Fortunately, I have a strong bracket of support. My Filipino friends alerted her to what she'd done so that she could undo the cancellation. Jiu and Nid, two of my 'Thai mothers', also rallied to help me. After picking Rachel up from the airport, we went to the Labour Department to check on the status of my work permit (and thus my visa, as the two are connected). Luckily, my boss had undone the damage she'd caused - and credit where it's due, I guess - but we didn't trust her, so Jiu and Nid told the Labour Department not to cancel my work permit until a specific date. That would save me an immediate visa run to Laos and from losing 2-3 days of travelling with my sister (not to mention I would have had to pay more money!).
With all the heavy stuff sorted, the four of us set off on a daytrip to Khong Chiam!
Not only did we start the journey with a car full of food and drink, we stopped for snacks at 7-11 and bought fresh coconut juice from a roadside stall. It was a taste of Thai-style travel for Rachel, and I'm glad she got the chance to experience the excessiveness of it.
Jiu, Rachel and Nid
And a massive lunch, of course...
One of our stops was a famous temple, half-building, half-cave. We bumped into a student from school, one of the grade 6s I taught in my first semester. Even this far from Ubon, I'm still running into familiar faces!
Buddha tent held in place by... an elephant? O_o
Lighting candles and incense
One of the temple buildings (left), and a giraffe tree! (right)
I'd been wanting to visit Khong Chiam since I arrived in Ubon, mainly for the cliff at Pha Taem, where you can see the first sunrise in Thailand. Obviously we missed sunrise, but it was a peaceful spot commanding great views over the Mekong and Laos.
View from Pha Taem Cliff
Tracing along the bottom of the cliff is a path that winds between rock and trees. In several places on the cliff face are prehistoric rock paintings dating back about 3000 years. Most of them depict daily activities like fishing and hunting. Some were indescribable.
Panorama of some of the paintings
There was something about the hand shapes that was slightly creepy. I can't assume to know the meaning of them. I had the thought that it was a bunch of kids hand-painting like I used to as a kid. But knowing that the people whose handprints are on that cliff have been dead since sometime around 1000 B.C. is an eerie thought.
Freaky hand paintings
Don't go this way or you will... die?
Dammit... forgot my slippers...
Even after we reached the top again, we still had to trek the same distance back to the carpark. It caused Jiu and Nid (55 and 54, respectively) no problems - luckily, they keep themselves fit!
Some native wildlife
I had some troubles of my own, though. First, I nearly lost my thong off the cliff...
Phew! That was a close one...
...then the other one decided to break.
Hmm, now it's difficult to walk...
I adopted a kind of shuffle-walk that Michael Jackson would have been proud of. The sun descended into a kind of haze, showing the landscape in a different light. It was magnificient.
Rocks stacked for good luck
It had turned out to be a big day. When we got back to Ubon, we grabbed dinner at one of my favourite local eateries, which serves homemade egg noodles. It's not actually inside a building but between two others, though a steel roof has been set up over the top of the tables and chairs. The noodles are cooked at the stall out the front.
The owner was even kind enough to let Rachel take a photo of us.
Me and mah local peeps!
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