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Published: March 19th 2009
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Khon Kaen City Gates
These gates were around most cities in the Isan region. "Is Khon Kaen in Thailand?"
"Yes."
"I'll take one ticket to Khon Kaen please."
I had more or less remembered seeing that name on the map of Thailand but didn't quite know where it was. I don't plan on being impulsively stupid, sometimes it just happens. Maybe it was the heat and the thought of waiting around for another two hours for a bus to Bangkok. Maybe it was the pain in my knee. Maybe I just needed to get out of Laos or risk never leaving. Or maybe I just got tired of having to plan everything out and needed to mix things up a bit. All that really mattered was that I was on a bus to Thailand with plenty of time to figure things out. According to the guidebook, Khon Kaen was a young vibrant town with one tourist attraction - the Khon Kaen National Museum. Very promising.
Khon Kaen is a small city with a pleasant air about it. Very little English was spoken and I had to rely on the point and hope method of ordering off of menus. Nothing particular grand but nothing horrific ended up on my plate. The city had these
My Museum
Crowds are a bit sparse around here. magnificent gates marking the boundary lines of the main part of town. There were three lakes surrounding the town that offered not only pleasant places to relax but shaded walkways.
Since the town had only one tourist attraction, I didn't pay too close attention to the map I had. I saw the word museum and figured that was it. Turns out I went to the Khon Kaen city museum instead of the national museum. I was not disappointed though as the museum experience rocked. It had excellent displays that were strangely printed in both Thai and English (yet menus were not). The museum gave you detailed descriptions of the region of Isan and Khon Kaen's importance in Isan throughout time. The exhibit focused on the traditional customs of old Isan culture as well as the important people of the city. I particularly enjoyed the section devoted to their athletes (Thailand’s first gold medalist came from here) - all three were given the proper respects. What really made the experience though was the surrounding atmosphere.
I wandered into the museum courtyard by myself. I came upon a few workers lounging outside and they quickly sprang to life as I
Squirrelly
Never trust this kid to be your tour guide. said hello and pulled out the entrance fee from my pocket. The workers unlocked the museum, opened the gift shop, turned on the lights and air conditioning. I didn't think much of it but was a little shocked as it was already 1:30pm. Two high school aged kids followed me throughout the first section of the museum and through some mime work we figured out that they wanted to know if I wanted a tour. Intrigued as to how a tour would go in Thai when I know about five words, I paused to think about it but in the end declined.
Thirty minutes into the museum I became aware of the fact that I was the only person in the museum. I rather enjoyed having the museum to myself and started hoping for a
Night at the Museum experience. Nothing came alive but I enjoyed the rare opportunity of having the place to myself.
After wandering around Bung Kaen Nakorn Lake, I came upon a wat of sorts. It was Wat Kiang Municipal School. It had an impressive stupa (I love that word) so I wandered around it a bit. I was confused by the mosaic images
of random animals including a kangaroo around the outside as well as a dinosaur looming in the bushes (they apparently discovered dinosaurs fossils in this region). When I peeked inside the stupa, there was a large contingent of uniformed school kids running around. As I continued looking around the outside, I became aware of the hushed conversations and the eyes looking at me. I ventured in and was followed around by all of the students with each of them saying "What's your name?" I tried to get them to tell me their names but they only seemed to know "What's your name?"
Eventually a monk wandered over to help me as I was enveloped by 30 or so students. He explained to me that he was their teacher and he tried to teach them English but the students wouldn't pay attention and learn the language (I told him I understood that problem quite well!). He then selected two students to take me on a tour of the place. The boy tour guide was quite squirrelly. He would say a bunch of things in Thai and then the girl tour guide would roll her eyes and smack him upside the
head. Although I didn't learn much, my guides and I had fun counting the floor levels off in Thai and English.
Khon Kaen is an eccentric place with a charm that slowly exposes itself. On my bus towards Bangkok, I was given one last gift of Khon Kaen. The man next to me on the bus immediately broke into a line of questioning that went in the following order:
"Do you speak English?"
"Do you like to read?"
"Do you sing?"
"Do you know the song Rehab by Amy Winehouse?"
"Do you know Dido? Maroon Five?"
"Where are the best karaoke bars in Bangkok?"
Turns out he is the stereotypical Asian loving karaoke guy. He pulled out a notebook filled with what I presumed where karaoke notes and lyrics from his bag. He told me he was heading to Bangkok because he needed to get out of Khon Kaen as it was boring him. He had been there for 38 years! His rebellious spirit was certainly youthful even though he was 73. I found this almost as amusing as the golf shoes on his feet.
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Kath
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Stupa
Mama always said, "Stupa is as stupa does."