khon kaen - northeastern thailand, land of Isaan and solace...


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Asia » Thailand » North-East Thailand » Khon Kaen
March 26th 2009
Published: March 26th 2009
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Sorry we have not been in much contact, we have been up the north-east of Thailand in a small town called Khon Kaen, population 100,000 so in Thai terms it's about the size of Ararat (sorry Mabel). The north-east is wonderful for a few reasons- there are no tourists, it is rich in Isaan culture, and to rent a 4-star boutique hotel room cost about $12/night each. We spent a few nights just winding down from the past few weeks of travelling around, and to re-charge for Bangkok.

We were so lazy we didn't even go to only 2 tourist sites near Khon Kaen - a dinosaur park (which would have been awesome but the 40+ degree heat and the 4 hour round trip was a bit of a turn-off) and some ruins down south, but again hot heat and long journey deterred us from doing this option. Also, we were a bit ruin-ed out after Sukhothai; it's a bit like the temples, they're amazing, but after a while, after seeing hundreds of temples, they start blurring into the same temple........

What we've also seen in heavy numbers is images of the King. The Thais love 3 things - their King, Buddhism, and their families. In that order. So there are photographs and paintings of the King everywhere you turn. In restaurants, hotels, shops, department stores, people's homes, night markets, on the sides of buses, on the backs of motorbikes, in toilets...And when you go to the theatre or the cinema (which we did tonight - I'm writing this in Bangkok) at the beginning of the performance/film you have to stand up and listen to the Thai national anthem whilst images of the King doing his thang are shown on the projection screen.

In Khon Kaen, we chanced upon an outside screening of a Thai film (luckily subtitled in English apparently just for us, as we were the only farang in the whole audience) which was slightly similar to a Moonlight Cinema experience. Except instead of sitting on picnic rugs surrounded by lush green grass, we virtually sat in street sewage gutters whilst cockroaches and rats scullied around, the audience unbeknownst or un-caring about their existence. I certainly did know, and cared, and tried to find some seats on a 1sqm patch of 'grass' but it had already been saved by a hobo.


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