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Published: August 7th 2007
Excellent temple at Nong Khai
we are becoming accomplished temple critics....Entering into Thailand at Nong Khai we were greeted again by a Thai Immigration Officer who refused to say hello, goodbye or anything at all in fact. The next leg of our journey we travelled with an Aussie couple, Ben and Andrea which would take us overland through North Eastern Thailand stopping at Nong Khai, Khon Kaen and Khorat, then crossing the border into Cambodia at Poipet.
We spent one night in Nong Khai apparently the 8th most desirable place for retired people to live in the world to see how it had won this accolade. At first it was difficult to see what the attraction was, but slowly after walking around it's market, talking to it's very friendly residents and mingling with some of the Thai youths in a bar, we recognised how nice the place was. It was particularly interesting walking around the market and have locals try and feed us all types of food, some nice and some not so nice! One woman even had a herbal store selling liquid in a brown bottle called 'keep up sex', whatever that meant and she was keen to sell it to Ben! It was nice to see Seven-Elevens again,
modern technology being sold and ATM's after coming from Laos where cassette walkmans were still cutting edge technology!
The next day we got a bus to Udon Thani to catch a connecting bus to Khon Kaen. We literally had to catch the bus at Udon. This was because the guy who sold us the tickets told us the bus would arrive at 12 o'clock. What he failed to tell us was that the bus would actually arrive at 12:30 and we would have precisely 30 seconds to throw our luggage on board and find a seat while the bus was still moving. This proved to be a big problem as Donna went to the toilet at the exact time the bus drove through the bus station. Whilst Andrea ran to get Donna, Neil had to position himself in front of the moving bus so as to slow it down and Ben ensured our luggage went on board. This was no easy task and we were seconds away from our luggage and Ben reaching Khon Kaen and Andrea, Donna and Neil being left in Udon. You would think after all that effort the rest of the journey would be easy,
Keep up sex juice!
this was a sign at a market stall for Thai herbal viagra we think? but as a result of over-filling the bus and the playing of the customary Thai love song karaoke at full volume and the air con packing up, we arrived into Khon Kaen a little traumatised.
We had no map of Khon Kaen and therefore no clue as to where the bus had dropped us off (it may not have even been Khon Kaen at all!) or even where the hotels were located. Our language skills learnt in Chiang Mai had suddenly become very important. We soon realised that Khon Kaen is home to the friendliest Thais we had ever met. As an example, a very kind lady called Ally realised we had no idea where we were and kindly gave us a lift to our chosen hotel, saying she just wanted to help. It's the first time we have seen such a genuine 'jai dii' (good heart) in our 6 visits to Thailand that is supposed to be commonplace.
Walking past the hotel staff it was apparent that they were not accustomed to getting many Westerners staying. There was a flurry of activity and gossiping (you can tell when they are talking about you as they say farang
Ally jai dii
a great Khon Kaen lady who gave us a free lift... - Thai word for Westerner - a lot) and the staff stared open mouthed at us. This behaviour occurred all over Khon Kaen, visiting the market was a great experience as we felt like the focus of the town and were made to feel very welcome. The food vendors were excited that we were eating and enjoying their food. At night we again mingled with the locals first at a jazz bar where a solo guitarist was ordered by the manager (who was well on his way to polishing off a bottle of 100 Pipers whiskey with his mates) to play for us. The second bar we visited was a student bar with a very good live band playing. The local police also stopped by at this bar to do their usual shake down where they ask the management for money or they close the bar down. The waitress was very keen to let us (the only farangs they have probably ever had in the bar) know that everything was ok and the police had been successfully bribed. It had brought a bit of tension to the air as the police had arrived with a pick up truck full of
thugs looking like they would smash the place up.
We then got accosted by a local drunk who had had more than his fair share of Singha beer and offered for us to visit his family the next day and his wife would cook for us. We think if we had actually have turned up at his house the next day his wife wouldn't have been too pleased! We were then surprised to see that his sober friend drove off on a motorbike, seemingly leaving drunk guy stranded. Not to worry though, drunk guy had his own motorbike and after 3 failed attempts managed to weave down the road with his headlight flicking on and off!
Back in the hotel we had a midnight feast, which may not have been such a great idea. When checking out the next day we all got into the lift with backpacks on (the lift, which according to the sign could hold 9 people or 600kg), and when Donna, who was the last person to enter the lift, stepped inside, there was an almighty siren noise and the lift flashed the word OVERWEIGHT!!! We are sure that the siren noise sounded like
Neil at Nong Khai market
great people, great food, great time! 'FAAAAT'. We quickly jumped out of the lift to the giggles of the housekeeping staff. We opted to use the stairs instead, we know we are bigger than Asians and had scoffed our faces full of iced gems and chocolate wafer sticks the night before but that lift must have been faulty!
We opted for a VIP air con bus for the next leg to Khorat because Neil had a bad case of the squits the night before (yes, a kilo of iced gems CAN do that to your belly!). This time the VIP ticket also got us a dubbed version of Blade Trinity - bad enough in English! - and a surly bus steward who handed out food and drink to us. The same bus steward 10 minutes later, pinched Andrea's sleeping blanket, laid down next to us and proceeded to scoff 7 (yes 7!) cartons of rice and chicken as well as the cake and oranges that went with them!
In Khorat we got ourselves 2 rooms at a hotel that seemed to double as a drive-thru short time hotel. The idea being that when a Thai couple want to hook up and get intimate, they
jump into their car, drive into the ground floor of the hotel and discreetly exit into a room fully equipped with mirrors, blue movies and other such aides. Stepping into the lift at this hotel we were a little dubious and rightly so. When Ben was the final person to step in the lift an almighty 'FAAAAT' siren sounded and OVERWEIGHT flashed once again! At this point we really began to examine whether we had put on weight and looked at ways which we could maybe cut back on fatty foods. In reality it is probably a Thai joke to make us farangs feel like the big beasts they think we are!
We found Khorat to be nice but not as friendly and vibrant as Khon Kaen. There was a good night market but we struggled to find a bar to drink in and the people seemed to look at us with a hostility reminiscent of the people from Krung Theep (Bangkokians). So the next morning we did a 5 hour air con bus journey to Aranya Prathet where we would cross to Poipet in Cambodia.
Considering we only spent 4 days in Isaan we had so many
great experiences and finally met some real Thais who had not been jaded by tourism
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mataho
nom
Khon Kaen is a very nice place!
Yes, Khon Kaen is a very nice place! I spent a week there back in January and thought the same. Nice blog...like your writing!