Billed as Thailand’s Grand Canyon by those honest people at the Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT), if you go with this in mind you most likely will be disappointed, however you just want to go to a dried river bed to visit an unusual rock set in some spectacular scenery this could be a...
Read more
In remote Ubon, Thailand’s eastern most province, tourists are usually rarer than a vote for the Democrat Party and the laid back locals seems to like it this way. The wilderness province even boasts Thailand’s most spectacular natural site yet is happy not to tell anyone about it. However once a year this changes...
Read more
When I set out to explore Isan I looked for a guide book, but found none. The few mainstream ones had a remarkably short section on the place, missing out half the provinces and barely covering the others. It was as if they were acknowledging that it wasn’t a place for tourists. After a...
Read more
A main road, taken this year, not 15 years ago, honest! Darkest Isan (where decent thais fear to tread), Part Twelve I’ve been in Isan a month now and sadly it’s time to leave. My trip had taken a definite downturn, the last three places I visited didn’t over impress me, Nong Khai, Udon...
Read more
Darkest Isan (where decent thais fear to tread), Part Eleven For some people a holiday means laying on white sand beaches, sipping umbrellared cocktails and ogling bronze flesh. For others it means being bounced to death in a suspension-less bus/sauna breathing three completely new varieties of pollution and sitting with your knees tucked under...
Read more
Darkest Isan (where decent thais fear to tread), Part Ten. The only backpacker town in the whole of Isan, Nong Khai is ideal for those who want to getaway from Thailand a bit and experience guest house life, tuk tuks on hand to ferry you to sightseeing locations, rows of hamburger and pizza shops, internet...
Read more
Darkest Isan (where decent thais fear to tread), Part Nine For the Americans reading is this blog, Ho Chi Minh is that damn pinko “grrr!” who as TV and Hollywood have proven on celluloid really didn’t kick the arse of the US army after all. For people in the rest of the world he...
Read more
Darkest Isan (where decent thais fear to tread), Part Eight This sleepy little provincial town was once part of the Lan Xang Kingdom of Lao and later a picturesque retreat for French colonists. A mix of the old and new, or perhaps I should say old and new money as the affluent architecture of...
Read more
Darkest Isan (where decent thais fear to tread), Part Seven If I had a baht for every time, back home and in the far east, I’ve been told or read how Buddhism is different, it’s a religion of tolerance and enlightenment, I’d almost have the daily wage of a red shirt by now. The...
Read more
Darkest Isan (where decent thais fear to tread), Part Six I first hit Mukdahan 12 years ago, arrived at the bus station, took a tuk tuk through the town along Mekong road past the Indo-Chinese market, thought this looks interesting I must really visit this place someday, arrived at the ferry port and got...
Read more
The highlight on any visit to Myanmar will most likely be Shwedagon Paya. Billed as just a stupa, but with the maze of surrounding structures it more resembles a miniature city or a Buddhist Disneyland. Shwedagon is the most sacred site in Myanmar and the most overblown Buddhist complex on earth. The 100 metre...
Read more
With daily return flights starting at just £48 (2400 baht, low season, booked well in advance) from Air Asia, Yangon now counts as a viable excursion/visa run from Bangkok. This fact hasn’t gone unnoticed by locals either; I met dozens of Thais, Malays and Chinese taking a long weekend in the city. Arriving in...
Read more
Darkest Isan (where decent thais fear to tread), Part Five Leaving Buriram and southern Isan it was time to head north towards the centre of the region and Dinosaur country. Kalasin is famous for having not only the most Dinosaurs in Thailand after the Bangkok British Club but the world’s smallest dinosaur, Siamosaurus. Siamosaurus...
Read more
It’s a Nun’s Life. Thailand and Myanmar, a comparison “Buddhism’s not really for Women…………. they can’t make merit.” As Lo Win my Burmese Buddhism sceptical motorcycle taxi driver I hired for the day in Mandalay put it, while I snapped the passing nuns. In South East Asia’s most Buddhist country where they practice the...
Read more
Darkest Isan (where decent thais fear to tread), Part Four. Once upon a time people came to Thailand because it was off the beaten track, later people came because it was on the beaten track, nowadays it’s so easy to travel Thailand makes the beaten track look in dire need of remodernisation just to...
Read more
Bombay recently changed its name to Mumbai, so did Bangalore to Bengaluru, and cricket commentators fell over themselves to use the new names as quickly as possible. On the news these days they say Beijing not Peking, Canton is vanishing as a name for Guangzhou though admittedly drunken Dutch still call New York ‘New...
Read more
Darkest Isan (where decent thais fear to tread), Part Three Thailand’s greatest ancient monument, the 900 year old Khmer temple complex sitting on top of a volcano with a panoramic view stretching to Cambodia’s plains and mountains. After Buriram where watching paint dry is better than the town’s day life (don’t mention nightlife) tiny...
Read more
Darkest Isan (where decent thais fear to tread), Part Two An 800 year old Khmer ruin, the most ferocious mosquitoes in Thailand, the friendliest of provincial towns, crazy coffee and drinking Lao Khao with Rickshaw Drivers till way past 10 o’clock bedtime. If this has you wetting your pants, Phimai is the place for...
Read more
Darkest Isan (where decent thais fear to tread), Part One Wat Prayup The gateway to Isan, already I’m scared to enter. This urban malaise of noise, sweat and dirt seems to be trying its hardest to impersonate Bangkok, three colours of pollution on every street corner. Fortunately someone told me the rest of Isan...
Read more
A 60% Gold Sukhotai style Buddha, a 200 year old Chinese/Thai temple, the first school ever built in Thailand and all just five minutes walk from the Khao San Road. One wonders how this missed all the tour books. Wat Mahannaparam Worawihan lies on Tanao road which runs between China Town and Ratchadamnoen Road,...
Read more
