Just
through her eyes you can see the cow herder laughing as she avoids the sun
with hat and pakama.
Having rather overdone things recently, I was told by
my doctor (yes, even doctors have doctors) to take a holiday. Now, from
the outset it should be noted that I have no hidden masochistic streaks. I
have always said that for me, a “roughing it” holiday was a camp
stretcher in the foyer of a 5 star hotel. So when I said I would like to
go and see a little of the Esarn region of Thailand for this enforced
vacation, I had no thoughts of backpacking or sleeping in rough huts on a
dusty terrain. I leave doing things the “difficult way” to those who
carry Lonely Planet guides as their personal bibles. I am more likely to
be carrying Ranjith Chandrasiri’s wine column guide to selecting fine
wines!
Sofitel
Khon Kaen.
What had prompted me to think about experiencing Esarn
was a book recommended to me by Lang Reid, the Pattaya Mail’s
literary critic, called The Force of Karma and written by Pira Sudham, a
well known proponent of the poor people of the country’s North Eastern
region - Esarn.
Khon Kaen is billed as the “capital” of the Esarn
region, so I decided to go there. There was no planning. It was real
‘spur of the moment’ stuff. Come with me now and experience a
different and delightful area of the Kingdom.
Khon Kaen is 450 kilometres from Bangkok, so that is
around 600 kays from Pattaya and you can fly there from Utapao via Sky
Eyes Air, or fly from Bangkok via Thai International, which has four daily
flights there (and return), or travel by road. I chose the road mode,
where you can have the choice of the “scenic” and shorter route (but
longer travelling time) via single carriageway roads like highway 331 at
the Eastern Seaboard, through to 304 to Korat (Nakhon Ratchasima) and then
up to Khon Kaen, or the easier divided road motorways via number 7, to 9
to 1 to 2 and straight into Khon Kaen. See my opening remarks - I took the
hassle-free motorway and made Khon Kaen in five and a half hours on the
road travelling time.
Niels-Arne
Kuenzler standing to attention in the Sofitel microbrewery.
The next part of my exploration trip was probably one
of the most amazing aspects of Esarn, long acknowledged as the poorest
part of Thailand. There in Khon Kaen is one of the flashest, ritziest,
glitziest 5 star hotels in the Kingdom - the Sofitel Raja Orchid Khon Kaen,
to give it its full title. Run by Danish GM Ole Nielsen (see Successfully
Yours this edition), this is an almost 300 room hotel boasting 32
executive suites and even what is described as a 5 bedroom bi-level
penthouse. Not being ‘bi’ I passed that one over. There are ten
restaurants plus a disco, a sophisticated cocktail lounge, a karaoke
studio and an underground bar with micro-brewery run by Niels-Arne
Kuenzler, their German brewmaster. Of course it also has huge conference
and banquet areas, and a business centre - I didn’t use it either - this
was my holiday. I parked my backpack in one of the executive suites, room
802, and I can recommend it!
Khon
Kaen’s famous dinosaurs at play.
Having arrived at 6 p.m., after a shower and freshen up
I had some snacks in the “Underground” washed down with a couple of
Niels-Arne’s beers. There’s a light lager style, a dark beer and a
wheat beer. The dark was a nice drop, and at 4.5% alcohol you can even
have a couple of steins. Then I had a look at the entertainment facilities
- all certainly top class, but being in Khon Kaen for the first time I
thought I should have a look at what was outside the hotel. Tip number 1 -
at night don’t bother. Apart from the Charoen Hotel’s cocktail lounge
stocked with singers in skimpy costumes, the best of everything
nightlifewise is in the Sofitel. Believe me.
An
“e-taen” going doonk-doonk along the highway.
The next morning it was a trip to the Tourism Authority
of Thailand, Northeastern office where a very helpful young lady told me
all about the tourist attractions in the Khon Kaen area and gave me enough
brochures (in English) to write several articles if I so wished. I
didn’t, but I can tell you where to find the famous dinosaur
Siamotyrannus Isanensis (he’s big), the Phra That Kham Kaen 19 metre
high chedi at Wat Jediyaphum, the Ubolrat Dam or the Koo Puai Noi Khmer
complex. If you are into these, the TAT will point you in the right
direction and give you a push!
However, what I did need to do was to get some nick-nacks
- the usual “touristy” things you give to people from overseas at Xmas
time. This item is never high on my priority list, so I can really
recommend the Pra Thamakant shop. A veritable treasure chest of all Esarn
artefacts, silk materials, including the famous mat mii - a local style of
tied and dyed silk, production of which has been promoted as one of Her
Majesty the Queen’s projects, and all sorts of wonderful stuff. A bunch
of the triangular “axe” cushions, some key rings, a small one of the
reed pipes and other inconsequential nonsense later and I even got 10%
discount for some reason I never asked about. Relatives’ and friends’
Xmas gifts were taken care of in under 30 minutes, which is how to do Xmas
shopping, in my opinion.
