12 December 2007, Amphoe Khemerat, Ubon Ratchathani Province. We have our backs to Wat Po, and are looking left down the Mekong River. The bank on the right side of the photo is Laos. The steps inset on the Thai side (close foreground) allow the Thai villagers easy access to the river.
Standing on the Thai-side bank of the Mekong River, looking across toward Laos. Newt says that there is (or used to be) a small Laos village on the far side, but it is beyond the treeline.
Still on the Thai-side bank, but looking right. During Newt's childhood, this bank was more-heavily planted with the villager's vegetable plots (you can see planting furrows running parallel to the river, near the standing man). At that time, the river provided water for the crops, and Newt remembers swimming/bathing in the river, and then picking onions, tomatos, beans, and cabbage afterwards. The kids would ask permission before picking vegetables. The crops were irrigated manually with water from the river in the early morning or late evening. Also, when Newt was a child, cows were not allowed in this area (probably to keep them out of the vegetable plots).
In the center of the photo are the "steps" Newt took to the river for bathing or swimming (about where the boats are tied-up on the riverbank). At the top of the bank, further to the right (out of the photo) is a Thai Immigration office.
A long-tail boat (a "ruer harng"--"harng" translates to "tail") makes its way to the Thai-side bank. In the center of the photo is a border marker, or "sawkaddorng", that appears to be made of concrete. It is in the middle of the river, and marks the official border between Thailand and Laos (you may have to "click" on the photo and open up a larger version, and then "zoom" in the center).
The boats that we saw passed freely over the border (mid-river).
Note: Thais pronounce "Laos" as "Lao", without an ending "s" sound.
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