A Trip To Khon Kaen

Left Sydney on late Monday night after discovering that the plane was delayed for about 3 hours. Arrived in Bangkok airport around 6:30 am. Nut’s brother was supposed to pick us up, she was hopeful but I knew better. We called him as soon as we arrived to find that he was in bed and was surprised by our expectations.

He made his way to the airport about 2 hours later, after another dozen phone calls or so we found him (and wife) in the departure lounge………eating (he is Thai).

We finally left the airport and made it to his apartment (after another food stop) with 3 suitcases. The idea was to leave 2 of the suitcases there so we could travel lighter in Thailand.

As soon as we arrived, food was placed on the floor to be consumed. I went for a walk.

Our flight to Khon Kaen was a little later, so we rested for a couple of hours. Just before we left for the airport more food was consumed.

We all left together, Nut and I headed to the airport for a flight to Khon Kaen (Nut’s home town) and her brother and his wife headed to the bus terminal heading for Khon Kaen.
We got on the plane without any hassles.

Khon Kaen is 6 hours drive away from Bangkok in the North East direction. The people are known as Isaan people, slightly different from “100% Thai” as you may hear some people say. They have slightly different language and culture.

This website has more information about Khon Kaen.

Had to wake the pregnant lady to serve us at the Avis car rental counter at the airport to pickup our Honda Civic 1.3.

After picking our rental car we drove to the hotel. This is not the hotel we normally stay in. We thought we’d try a different one this time, this is only a 4.5 star rated vs. 5 star for the other and of course it’s cheaper. Checked into a huge luxurious room on the 17th floor.

There are only two high buildings in the whole city, this hotel and the other hotel. From our corner room we could see 50% of the town. The room cost a whopping 1000 baht (35 AUD) per night because it’s the high season.

After refreshing and resting for a short time we were ready to pick up Nut’s brother (and wife) and sister (and husband) from the bus stop arriving about the same time from different destinations. I was a little concern about having six in our small car. I needn’t be concerned because I found out that there was another adult we had to pick up and also two small kids. We were all happily wrapped around each other with me driving, heading for Nut’s village which was about 45 mins away.

Seeing all her children arriving in one car brought joy to Nut’s mother and other locals. She hadn’t seen them for 12 months. Nut had organized getting together and of course paid their travel costs….300 baht – about 10 AUD for an air conditioned bus. Later we found out that her brother exchanged his tickets for non-air conditioned bus which saved him 100 baht – 3 dollars…..enough for him to eat 5 times.

There were many festivities in the village but all centered around eating.

By this time I was severely limping from a foot pain that started in Sydney, it was swollen. I could not put shoes or sandals on. By the evening I was almost disabled. This meant that we had to cancel our entertainment plans and got Nut’s brother to drive us back into town with 7 in the car – 5 in the back (less two kids). It also meant that we had to get a hotel room for the other 5. They dropped me off at our hotel and Nut went with them to book a hotel. They were lucky enough to find a hotel with a very big room to accommodate 5 adults for 400 baht (about 12 dollars). Found out the next day that our friends fell in love with the hotel and all the luxury amenities it offered …like hot water and free shampoo.

I spent the night in agony even after maxing out on pain killers. The next morning our friends picked us up and drove us straight to the hospital. I was impressed with the service I received there. I had a personal attended who wheeled me anywhere I had to go within the hospital and also filled in any necessary forms etc, and of course used my credit card appropriately.

They took some x-rays. It was a relief to find out that there were no fractures (what’s the severe pain then?). The doctor gave me 4 sets of medicine and put my foot in a temporary plaster. That seemed to do some magic because later that night the pain almost subsided.

It meant however we had to cancel our trip to Laos that day which was only 70 Kms away. Instead we drove about an hour in to the wilderness somewhere in the jungle and all of a sudden a river appeared in front of us. Along the river they had huts made out of bamboo in the river. When we sat on the uncomfortable (for me) floor we were actually in the water, so it was preferable not to drop anything on the floor because the gaps between bamboo sticks were bigger than the gaps between elephants tusks (thai phrase…had to be there)….and no one was going to fetch your glasses if you happen to be careless enough to let it slip from your head or pockets. This place happens to be a ‘restaurant’ in the jungle, why else would Thai people come here.

