Thailand Northeastern Thailand (Chapter) Edition 14th Edition, February 2012 Pages 97 PDF Page Range 406-502 Coverage includes: Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat), Around Nakhon Ratchasima, Phimai, Khao Yai National Park, Buriram Province, Nang Rong, Phanom Rung Historical Park, Around Phanom Rung, Surin & Si Saket Provinces, Surin, Around Surin, Si Saket, Around Si Saket, Ubon Ratchathani Province, Ubon Ratchathani, Around Ubon Ratchathani Province, Chaiyaphum Province, Chaiyaphum, Around Chaiyaphum, Khon Kaen Province, Khon Kaen, Around Khon Kaen, Udon Thani Province, Udon Thani, Around Udon Thani, Nong Khai Province, Nong Khai, West Of Nong Khai, Loei Province, Loei, Chiang Khan, Phu Reua National Park, Dan Sai, Sirindhorn Art Centre, Tham Erawan, Phu Kradueng National Park, Bueng Kan Province, Bueng Kan, Ban Ahong, Wat Phu Tok, Ban Kham Pia, Nakhon Phanom Province, Nakhon Phanom, Renu Nakhon, That Phanom, Sakon Nakhon Province, Sakon Nakhon, Phu Phan Mountains, Mukdahan Province, Mukdahan, Around Mukdahan, Yasothon & Roi Et Provinces, Yasothon, Around Yasothon, Roi Et, Around Roi Et, Sa Kaew Province and Aranya Prathet. Useful Links: Having trouble viewing your file? Head to Lonely Planet Troubleshooting. Need more assistance? Head to the Help and Support page. Want to find more chapters? Head back to the Lonely Planet Shop. Want to hear fellow travellers’ tips and experiences? Lonely Planet’s Thorntree Community is waiting for you! © Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd. To make it easier for you to use, access to this chapter is not digitally restricted. In return, we think it’s fair to ask you to use it for personal, non-commercial purposes only. In other words, please don’t upload this chapter to a peer-to-peer site, mass email it to everyone you know, or resell it. See the terms and conditions on our site for a longer way of saying the above - ‘Do the right thing with our content. ©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd Northeastern Thailand Why Go? Nakhon Ratchasima For travellers and Thais alike, the northeast is Thailand’s (Khorat) ........................ 410 forgotten backyard. Isan (ee·săhn), as it’s called, off ers a Phimai ...........................417 glimpse of the Thailand of old: rice fi elds run to the hori- Khao Yai National zon, water buff alo wade in muddy ponds, silk weavers work Park .............................. 419 looms under their homes, and pedal-rickshaw drivers pull Phanom Rung passengers down city streets. If you have a penchant for au- Historical Park ..............424 thentic experiences, it will surely be satisfi ed here. Surin ............................. 427 Spend even just a little time in this colossal corner of the Ubon Ratchathani ........433 country and you’ll discover as many diff erences as similari- Khon Kaen ....................446 ties to the rest of Thailand. The language, food and culture are more Lao than Thai, with hearty helpings of Khmer and Udon Thani ...................454 Vietnamese thrown into the mix. Nong Khai .....................462 And spend time here you should because it’s home to Chiang Khan .................473 some of Thailand’s best historic sites, national parks and Phu Kradueng festivals. Thailand’s tourist trail is at its bumpiest here (Eng- National Park ...............479 lish is rarely spoken), but the fantastic attractions and daily Wat Phu Tok ..................480 interactions could end up being highlights of your trip. Nakhon Phanom .......... 481 Sakon Nakhon ..............487 When to Go Roi Et ............................498 Only 1% of foreign travellers who come to Thailand visit Isan, so you don’t need to worry about high and low sea- Best Places to Eat sons. The relatively cool dry season from November through February is the most comfortable time to visit, and the Surin » Bao Phradit (p 494 ) Elephant Round-up in November is one festival worth plan- » Turm-Rom (p 448 ) ning your travels around. As the March-to-May hot season » Nagarina (p 466 ) (when temperatures can climb over 40°C) comes to a close, towns and villages across the region, most famously Yaso- thon, launch giant homemade rockets into the sky to call Best Places to for rain. Stay Isan is at its most beautiful during the June-to-October » Ban Kham Pia homestay rainy season because the forests and rice paddies turn green (p 481 ) and the waterfalls run wild. Dan Sai’s Phi Ta Khon Festival (June) and Ubon Ratchathani’s Candle Parade (July) attract » Mut Mee Garden Guest- hordes of Thai tourists. house (p 465 ) » Poonsawasdi Hotel (p 474 ) » Kirimaya (p 421 ) 407 History But as the French staked out the borders of The social history of this enigmatic region colonial Laos, Thailand was forced to defi ne stretches back some 5600 years, to