle colour scheme here but a clash of blues, pinks, greens, reds and golds - it’s loud but I find it really works. Pao explains why we’ve been seeing those dragon-like Naga sculptures so much around the temples: according to legend, the prince of the Nagas once came to Buddha to seek ordainment. Unfortunately, as he was a snake, he could not become a monk (enlightenment is only available to creatures whose body is vertical, ruling out animals), but the Lord was impressed with his ambition and thus asked his disciples to honour Nagas by having their sculptures guard his temples. It’s nice to have a bit of context behind this recurring decorative motif, and it’s quite a sweet story as well!
Leaving the spurned Nagas behind, we set out for the remaining half of the drive. At this point the road properly hugs every curve of the Mekong, snaking along the banks towards Chiang Khan. While the river is still broad here, it’s covered with hundreds of little islets - a mix of sharp rocks and sandbanks covered with grass and bushes - and in places it almost looks like we could pick a dry path across! It’s an impressive sight and a varied landscape for our final leg of the journey. It may just be the French heritage - between our involvement in Indochine and celebrated writers like Marguerite Duras extensively describing the region, the Mekong is a household name over in the hexagon - but there is truly something special about this specific watercourse, and the fact it is so majestic only enhances its pull further.
A couple of very windy hours later, musings are cut short as we alight at our hotel in Chiang Khan, and settle down while Pao returns to the Mut Mee - hopefully the drive home will be quite a bit shorter without all the stops. Our rooms are further away from the centre than we thought but really Chiang Khan isn’t that big and it’s only a five minutes walk back to the water and the main pedestrian street. We wrap up with another spectacular sunset reflected in the Mekong waters - a proper river-centric day!
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