Isan – the Northeast of Thailand

Arjan you can just take the bus
I went to my daughter-in-law in August.
she lives in a village near nongh kai
i went by bus from chiang mai 14 hours total
it is very quiet in the isaan and shops like tesco
are often 1 hour away by bus.
nature is beautiful

I have been living in the isan for several years, near the border with laos and I find this article rather outdated to say the least.
water buffaloes have almost all been replaced by the stem buffalo or kubota tractor. buffaloes are only kept for hobby and slaughter.
there are a few farangs (white men) in almost every village,
traveling and staying overnight are no problem, almost every province has an airport with daily flights from bangkok. and you can get everywhere by bus, it takes time but you also see something.
it is really no longer the way people in the Netherlands think that everyone wears clogs. and the wooden huts with squat toilets are rapidly making way for stone variants.
Yes, progress continues in the isaan too, alas! (or not)

Dear Khan Peter. You know how I appreciate all your articles and effort for Thailand Blog. You are very enthusiastic and a connoisseur.
But the reposting of this piece (from 2009) about the Isaan makes me react immediately.

I have been living for almost 7 years now in a slightly larger village in the middle of Isaan (100 km from Nongkhai and Bueng Kan), have many friends and acquaintances in smaller villages and towns in the province of Bueng Kan, Nongkhai, Udon, Ubon, Khon Kaen etc. In that time I have traveled 170.000 km to many corners of Isaan.

The statement that a house in the Isaan perse does not have a shower, hot and cold running water, the people are by definition farmers, agricultural workers and therefore poor (many still), earn 100 baht per day, life around the Wad and the village school, sheds with a stone basin for washing, the stigmatizing photo of Isan women who, so to speak, apparently all end up in prostitution (yes, I know a few, but in Rotterdam too), houses in which definition no furniture, no beds only mats, houses of 20.000 euros (sometimes only the land costs in a little village). Entire villages that come out to see a Westerner etc. etc. all sounds costly and entertaining. But as often stated a large travel guide content, and then a very old guide.

Of course this still exists in small closed villages, but most of it is heavily outdated. We often (not everywhere) have fast internet (6 – 10 mb, in the cities even 3-G) the 24 hour economy of 7-elevens, 108 shops. The telephone shops, computer shops, lotus branches, luxury coffee shops (real coffee) hardware stores, etc. are growing out of control in the villages around us. Increasingly a Makro, Home-Pro, Home-Markt, Global House, Index and always a Tesco Lotus nearby
14-year-olds drive the latest motorcycle, with their i-phone or tablet in their hands, in many houses well-tiled bathrooms, air conditioners.

Almost everyone I know has a (sometimes very luxurious) Isuzu or Toyota truck, not always the latest ok. In every village appear the smaller and often larger villas and excellent stone houses with (!) furniture etc. etc.
Reasonable 2 room apartments or sometimes entire (stone) houses are for rent in our villages. 1500 – 3000 bath per month, real shower, hot water, simple kitchen, often large garden, sometimes ready-made with refrigerator, large TV. and air conditioning (then slightly more expensive).
In most larger villages you will find banks and ATMs, very simple schools to schools with swimming pools, an internet shop in every neighborhood (3 pieces in our mini-street)

Yes, the squeezed rice is still eaten by hand, the rest with a fork and a spoon (always miss the knife). And .. when it's nice, Thais like to sit on the floor, but that's not typical Isan.
My daughter and Thai acquaintances also like to eat falang food in addition to Thai food and yes, there are still some of the old guard who eat fried insects, (rice) field rats and shells. Not just because they are poor, but are used to it and like it. Just like with our stew with gravy.

Yes, social life in the villages is still a lot at the Wads, but mainly for the elderly and elderly women dressed in white and the rest only come on holidays when there is music, fairgrounds, loy kratong etc. Monks walk barefoot in the morning on their begging tour through the village, and a few then drive the hummer (obtained from an entrepreneur) from the temple in the afternoon, accompanied by their mobile phone and laptop through our street to the local coffee shop for a chat .
Young people can be found at the weekly pop concerts, at the hangouts such as 7-elevens and in the larger cities at the discotheques and music clubs.
In the villages the karaokes close between 1 and 2 am.

And … many of the young ladies just have a job in an office, at a school, in a shop, a hardware store or moped shop or at the hugely bureaucratic government offices that you find everywhere here or in the simple local hospitals, pharmacies. They sometimes earn very well and eat their lunch in the local simple restaurants (yes .. cheap).
And… no… they are not all in prostitution. That has been largely taken over by the illegal or not illegal ladies from Laos or in some parts of Cambodia who work here in karaokes.

We have reasonable to often excellent roads / infrastructure. (maintenance of smaller roads sometimes leaves something to be desired).
Of course there are still many poor farmers, but more and more rich large shopkeepers, rubber farmers and landlords of rental houses and land, owners of resorts and large fish ponds, etc. As everywhere, wealth is unfairly distributed. Thailand is definitely not a socialist country.

And Westerners..? in/around our village we already have more than 15, partly in very luxurious houses, not nearly as unique anymore, although you are still quickly interested by pubescent schoolgirls.
Many Westerners prefer to live here than in overcrowded and polluted Bangkok. In many areas of Bangkok or Pattaya it is much worse to live than in a decent house in the Isaan (of course there are still very bad, shabby buildings).

In the larger cities in the Isaan, the choice of consumer goods, sometimes even nightlife options, etc., is relatively close to Bangkok. (The giant z/central department stores, the mac.donalds and other fast food chains can be found all over the cities of the Isaan.
Modern life has struck everywhere. Your story describes the life of years gone by in a small isolated Isanian village. It is still common, but in a while it will be just as true as the Netherlands, flower bulbs and clogs.

And “Isan is characterized by mountain ranges”? I can drive through Isaan for a whole day without seeing a mountain, and then it's hills. If I want to see real mountains I have to look to the North or from here across the Mekong to Laos.
When I drive 800 km from Nongkhai to Ubon, I pass through a hill/mountain landscape exactly once (1 hours). There are more mountains (low) in the western part (Chayapun) when I travel from here to Bangkok or in the NW part to Loei on my way to Chiang Mai, etc.

Not a criticism, but more an eyewitness addition, through its own personal (pink?) glasses. Both sides of Isaan life can still be found. Of course, the Isaan is still the poorer, most authentic part of Thailand.
But in my opinion, THE Isaan from the article no longer exists. The visitor who still wants to experience the real old Isaan must be quick.