Feature: Mekong river binds regional countries, peoples together as lifeblood of Southeast Asia

Narongchai, a volunteer tour boat guide on the Mekong river in northeast Thailand’s Nakhon Phanom, has been doing this job for 16 years. “The Mekong is our mother river, binding everyone in the basin,” said Narongchai, describing the cross-border river part of his life.

“The water from the sky separated the land into two sides, but the friendship between the two sides will last forever,” said Narongchai, 58, who loves singing a famous Mekong river song on the boat.

Nakhon Phanom, a rarely explored but charming place, hugs the Mekong river in the northeast of Thailand with the bordering country of Laos seen from the riverbanks.

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Guo Xinhui