Khon Kaen

I spent about two months here one summer during college. I am from a small town in Georgia (in the US) and it was my first time out of the south or on a plane. Being in Khon Kaen and halfway accross the world from home made me want to see the world.

Its been about 3 years since I spent that summer there, but still almost every day I rememind myself “mai ben rai.”

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.

Entire story, with photos:

http://thenhbushman.blogspot.com/2006/11/sabua-resort-phon-thailand.html

Hui-Chen and I have done so much in the last few days that its hard for us to blog on all of it at once. Just to upload the necessary photography to flickr takes hours. Feel free to browse our photos on flickr and we’ll get to blogging on them as quickly as we can.

Our friends own a resort in a small village, and we like to stay there when we visit Thailand. The villagers are very nice and we can relax by a fire and enjoy life as one only can in Thailand.

One of the things that I like best about Sabua is the open kitchen. I usually get up in the morning and cook my own breakfast. You can pretty much do whatever you want at this resort.

Here I am cutting some Isan sausage that we purchased from a local roadside vendor. If you’ve never tried it before, you really should! I like to cut them into small pieces and wok fry them. I have also been known to make a German style potato salad using these sausages instead of bacon. They have a wonderful flavor that just can’t be found anywhere else.

This is the gas fired burner that we use in the outdoor kitchen for wok cooking.

Here, I am attempting to cook 2 eggs “sunny.” The bottoms of the eggs were a bit well done, but the tops were sunny.

The resort has a new building that Hui-Chen hasn’t seen before.

This is the front porch of the new building. Notice the unusual table made from an old wagon wheel.

This is the inside, which currently is configured as a dining area. You can have the staff remove the table and chairs if you want to do something different in this room. The building is divided into 2 sections (with no pass-through door) and the other section is a bedroom.

View of the front of the new building.

This wild fruit grows naturally on the resort. It tastes bitter, but surprisingly, you want to keep eating them once you taste the first one.

On his last visit, Saumen suggested that they get a swing for the resort. The owners had this swing built of an old oxcart, and the design is ingenious.

Taken in the early morning light, this shows how peaceful the resort is.

This is shot of the swing and the covered table where you can sit and watch the fish in the pond.

A spiderweb, its presence revealed by the morning dew.

Apparently the links to the photos do not display. The entire article including the photos (worth seeing) are here:

http://thenhbushman.blogspot.com/2006/11/1-bar-in-khonkaen-thailand_01.html

Hui-Chen and I are in KhonKaen again, and our favorite hangout is the famous #1 Bar. We would like to share some shots of the #1 Bar and invite you to join us on your next visit to northeastern Thailand!

Saumen, this shot is for you man. The girls have all been asking about you!

Noi (the boss lady, L) and Tew, pose for a quick shot.

Some of the regulars inside, shown in this shot taken from the outdoor portion of the bar.

Our friend Ning® enjoying some lively conversation (and lots of whisky I might add), at the #1 Bar.

Hui-Chen (far in the background) and Bushman, with Peter and his friend in the foreground.

Bushman enjoying Suntory Red, with coke. Life is good in KhonKaen!

The staff is funny and they don’t take themselves too seriously. Always great for a laugh!

Of course, Hui-Chen is always the loveliest woman anywhere we go! She’s enjoying the Suntory Red too.

Oh yeah, Saumen, this photo is for you too. They are waiting for you to come back to them!