...There's been another police officer here the whole time?!?! Warily, I followed him across the divided highway at a safe distance. There was indeed another outpost for that direction of traffic, and he called out to whoever was there. First another policeman came out, soon followed by a woman. A woman! I'm saved! She was his wife, a few months pregnant, and behind her was another woman, who I somehow deduced was her sister. All of them spoke less English than Officer Creepy, but I tried to communicate primarily to them instead of having to rely on him as a translator because I still didn't trust him.
They invited me to sit down to dinner with them; a traditional "hot pot" meal was being served, made by adding different ingredients to a boiling soup. The family made sure to serve me the "best" ingredients first, which happened to be my least favorite foods- pork, sausage, and squid. I swallowed them down, hating every bite, but also thanking them profusely and sincerely- I understood that this family was honoring me greatly as a guest by making sure I got enough of what was probably not easy for them to afford.
I then got down to the business of trying to figure out how I would get out of there and where I would stay. Officer Creepy was still there, drinking whiskey (and offering some to me) and asking me exceedingly unnerving questions: "You like dance? You like date Thai man?" I opened my guidebook again, and called the first Nong Khai hostel on the list. A friendly Australian woman answered. I tried to explain my situation to her, but when she heard "police" she turned the call over to her manager, a Thai woman. I described as best I could where I was located and asked whether she could send transport for me. She answered that that would be impossible because taxis didn't go that far outside of the city. She asked to speak to one of the police officers. I offered the phone to the kind police officer, but Creepy passed in front of me and grabbed it. He walked around, speaking and nodding for a few minutes. Then he handed the phone back to me. The call was already ended. I told the family I would like to go to the guest house and asked how I could get there. The husband and wife discussed the directions between themselves in Thai (I could determine this based on their gestures) and then smiled and pointed to Creepy: "he'll take you."
I was seriously concerned at this point. Not only did this guy freak me out, he had been drinking a bit as well; I did not want to get in the car with him. However, given that my only other option would be hitchhiking (still too dangerous) and that this family, the guest house owner, and my friend in Chiang Mai all had an idea of where I was... I conceded. I threw my bag in the back seat of the police car and got into the front passenger seat.
I knew things were very wrong when, as soon as the highway post faded into the distance, he slowed the car waaaaaay down, until it was nearly crawling along the road. Then the officer asked "You need money? ATM is there"... and he pointed to deserted field! I lost it. I grabbed my phone and dialed my friend in Chiang Mai who spoke Spanish. I started explaining to her what was happening, and she advised me to stay on the line with her and escape the car once I could find a populated area. Since the officer didn't know who I was talking to or what I was saying, he kept driving... right into Nong Khai. I told him "Take me to my hotel please," he said "No, we go dance. We go Udon Thani (now 60k away!) I know good hotel."
I began to see people around, and we were going slowly around a corner, so I unlocked the door myself and started to get out of the car. He hit the brakes- I started shouting loudly "THANK YOU! GIVE ME MY BAG!" This was incredibly effective, as one of the worst things you can do in Thailand is to cause a scene- people there avoid conflict on principle. He unlocked the door and I grabbed my backpack out of the back of the car and hurried away. I walked to the nearest tuk-tuk I saw, told the driver the name of my lodging, and still had the sense to negotiate a price with him.
When I arrived at the guest house, several people were waiting around, including the two owners. They had kept the reception open because they knew I was coming and they were worried. Why? Because the officer had hung up on them and they also had no way to call the number back! Luckily I was safe now- I put my stuff in a room and went down to their bar on the river to have a drink and listen to live music. I felt nearly joyful to be sitting there with those folks- later the adrenaline wore off and I did have a breakdown, but I never once let myself think I wouldn't continue enjoying my travels =)
...
I ended up spending several more days in Nong Khai, having been extremely shaken up by the whole experience. The town was quite small and charming, but what really made my whole experience there was the hostel whose staff had really come through for me that night, Mut Mee Guest House. The room I stayed in was one of the nicest ones I had seen in my budget travels, with the cleanest and classiest shared-bathroom ever (stone tiled floor with river stone accents). I met some travelers in the garden/dining area and went on a bike ride with them around the town and the promenade along the river. We also went to the town's quirkiest treasure, an eclectic sculpture park even bigger than the Lao one, done by the same artist and combining the same influences of Buddhism and Hinduism. They were even almost directly across from each other on opposite sides of the river (the Lao one is actually visible from the Thai side of the Mekong).
The cement sculptures were extremely impressive, one of which was a 7-headed snake rising an indeterminable distance into the sky. Another area called the "Wheel of Life" depicted different stages of the human life cycle from conception to death, including such pivotal moments as "you as a fetus," "love," and "death of love". In the middle stood a tower of faces in the following order: Your Best Face- Your Most Evil Face- Again Your Best Face- Your Strange Face- Even Stranger Face- The Snake- Good Face- Zero. It always fascinates me the way that different cultures and religions think about different aspects of life; the strange stylization of these events somehow made sense to me, a way to present sensitive topics like death and divorce as just another thing that happens during life. Rather than feeling at all disturbed, I felt peaceful.
On my last night in Nong Khai, I was trying to figure out what to do. The guest house had its own dinner cruise, a boat that traveled west on the Mekong to follow the setting sun- quite the romantic activity. I hesitated slightly; it didn't seem like the kind of thing for a single person to do. But then I decided that that was all the more reason to do it! I boarded the boat- yep, definitely the only single person there- and had a very nice, relaxing time with my book, the BEST massaman curry I've ever had (slightly spicy), and the beautiful sunset =)
When I returned to Chiang Mai (12 hours by bus!), the Loi Krathong Festival was getting under way, something I had specifically stayed this long to see. This was also time to say goodbye to the good friends I had made at my guest house, as I had recently decided that since I would no longer be looking for a job in the area, it was time to move on from my beautiful adopted city and proceed to meet up with some other friends... in Indonesia!
Did you miss Part I? Click here!
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