Khon Kaen Break
Posted by Stuart at 12:05 PM on March 05, 2003Khon Kaen has been a nice break on this trip of Isaan, mostly because I have been visiting with a friend I met through the guy who helped me get a job at the University. He lives on the campus of Khon Kaen University where he is a professor. I wish my University had housing for its teachers! In any case, we had a very nice time eating Isaan food at a outdoor lakeside restaurant last night.
I spent most of this morning trying to find the Khon Kaen Museum. I must say that my Lonely Planet Thailand book has done me very well through Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and the beaches. But the section on Isaan has so far been miserable. The maps and descriptions (when there is one) are annoyingly inaccurate. I spent a good part of yesterday afternoon looking for the Lao Consulate because the address and map in the Lonley Planet was incorrect.
In any case, the Khon Kaen museum was nice. Not as good as the one in Phi Mai, however. I really liked that one. On a personal note, I finally found out what a "lingua" is. In Cambodia Mark and I visted the "River of One Thousand Linguas" and at the time, I thought that a lingua was just a stone carving. But linguas are actually a cylindrical carved stone that represents the Hindu diety Shiva.
I will stay in Khon Kaen one more night, then continue north toward Laos.
Derrick: That's a great idea that I have been considering. I want to at least send them some ideas for improvements. On a related note, I think being a travel writer would be a cool job. I don't think I would become rich from it, but it would be fun to travel around (I'm doing that part already :)
better late than never:
a lingam is a representation of the fallus, it is omnipresent in hindu culture
its female counterpart is the yoni
whenever you meet one of those, it might be polite to pour some water or milk on it, better ask first
Stuart, Glad you're having a good time in the boonies. You say that LP is a bit light on re Isaan. Why not write up a short report on what you've seen,done, etc and send it to them when you get back to Bangkok.