Blogs from Ubon Ratchathani, Eastern Thailand, Thailand, Asia

Pataya is another dump but nowhere near as extreme as BKK . It has a nice( ish) beach but is rather dirty . I got there about 3 or 4 hours with the mega cheap taxi , driver wearing sunglasses black tie and leather gloves Im sure he had been watching the Blues Brothers the night before but was a great laugh , never got a tip though as he spent most of the journey driving at mach2 whilst texting or talking on his mobile which sort of unnerved me a little , I dont have much faith in Thai taxi drivers after the last one from BKK airport did a U turn on the motorway after a truck caught on fire some way in front of us , pretty hairy doing that I thnk they ... read more

So after that quick overnight stop at little Nang Rong, I arrived in Ubon Ratchatani, one of the easternmost larger cities in Thailand, from where I would make the crossing into Laos. Apparently Ubon was an important air base for the US forces during the Vietnam War, during which time the city prospered. However it does seem as if not that much has happened in the city since, which in many respects seems to have seen better days. The city itself is not large, and quite walkable. There are a few temples of some importance to the city, but it seems the only time it really gets crowded is during the Candle Festival that it's famous for, which occurs annually in July. That's probably also the only time the old, soulless 1970s style 3-star hotels fill ... read more

After a one and a half hour drive to the Thai – Cambodia border to visit Prasat Khao Phra Wihan we found there would be no access on that day. The famous temple located strategically on top of a mountain overlooking Cambodia has been a point of conflict for many years. On the day that I decided to visit the temple some Thai and Cambodian troops had a stand-off in the nearby area and it was decided to close the temple for safety reasons. I was disappointed but still could view the temple using some binoculars at the Thai lookout area and had a great view of the mountain and Cambodia below. I will try to visit the temple from Siem Reap on the Cambodian side on a future visit. Fortunately I had a plan B ... read more

Ubon Ratchathani is a very good place to visit and the people have not been exposed to as much tourism like other parts of Thailand and can maintain their normal lifestyle. This was my first visit to Ubon which is a large city in the east, close to Cambodia and part of Isaan, my favorite region of Thailand. This is what I call the “real” Thailand where most people are even more friendly, charming and polite than the tourist areas and live a normal life at work and play. It is quiet and peaceful, the motorcycle and car drivers are very careful and also polite unlike the hectic traffic in other places. I saw very few foreigners in my five days in Ubon and everywhere I went in the city and region I met the most ... read more

Arriving back in Thailand provoked mixed feelings, mainly because we were leaving the beautiful and chilled Laos for the more developed Thailand. We stayed a night in Ubon Ratchathani as a stop off point before we headed South and where we had to catch the train to Bangkok. We tried to get a train as soon as we arrived but all the sleeping carriages were full and after spending all day travelling we didn’t fancy a night of no sleep so we opted for a night in a pretty shit guesthouse. The room was full of mozzies and as we were putting the mozzie net up the bed slightly collapsed on me but we managed to fix it. We got settled under the net we had bought some treats after not having any for a month ... read more