The food was good though, typical “Thai” food that you would be unaccustomed to. They ordered the food not spicy….just for me..…after a few mouthfuls my lips and tongue were burning from “not spicy” food, I couldn’t taste anything else.

I enjoyed that unique experience. Thailand has a lot to discover….not just the western propaganda you hear about it being a sleaze here. For your information the restaurant cost about 600 baht (20 dollars) for 10 people.

The evening was spent in town (Khon Kaen) and of course it started with eating. This time we went to a more ‘modern’ restaurant, again outdoors, built in water, but this time we sat on chairs and there was a table for the food. We invited Nut’s mother and stepfather but as expected 12 people showed up (they couldn’t fit anymore in the back of the pickup truck). “We” dined and wined…..very nice restaurant….all outdoors….cost about 1200 baht for the whole lot.

This time of the year is quite nice in Thailand, its winter, the temperatures vary between 20 and 25 so it’s quite comfortable to sit outdoors and surprisingly there are a very few bugs or mosquitoes around.

Later we (the “younger” crowd) went to a nightclub…..very interesting…Thai style…..always the same. No dance floor, there are small round tables very close to each other, with stools around them. Everyone dances around their own tables. The tables are always full of drinks, they either drink beer by the bottle or buy whiskey by the bottle and share it amongst themselves….you always see a bucket of ice and water on the table which they use to mix their drinks. When I ask for a bourbon and coke in a glass, I get the deer in the headlight look.

There is a stage, a band and about 6 singers who take turn…usually 3 girls and 3 guys singing and dancing, some sing in Thai and some sing in English….with perfect American accent. I was shocked to find out later when one of the girls joined our “VIP” table (I was the only foreigner in the crowded night club) that she could not speak any English beyond hello, thank you. I should not be surprised though because Nut’s sister who can’t speak any English at all was miming to every word of every song sang in English.

The next day was another interesting day, I had the plaster off. We went to Nut’s village and to her mother’s rice farm. It’s the farming season now. The farm was in a remote area, inaccessible by car…..had to walk the last 500 metres. They had a hut there that they use to take a nap and rest. It’s open but has a roof….kind of…..made out of shrub but enough to keep sun and rain away. Her mother stopped farming when she saw us come and we had a feast again. We had brought all the food with us. After the fiesta, came ciesta for about an hour.

The farming started again, I gave it a shot but was nervous because they said they see snakes quite often, usually running away from people. It was fun farming but I only lasted 20 mins. I admire these people, I am glad I have a sedentary job.

We then went to the other side of the town to visit Nut’s grandmother (father’s mother). Poor old lady, about 80, lives in a shack with chickens. She is disabled and can barely move and almost blind.

Extremely primitive life which was somewhat disturbing for me. Seeing the joy in her face when she saw Nut was worth the trip. She clinched onto Nut like she was clinching to her life. People in the western world speak of being poor, sometimes makes me laugh. There is a very poor but younger Good Samaritan who lived in the same abandoned area. We thanked him for taking care of her and gave him about 1000 baht (30 dollars) to keep taking care of her…..he couldn’t thank us enough.

Next thing on the agenda was to find Nut’s father who is bit of a phantom man. We did track him down; he was working for a car dealer doing odd jobs in return for shelter and food. He can no longer do his normal job of truck driving because he now has bad eye sight and badly limps due to recent accident. Again he was very happy to see Nut. After spending a bit a time with him we went back to town and the hotel.

One other interesting thing we did was to visit Nut’s cousin in the factory she works. There are plentiful around here, Taiwanese owners using Thai labour on the cheap. Thai workers are the lucky ones; the Burmese were working under very poor conditions. It was a factory that makes fishing nets and beach umbrellas…a huge place with 10,000 employees.

We arrived there at lunch time and immediately became the center of attention from management and employees alike. Some of the Burmese there who live on the premises see very few ‘farangs’ (western foreigner). Some people were practicing their English with us….with words like…’hello mister’….’thank you, bye bye’, one person keep saying lo-ling (monkey) and touching the hair on my forearm.

1. One Night In Bangkok
2. Kushikatsu
3. Postcard from Thailand
4. Tōkyō Disney Resort
5. Umeda Sky Building