We're kind of bouncing around without a plan!

But that's fine, because it's all new to us anyhow. 

Yesterday, we took the train from Pak Chong to Ubon Ratchathani. Everyone just calls it "Ubon", so that's what I'll do from now on. Originally, we were thinking we would try to get into Cambodia from Pak Chong, but the route was too difficult.

Oh, I don't think I told you yet... we are taking a detour that has kind of changed our very loose plans. Friends who live in Singapore have invited us to meet them in Penang, Malaysia on January 8th for a few days. They are originally from Malaysia, and we'll be staying with her brother's family, so it will be a sort of "local" experience for us. 

Anyhow, keeping in mind that we have to somehow get down to Malaysia in three weeks, we decided to forego Cambodia for now. Heading to Ubon, we thought about crossing into Laos since we are fairly close to that border now. But I found out that there is a direct flight from Ubon to Chiang Mai... so we have booked that flight and will head up there for a week on Thursday. The other thing that we have to keep in mind is that our tourist visa for Thailand is only for 30 days, which will be up on on December 30th.

So, we are here in Ubon until Thursday, then we will be in Chiang Mai for the week during Christmas, then we will fly direct from Chiang Mai to Kuala Lumpur for New Year's Eve, then head to Penang from there on January 8th. 

Waiting for the train in Pak Chong.

The train was full, and we had to sit apart. Neither one of us had a window seat, so didn't bother trying to take any photos along the way. Cost of the five hour express train in a 2nd class air conditioned car was 400 baht ($11.50 USD, $15.30 CAD) each. 

Thai Rail Network.

Just to give you an idea of our trip so far, we started in Bangkok and then took the blue line north to Ayutthaya. Then the yellow line to Pak Chong, then further east on the yellow line to Ubon.

Got off at the end of the line in Ubon, arriving right at 2:00pm. Took a three dollar Grab taxi from there to The Outside Inn Guesthouse. This place gets great reviews. Owned by an American and his Thai wife, it supposedly has the best Mexican food in Thailand! 

Not bad, for 550 baht ($15.75 USD, $21 CAD) per night.

Comfy bed!

We were starved and went right to the restaurant. Sure enough, they have a lot of Mexican dishes on the menu, with real homemade corn tortillas! Amazing! A little pricey compared to the Thai dishes, but possibly not much different than you would now pay at a restaurant in Mexico.

Nice cold beer!

We each had chicken enchiladas with rice and refried beans.

230 baht ($6.60 USD, $8.80 CAD) each.

As I said, a little pricey by Thai standards, but it was delicious and a nice treat!

Not sure what's on the go today. I think we'll probably just explore the city a bit. 

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