Why is the Isaan so terrible?
The first time I was in Thailand I traveled from Bangkok-Hua Hin-Surat Thani-Koh Samui and back. As much as possible by train because I love the train and you see a lot. Then I met my girlfriend. She is (surprisingly) from the Isaan (and she finds traveling by train very strange).
The second time I was in Thailand I had to believe it: visiting her parents in a village in the Isaan. 'Meet the parents'. In the meantime I had of course read Thailand blog and I had become terrified of the Isaan. There were readers who wrote that they had been there themselves! “I have been to Isaan myself”. I read it with great admiration.
I got the impression from some that they had made it out alive, at least they could tell the story. I read horrible stories about the meat that was eaten – and HOW it was eaten. The people walked around with blood red mouths. I suspected a species of New Guinea in 1600, headhunters behind every tree. There were probably also mad dogs, as I had experienced in India… But yes, I would have to believe it…. you love your girlfriend and you need some…
Well – I have also been to the Isaan. And I'm still stunned. What was so bad about it? For me it was just Thailand…. I have not seen the difference with the villages between Bangkok and Hua Hin. There were just towns and villages, supermarkets, highways and what not. And the people? Friendly and really nice. The dogs too, by the way. I was actually most surprised about the landscape. It strongly reminded me of something… where had I seen that before… oh yes, the Netherlands! Just flat, meadows with the occasional tree in it, a cow (okay, buffalo). I have photos of which you think: nice, South Holland?
But, maybe I shouldn't disturb the dream. Perpetuating the myth. There is Thailand, a beautiful and friendly country, nice for tourists - and deep down there is the Isaan! A secret place. Deep and dark. Where no tourists dare to go. Only very experienced falang can encounter it. The REAL falang.
What do you think – should we keep it that way?
Submitted by Frank
Yes everyone please stay away, it is really very terrible.
Can we continue to live there without too many tourists 😉
Very good Frank!!
When we are with the family I am the only farang there and that suits me very well.
It is now completely accepted and is often taken on a trip by family members.
Lots of fun!!
That is always my approach, I have been there often, there is nothing special about it, so I do not understand why Isan is always praised above other areas in Thailand, but if my wife were an Isan I would probably do the same. 😉
I have now crossed the entire Isan in 6 years. On the bike, on the motorcycle and by car and finally I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing to do with the Isan. You can have a good time in private, but don't tell me that the Isan is special.
Great 🙂 🙂
Never understood that fear
I've been there once, a long time ago, on a tour of Thailand.
No abnormal situations seen.
The fear may be in 'being introduced to the parents'.
Then there really is no way back.
I have been living there for several years, against the Mekong. Delicious, no or very few tourists. I think it's a beautiful area, the Isaan. Also liked the area around Hua-Hin very much, as well as Sukhothai. Years ago I made a bus trip through Thailand. We stayed a few days in beautiful places. So I have a nice picture of Thailand. In the end I chose to live in Isaan with my Thai wife. Don't regret it for a moment. There is much to see, beautiful temples, the tranquility, the people who are not rushed, the markets along the Mekong, in short, I feel at home.
I just feel at home in the Isaan.
Keen stress , friendly people
and the peace and nature.
I enjoy it every day and hope here
to stay for the rest of my life.
Isaan is just like the rest of Thailand, namely just a part of the country where people live, work, go to school, eat, drink, sleep, make love, play sports, etc. etc. Putting Isaan away as 'different' or 'special ' makes no sense to me. As if you end up in another world as soon as you enter one of the twenty Isaan provinces. No, in that respect the transition to the deep south is more special: different culture, language and religion. Where I live you hardly imagine yourself in Thailand.
Peace? Day and night, sugar cane trucks speed past my seldom-occupied home. Nature? All agricultural land or what passes for it. Beautiful? Pesticides everywhere. Alternating landscape? One village looks like the other. One rai like the other. By the way, the dullness continues far into Cambodia. Same monotony! Lead for old iron where you shoot your photos. And: being introduced to your in-laws is being introduced to those whom you may/must support financially from that moment on.
We mostly live in pattaya. When it gets too busy or too grubby for us, we move to what I call our country house in the Isaan. I can then enjoy a week of rest….take the time to read some nice books…..work in the garden….do some maintenance, etc…
Other than that I don't like it much. Not really interesting people….the villages are populated with senile old people…. some marginal drinking buddies, stray dogs and free-roaming chickens. Nobody speaks English…Nothing creative happens…..rarely do I see something that surprises me…..rarely do I see someone doing or accomplishing something that fascinates me…I have never even seen anyone read a newspaper let alone a book…even the plastic rubbish around their home just stays there. Here and there some rascals who fill their days racing on their bikes. Culture is nil. Is it beautiful? No. Just. It is a flat boiling area of rice fields ... here and there some trees. There are no beautiful lakes nor beautiful towns and certainly no beautiful mountains ... I rarely see something that makes me say man man what a beautiful place ... .. and if it then looks like that spot is soiled with all kinds of rubbish and usually not maintained at all or someone has thrown down their belongings.
For the rest, everyone will leave you alone ... .. you do what you want, no one cares about you and that is of course relaxing.
When I travel through Europe .... as recently, for example, through Carinthia Austria, every half hour my mouth fell open from the beauty we saw ... My Thai wife is now starting to recognize and realize this more and more ... .and knowing the chauvinism of the Thai is not easy for her.
It is precisely this tranquility that is beneficial to us. Sometimes I go to Pattaya to visit acquaintances, but I am happy when I am back home in Isaan. I cannot agree with your remark that there is hardly any culture in the Isaan. You have to go out for that, there is more than enough culture! In any case, a lot more than in and around Pattaya. We make many trips in Isaan, around Roi-et, its beautiful temples, and around Surin there is also a lot to see. It is also beautiful on the Mekong. What Phra is a beautiful waterfall. In short, your story about the Isaan is downright negative.
Have the impression that you do not really know what the meaning of culture is . Are there many lectures by international speakers in Surin? Are there many libraries or theaters in Isaan? Are there regular exhibitions? Are there regular works of art exhibited anywhere? Are there occasional concerts with international musicians? Are theme evenings organized in the Isaan about other countries ??…..What the Mekong has to do with culture is a mystery to me, just like a beautiful waterfall…..I think that has to do with beautiful nature and not with culture.
Isn't the Isaan just 17x Groningen, 50 years ago? With far too many peasants who will have to disappear over time? And a youth who prefers to move to a more urbanized area?
I have nothing against the province of Groningen, and many will live there in peace and conviviality, but the facts show that other areas are more popular and if you do want to go there, you just have to know what you are getting into and, above all, you don't care about what others think.
For me personally, the 'establishment risk' would be quite low….
French, isn't it, comparing Isaan with Groningen!! If you know as much about Isaan as you do about Groningen, you are not in a good position. In Isaan the average farm is 5 hectares (30 rai). There are no smallholder farmers in Groningen, there are the largest farms in the Netherlands, between 70 and 95 hectares in size, in the rest of the Netherlands an average of 30 hectares. Only gentlemen farmers live in Groningen, their farms often look like small palaces. Farm workers lived in the villages, almost all of whom voted for the communist party...
The story goes that a traveler rang the doorbell of a Groningen gentleman farmer late in the evening with the request to sleep in the stable. The farmer said: No, the stable is for my animals, go and sleep in the haystack!'