We
spent the 3-day holiday of Maka Bucha, a Thai Buddhist
holiday, in Nong Khai and stayed at the Mut Mee Guest
House, the garden guest house on the banks of the
mighty Mekong River. Burnt out on beach resorts, we
were looking for a more rural, more Thai-style retreat,
without all the pressure of having sun, sea and fun
in your face every waking second.
The
proximity to laidback Laos makes the pace of life
in Nong Khai more relaxed, almost soporific. In Nong
Khai, relaxation is a lifestyle and conversations
are long and meaningless social jabber and the biggest
struggle you probably have is staying awake during
mid-day naptime.
A
wiser man would have accepted Nong Khai for what it
was. But I was a crazy foreigner in Thailand and I
wanted an adventure, a physical challenge. I surveyed
the Mekong River from the Mut Mee guest house. It
looked like about one kilometer across. Boats traveled
back and forth between the Lao and Thai sides. It
looked easy enough. There were no waves and it looked
relatively benign. I had been tossed about in the
major waves of the beaches of Hawaii and survived.
Why haven’t I ever seen anyone swimming across
the Mekong? We asked around and people said the river
was just too strong, the currents would take you away.
When I suggested that I would like to swim across,
a look of panic and concern crossed people’s
faces. No one knew of anyone who had ever done it
and no one recommended it. I incorrectly attributed
this failure to Thai complacency.
The Mighty Mekong |
Maybe
it was the fear of getting older. Maybe it was the
feeling that as a foreigner residing in Thailand,
by conquering Thailand’s physical challenges,
I could become part of Thailand and make it my own.
Most likely, it was the desire to have some good writing
material for my webblog. It was decided, a new challenge,
I would swim from Thailand to Laos, across the Mekong
river and risk arrest for crossing borders without
a visa. My wife asked me if I had drawn up a Will
yet.
It
was ten o’clock and we had just arrived at the
Mut Mee, I changed into my short pants and descended
to the banks. Why waste time? I was seizing the moment.
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