the hazy its own northeastern boundaries. Slowly days of the Ban Chiang culture, which, by at but surely, for better and worse, Isan fell un- least 2100 BC, had developed bronze tools der the mantle of broader Thailand. to till fi elds. Though Ban Chiang was a very Long Thailand’s poorest area, the north- NORTHEASTERN THAILAND NORTHEASTERN THAILAND advanced society, the Khorat Plateau, over east became a hotbed of communist activity. NORTHEASTERN THAILAND which Isan spreads, was a sparsely popu- Ho Chi Minh spent some years proselytising lated region for most of its history due to in the area, and in the 1940s a number of poor soils and frequent droughts, and no Indochinese Communist Party leaders fl ed major powers were ever based here – it was here from Laos and helped bolster Thai- usually under the control of empires based land’s communists. From the 1960s until an around it. amnesty in 1982, guerrilla activity was rife The name Isan comes from Isanapura across Isan. But the various insurgencies (now known as Sambor Prei Kuk), the 7th- evaporated as the Thai government, with century capital of the Chenla kingdom, considerable help (and most of the money) which at the time included what is now from the US, began to take an interest in northeast Thailand and is now the gen- developing the region, resulting in an im- eral term used to classify the region (pâhk proved economy and increased opportunity. ee·săhn), people (kon ee·săhn) and food Despite rapid improvement since then, the (ah·hăhn ee·săhn) of the northeast. per capita income here remains only one- Evidence shows that the Dvaravati held third the national average. sway here and then the Khmers came in the 9th century and occupied it for some 500 Language & Culture years. After the Khmer empire waned, Isan Isan is a melting pot of Thai, Lao and Khmer was under the thumb of Lan Xang and Siam infl uences. The Isan language, still a more kings, but remained largely autonomous. common fi rst language than Thai, is very similar to Lao. In fact, there are probably EATING ISAN Isan’s culinary creations are a blend of Lao and Thai cooking styles that make use of local ingredients. The holy trinity of northeastern cuisine, gài yâhng (grilled chicken), sôm·đam (spicy papaya salad) and kôw nĕe·o (sticky rice), is integral to the culture. Also essential are chillies, and a fi stful of potent peppers fi nd their way into most dishes, espe- cially lâhp (spicy meat salad). Outsiders, including most other Thais, are not fans of Ъlah ráh, a fermented fi sh sauce (that looks like rotten mud), but Isan people (kon ee·săhn) consider it almost essential to good cooking. Fish dominates Isan menus, with Ъlah dùk (catfi sh), Ъlah chôrn (striped snake-head) and Ъlah boo (sand goby) among the most popular. These are mostly caught in the Me- kong and other large rivers. Fish that families catch themselves are usually small (some- times so tiny they’re eaten bones and all) because they come from streams and rice paddies, as do crabs, frogs and eels. The most famous fi sh associated with the northeast is Ъlah bèuk (giant Mekong catfi sh), but it’s seldom eaten here because it’s expensive. Fish farming, however, is slowly bringing it back to menus. To both Westerners and other Thais, nothing stands out in Isan cuisine as much as insects. Even as recently as the 1970s insects composed a large part of the typical fam- ily’s diet, though it became a fading tradition when the government promoted chicken and pig farming, thus lowering the prices of these now popular meats. Insects are still very common as snacks and chilli-sauce ingredients. Purple lights shining out in the countryside are for catching giant water bugs, which, along with crickets, grasshoppers, cicadas, nŏrn mái pài (bamboo worms) and more, are sold in most night markets. In fact, there’s still enough of a demand that imports come from Cambodia. Thailand has no shortage of silkworm larvae, which, after they’re dropped into boiling water to remove the silk threads from the cocoon, are popped into the mouth. If they stay in the water long enough to get crispy on the outside, you’re in for a literal taste explosion: try one when you visit a weaving village and you’ll see what we mean. Northeastern Ban Ahong Thailand L A O S Pak Khat BUENG Highlights KHAN 1 Getting NONG awestruck by the Sangkhom VIENTIANE KHAI Pak Chom 212 Phon NORTHEASTERN THAILAND NORTHEASTERN THAILAND Xanakham scenery in Pha Taem Phisai Nam National Park (p 441 ) Kaen Chiang Tha Nong Khan Som Bo Khai Sang 2 Having a blast Thao Ban Pak Huay Khom at a Rocket Festival 2 Tha Li LOEI Ban (p 464 ) Phu Reua Pheu Sawan National Park Loei Ban Dan Din 3 Looking for Na Duang Udon Chiang Phu Reua Tham Erawan Thani elephants, tigers, 201 22 210 Na Klang pythons, monkeys Wang Saphung UDON Chaiwan