A weekend in Khon Kaen...

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After spending two weekends in a row in Mukdahan we decided to venture out and do a bit of travelling so we looked for the nearest big city to us in the North East and planned a weekend away.

Saturday morning bright and early we headed down to the bus station and for the grand total of 170baht (approx £3) we got our ticket and settled in for the 4 and a half bus ride to Khon Kaen.

We saw our first traffic jam in a month - an actual traffic jam - when you have been in quiet Mukdahan for a month where we’ve spotted an elephant walking down the street it was actually quite nice to be back in civilisation.

We got a tuk tuk to central plaza, which can only be described as heaven! Five floor of real shops, there was a boots, a billabong shop, sports shops, loads of shoe shops and that was just on the first floor. This place was amazing; we’re talking a cinema, bowling alley, KFC, 2 dairy queens AND a McDonalds!! I wanted to stay there forever!!
After finally finding a hotel to check in to for the night which worked out at less than £2 each and was surprisingly nice for the bargain price we freshened up and headed back to central plaza to watch twilight. It was amazing, eating icecream in big comfy seats watching an English film in actual English, perfect!
After twilight we were all emotional wrecks and the only thing we could do to get over all the lovey dovey stuff was to hit the chang so we headed to the nearest bar. The chang was flowing and there was a band on so we stayed for a bit, drank chang and wine before heading off to a club. About 3 seconds after entering the club we realised we were not only the only white people in there but also the only women.. Who were wearing clothes anyway. Turns out this ‘club’ as they advertised it was actually a gentlemens club so after awkwardly watching about 30 women in their underwear ‘dancing’ - if you can call it that - and drinking our drinks as quick as possible we found the nearest exit.

Another crazy tuk tuk drive with 5 of us crammed into two seats and we finally found a proper strip and lots of bars with ferangs!! More white people for us to make friends with.. Ended up been the most random night but so much fun and we rolled in home at about 4am.

After waking up surprisingly without the changover we had all been expecting there was only one thing left to do… hit the shops!! First stop McDonalds where none of us could decide between nuggets or cheeseburgers so of course we had to get both.. Standard! Then lots of bargain shopping and I actually got a pair of shoes that fit me so I am quite looking forward to going to work in shoes that are not two sizes too small for once. Although still no luck finding a bra to fit.. Think that’s kinda gunna be impossible over here!!

At 3pm when we were all spent out we headed back to the bus station and got back on our bus to Mukdahan, now I am home sweet home and exhausted after a really good weekend.

I will definitely be going to Khon Kaen again.. If not just for the McDonalds

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