Noodle
delivery service in the village.
Now it was time to discover the ‘real’ Khon Kaen,
and what a wonderful eye-opener that turned out to be. In the mornings
there is a local market area running between the Namuang and Klanguang
roads. Do go! It is worth the heat just to receive the incredibly friendly
welcome of the people there. There was not one footpath trader who did not
want his or her photograph taken - and all with huge smiles. It made no
difference that I did not want to buy any of their ‘stuffed on the
spot’ sausages, or ‘killed as you watch’ fish. They were just
delighted that I was there, interacting with them and appreciating them
for what they are - incredibly friendly people. If you think you get a
good welcome in Pattaya, try Esarn. There is nothing like it. Even
toothless old crones would want to pose, giving me great gaping grins -
truly amazing, and yet I felt honoured to be amongst them.
In the afternoon, after a lunch and a lie down (I was
supposed to be on holidays, remember) I decided to venture further afield
and visited the Khon Kaen University, which is enormous. Not executed in
the classic sort of ‘Grand Hall’ style, but numerous different
colleges dotted all over the huge (5,000 rai - 8 square kilometres) campus
area. If of the academic bent, it would be a very interesting afternoon
just being shown around the faculty facilities.
The
old and the new (telecommunications tower) coexist happily. Actually, the
brahma bull couldn’t care less!
Wishing to recapture some of the spirit of the morning
market, I then drove out of Khon Kaen to see what lay outside the civic
environs. Good roads take you everywhere in a rural setting. In the
industrialized areas such as Pattaya and Bangkok, it is easy to forget
that Thailand is still mainly an agrarian economy, even if
telecommunication towers are now appearing in the rice fields.
Even
a flat does not dampen a Khon Kaen samlor driver’s smile.
Along the roadsides indigenous people herd their cattle
or drive along in the incredible local trucks, powered by a single
cylinder stationary pump engine, sputtering down the road with its one
lung going “doonk-doonk-doonk”. Forget the tuk-tuks, these are
doonk-doonks! I would pull up and wave the camera, to be greeted in return
with those friendly smiles, not bashful, but open and amicable. I began to
feel a warm love and appreciation for these rural dwellers. There was an
honesty of living that is not always present when “modernism” takes
over.
Travelling further afield and branching off the highway
and down dusty dirt trails was where I found the non-urban Esarn people.
Little villages with around 20-30 houses, complete with communal areas in
front of the primitive wooden houses, populated with women, children and
chickens. But they all had that wide open welcoming smile, even if the
chooks did run away when the flash went off.
Would
you like to buy some honey, honey?
The wives and children of the local rice farmers made
me welcome, without showing any real curiosity as to why this farang was
there, off the beaten track. I presented no threat to them, nor them to
me. Small boys would run up and pose, while the man and wife on the
motorcycle waved. Was this how life used to be? Was this how life should
be? I really do not have the answer - but it was certainly a beautiful
feeling to step back in time and experience this genuine and honest
reception.
To say that I was enchanted by the people of Esarn
would be to put it mildly. They left me with a feeling that they had,
without the use of micro-computers, discovered the true meaning of life,
while I was rushing around with fully charged gigabytes at 160 kph, too
fast to see where the ‘real’ world really was.
3
young rice farmers to be.
I may never step off my life’s merry-go-round, but I
do know people who have dropped out from it, endlessly looking for the
truth in life. I do also know people who have never got on that
merry-go-round in the first place. Many of them live in Esarn. You would
do yourself a favour to go and visit them. As Miss Terry Diner would say
in her restaurant guide “Highly Recommended!” And do try the Sofitel!
You will not be disappointed.
50
years of hard work, but still time to pose for pictures.
Sofitel Raja Orchid Khon Kaen, 9/9 Prachasumran Road,
Khon Kaen, tel. (66) 43 322 155, fax (66) 43 321 575, [email protected]
Tourism Authority of Thailand Northeastern Office, 15/5
Prachasamoson Road, Khon Kaen, tel. (66) 43 244 498, fax (66) 43 244 497.
Pra Thamakant Tourist shop, 79/2-3 Ruenrom Road, Khon
Kaen, tel. (66) 43 320 479.
The
most revered Buddha received a blessing of water.
Mayor
Pairat enjoyed the festivities and even joined in with a little dancing,
much to the delight of his friends and family.
Colorfully
dressed young performers get ready for their moment in the spotlight.
John
Glaetzer
