Sam Phan Bok: The Mekong's Rock Canyon at Low Water
Sam Phan Bok: The Mekong's Rock Canyon at Low Water For half of every year, this place does not exist. Sam Phan Bok is a huge sandstone reef in the Mekong River, in Pho Sai district, Ubon Ratchathani province, and it only appears when the river drops in the dry season. When it does, it reveals a landscape that looks borrowed from another planet — thousands of water-carved potholes, rock arches and pools spread across the riverbed, with Laos on the far bank. It is Ubon's strangest natural wonder, and timing is everything. What You're Looking At Over centuries, the Mekong's rising and rushing wet-season flow has drilled, ground and polished the sandstone reef into fantastic shapes. Its name counts the holes at roughly 3,000, and whatever the true number, you will never see them all. Locals have nicknamed the famous shapes, and guides will point them out: Mickey Mouse hole — a pothole whose outline every Thai visitor must photograph. Photo: Charin ninsu, CC BY 3.0, ...