I used to live here, and I still like to go back and visit. It’s an interesting place because it’s a fairly large, undeniably bustling, somewhat chaotic city (probably one of Thailand’s four or five largest, although accurate statistics are hard to come by, with no discernible urban planning process at work), that has plenty of creature comforts but virtually no tourists. To be fair, Khon Kaen isn’t exactly a tourist attraction, so it makes sense. I think of it as a little like the Montgomery, Alabama of Thailand—a pretty big city in the middle of a largely poor and rural area. But you can easily pass whole days there without seeing another foreigner, which can be refreshing.

Learn Thai, or tutor in English, at the University or one of a number of private schools. Visit Khaen Nakhon Lake early in the morning for some tai chi. Watch cars come to a halt on Th. Klang Muang (a main shopping thoroughfare) in the evening when the national anthem plays out of loudspeakers—one of the few Thai urban centers where not only pedestrians, but also auto traffic pauses for a moment.

Check out the Silk Festival in November, when a huge stage is set up on the grounds around the provincial hall, and half the population comes out to picnic, drink, enjoy molam concerts, and buy beautiful local silk.

Check out Funan, on Th. Srichan, for some songs for life and Thai hospitality.

Get your international junkfood fix at the Fairy Plaza mall, or eat ant eggs and fermented fish at the Lao restaurant immediately behind it.

Khon Kaen is also a nice full-service base of operations for short trips to the silkweaving villages and historical sites in surrounding provinces—you can get to Phimai or Phanomrung in Khorat or Buriram, for example, and back in a day if you rent a car. I also recommend hiring someone to drive it for you, as Thai highways are not for the inexperienced.