Khon Kaen Break

Posted by Stuart at 12:05 PM on March 05, 2003

Khon 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.

Bai Nong Khai

Posted by Stuart at 09:12 AM on March 06, 2003

The "Khon Kaen Break" has continued. Yesterday I toured the university campus, visted the city museum, and walked around town. Around sunset I had a nice lesurely stroll around the huge lake in the middle of town called Bung Kaen Nakhon. Thousands of Khon Kaen'ers were enjoying the evening as well: jogging, playing soccer and sapak trakaw, doing aerobics, eating dinner, etc. It reminded me of the scene at the Hua Mak sports complex in Bangkok.

Today I get on a bus for the northernmost part of Isaan: Nong Khai -- a province separated from Laos by the Mekong River. In a few minutes I will be at the bus station to say bai nong khai ("I go to Nong Khai!")