Khemmarat, a charming district in my hometown
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Have I told you that I’m not a Bangkokian girl? My hometown is actually one of the biggest provinces in the Northeast of Thailand, Ubonratchatani. There is not much to do in the town itself, but there are several districts that are worth a visit if you come to this province, and I recommend you go to Khemmarat (เขมราฐ)!
This trip happened not so long after I was back from Taiwan with my grandmothers. My parents proudly presented me about their wonderful journey in Khemmarat. Recently, tourism in Khemmarat has been promoted tremendously. The governor has devoted some space to build a night market, and they are promoting Thai indigo cloth to be the leading product in the market. Apart from those recently built attractions, Khemmarat has quite a long history with several old temples.
The trip was only two days and a night. We started by having lunch by the Mekong river at Kong Paneang (กงพะเนียง). Ubon Ratchathani is known for fish dishes such as fried fish, spicy fish soup, and diced fried fish with sweet and spicy sauce. This restaurant did not disappoint us: the fish was fresh and tasteful, and the river was tranquil.
After that, we went to Wat Pak Sang (วัดปากแซง) which is also located nearby the river. The temple was a bit chaotic, contrasting with the calm Mekong: lots of tourists were making merit while the villagers were diligently selling their farm products. To avoid the chaos inside the temple, my dad and I went to buy some baby fish and gently pour them onto the river bank.
Then, in the evening, we went to the night market (thanon-khon-duean ถนนคนเดิน). The market street was not as long as I thought, but the vibe was incredible! There was a Thai performance show in the middle of the market. Thai women were dancing song after song, entertaining foreigners and Thais till sunset. Meanwhile, our family was seated in Pinto Anya (ปิ่นโตอัญญา), the restaurant opposite to the stage. This restaurant is famous for its food presentation. They served food in Thai food containers, Pinto. We got some Khuay Jub(กวยจั๊บ), Vietnamese style rice noodle with pork sausage, and some seasoning eggs in the pan.
How can I not be in love with this place?
Before we went home, my parents drove us to another temple called Boong Kee Lek (วัดบุ่งขี้เหล็ก.) The highlight of this temple is multiple rows of white and gold Buddha statues. We went to pay homage to the statues. Although this place was also considered a favorite tourist attraction at that time, I did not see a crowd as in the other places we went. The serenity of the temple calmed us down, and that was a perfect ending to this trip.
In this family trip, we visited several famous places in northern Vietnam, namely, Sapa, Hanoi, and Ninh Binh. For some people, the more they see the world, the less impressive some places appear to them. We also did not find this part of Vietnam outstanding from all the places we have been together, yet it was still charming and gave us vacation vibes. I’d recommend those who like natures to visit Ninh Binh; Sapa is also beautiful, but it seems have some construction going on at the top of Fansipan mountain.
After having to postpone the Visa appointment for a year due to the pandemic situation, my parents have now got their first ever US Visa! A month right after they received their passports, now with the US Visa attached to, they flew from Thailand to the US to visit me in Illinois. To be more accurate, WE flew together from Thailand to Chicago, though on different flights. Our itinerary was to visit Chicago, Washington DC, NYC, and, of course, my beloved corn field city, Champaign.
The spring semester ended on May 12, marking the end of my first year as a Ph.D. student at UIUC. To celebrate the hard work, I invited my boyfriend to come visit me in Champaign. But since Champaign has nothing much to do, we also planned a short trip to Chicago and also Florida! Poy had never been to Disney World before, so we tried so hard to make it happen despite the price of Disney world’s tickets. Poy flew from England to Chicago, so our first short trip happened in Chicago! It was my second time in Chicago, so I tried to visit different places than the last time I went to in January.
I usually don’t travel over spring breaks as they are quite short and most schools in the US have spring breaks around the same time, so everywhere is just crowded. However, this break was special because I went to visit my boyfriend in England! We hadn’t seen each other for a while (aka 8 months at least), so I didn’t hesitate to go there when I had a chance. Though I had been to many countries in Europe, I had never visited England. I went there for 5 days not including the flight time, but I felt like I got a very rich British experience thanks to Poy.