Thailand - Road trip and hanging out

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First post for a long time... April to be precise. One reason for the long delay is that I've been hanging out in Thailand. Tough, you may say, but for me anywhere for more than a couple of weeks is a LONG time.

What should I report? Hot and humid but that's hardly news for here. We've just had an election and the Pheu Thai party (Thaksin's Own) won hands down and we have Thailand's first female Prime Minister-elect. We'll see if Yingluck Shinawatra (the Great Man's younger sister) actually makes it to the PM's seat or gets shafted on the way. Hopefully not.

Talking of a win for the Red Shirts, I made a fun road trip to Kong Kaen which is in the north-east (Esarn) and where the "Seua Deng" have overwhelming support among the rural poor. Actually Esarn isn't so poor these days what with remittances from Bangkok, a growing population of elderly farang on good pensions "married" to local women and a bumper rice crop.

I love road trips in Thailand. One reason is you find find great places to eat genuine Thai food very cheaply and the service stations are a lesson for the rest of the world. Not only are people well-behaved (try a service station on England's M1 motorway!) but the toilets are clean (ditto!) and you get little coffee shops like Cafe Amazon (see photo) which not only serve passable cappuccino but have gorgeous little gardens.

It's the ordinary things in Thailand that make life so acceptable here despite the ghastly weather for half the year (sorry, 34 degrees and 90%!h(MISSING)umidity just isn't fun). And of course the hotels.

In Khon Kaen we stay at the Pullman Khon Kaen Raja Orchid (which the locals still call the Sofitel) right in the centre of town. For $75/night you get a 5-star room with a view of the city and a selection of superb restaurants; the German one has genuine sauerkraut and bratwurst and it's own micro-brewery.

On the way back to Bangkok - the journey from KK is an easy 6 hour drive - we stopped off in the next province, Maha Sarakham - at a famous Buddhist stupa (where allegedly a relic of the Buddha is kept) and had a peaceful hour wandering the garden. Check out the automated monks that collect your offering. Thailand is indeed truly amazing!

Hotel address:
9-9 Prachasumran Road
Nai Muang, Muang
40000 KHON KAEN
THAILAND
Tel. [phone]
Fax. [phone]
[e-mail]

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Photos

Cafe Amazon
This is a really cool little cafe franchise one finds at service stations. The coffee is good and the garden very restful. Very Thai.

Phrathat Nadon
This is a lovely Buddhist stupa off the beaten track in Maha Sarakham

Automated Monks
Another very Thai artifact: they obviously don't have enough live one's so this is a merry-go-round. You throw your offering into the bowl when the dummy monk passes.