Mekong River Hunt

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By admin

Published: April 21, 2010

This was a 2-day adventure to the northern area of Thailand – the town of Chiang Khan. My wife, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, his girlfriend and I headed out from Khon Kaen to Chiang Khan at about 0930 on Saturday, 17 April.  The 250 kilometer trip took about 4 1/2 hours counting the 6 pit stops.

We had to visit family friends first, then get a place to stay, and of course, buy some food.  I finally made it the short distance to the Mekong River at about 1600.

The Mekong River is at its lowest level in over 50 years – down 4-5 meters from normal.  This has been attributed to drought, dry season, and China diverting water.  So, this was actually a hunt on the river bed.

We went to 3 different locations and they were all basically the same type of terrain – either brush/scrub, hard dirt, or beach sand.  I thought it was strange to see sand, but apparently this was quite common.  Getting down the river bed at site one was a chore.

Targets were very few and very far between but I did come away with 2 common spoons and a bell that goes around a water buffalo’s neck.

Dinner was next on the agenda.

Up early the following morning to go to site 2 – a market area and also a place where the kids go swimming.

This area had a lot more beach sand and even had a volleyball area.

I only found one coin – 5 baht – thought there would be more.  I also found a fork that was pretty heavy and my wife says that these are made for families and has the family name etched in the back.

After site 2 we headed back to our rental for some breakfast and I thought we were going to head back to Khon Kaen but the family had other plans.  We went on to site 3.  This was another beach area where lots of partying went on during Thai New Year (Songkran).  Lots of trash but lots of potential I thought.

My brother-in-law – ready for the hunt.

I managed one coin – 1 baht and my brother-in-law got a ten baht coin in the water.  His girlfriend was helping with the digging and forgot she had her cell phone in her pocket and got it wet – fortunately it dried out and still works.

Heading back to the rental it was time for a short stop at a local temple for a quick prayer.

We got the car loaded and headed back home at about 1600 and caught the sunset at a rest stop.

Not a lot of treasure, but quite an interesting hunt.

Tagged with: baht, bell, chiang khan, fork, mekong river, metal detecting, thailand

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