Mukdahan
Mukdahan is a distant Thai provincial capitol on the banks of the Mekong River, looking over to the city of Savannakhet in Laos and is the site of the latest road gateway to Laos with the 2006 completion of the second Friendship Bridge.
Getting to Mukdahan is a long hard drive and you should give yourself at least 8 hours if you're driving from Bangkok. Bus journeys can take in excess of 12 hours. The roads are often in poor condition with large pot holes. In fact, on my last drive to Bangkok, I managed to damage the exhaust pipe when hitting a substantial dip in the road, so take your time and watch out for the bumps in the road.
There is no airport in Mukdahan and the nearest flight options are Roi-Et Airport, Ubon Rachathani Airport, or Savannakhet Airport on the Laos side.
The city is small (population around 100,000) and it takes just a few minutes to drive from one end of the city to the other on the very quiet city roads. Nobody seems to be in a hurry in Mukdahan and the roads feel quite safe and sedate by Thai standards.
By nightfall, the whole city seems to have gone into a coma and the streets are deserted, dark and moody. Looking out across the night city and there is almost nothing to see in the darkness, except for the red beacons on a few transmitter towers.
The walk along the river in the city is very pleasant. During the day, there are many shops and vendors next to the river walk, where you can look over the river to Laos, take pictures and mingle with the friendly locals. There are quite a few Laotian and Vietnamese faces in the city incidentally and you can see small ferry boats crossing the mighty Mekong with migrant workers, who come to work as restaurant staff etc.
After dark, the river walk is utterly peaceful and there are a handful of restaurants right on the river bank, where you can enjoy local cuisine and see Savannakhet street lights glistening in the distance over the river.
If you want a better view of the city, head down to the Mukdahan Tower on the southern edge of the city, where an elevator takes you up to view a panorama of the Mekong and the surrounds. The tower is also a local museum of the cities cultural heritage.
Nightlife
Nightlife in Mukdahan is pretty tame and restricted. However, if you're living here, you'll soon find where the young and pretty hang out. Try Boss Bar in the town centre, a curious find in this distant city and very busy at the weekend after 10 p.m. With a selection of live acts and local party animals... This is a good place to meet and mingle with the local trendy set. A very small place.
There is a good sized discotheque in the basement of the Grand Hotel that is packed at weekends. You could almost believe you are in a Bangkok disco if you go there, with it's live act, complete with the sexiest singers you ever saw. As with most Thai style discos, there is no dance floor and people just dance around the tables. When we went, there was no cover charge.
There is a strip of Karaoke bars beneath the Mukdahan Tower but when we visited, they were pretty empty and depressing.
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