On the Move

Leaving cold (!) Chiang Mai to hot, hot Khon Kaen via Phitsanoluk

I left Chiang Mai behind on Feb 7 and traveled by train southward to Phitsanoluk where I had spent some time last year. It's a slow ride mostly because of the poor condition of the rail bed.  There is some maintenance being done but it is a far cry from the upgrade to electric of the entire system  underway in Malaysia.

Phitsanoluk Train Station where one is
greeted by their three wheeled songthaew
type transportation.
The difference here is that fares are fixed and posted
 so there is no inflated quote with subsequent haggling
as in other Thai cities.

I think I mentioned this last year so I may be repeating. Phitsanoluk seems to be an active community as I have seen relatively more runners in this city than any I have ever been in. The river pathway is always crowded in the evenings. There are many gyms like that below, usually located on a strip of land between a highway and the rail line. Annual membership fees are very reasonable at free!


From Phitsanoluk I took a six hour bus ride across the mountains to Khon Kaen in the north east of Thailand on the main highway going northward to Vientiane, Laos. This region is known as Isan and is on the Khorat plateau. Khmer (current day Cambodians) and Dvaravati(current day Laotians) are dominant cultural influences and Laotian and Cambodian dialects written with a Thai alphabet are the main languages. This region has significant archaeological finds including dinosaur fossils. Some say that here was the beginning of one of the first human civilizations. "...all of these aspects hold some level of fertility to give birth for creature including the race of human being who established one of the most important civilized culture in Isan region called Khon Kaen..." - verbatim from National Museum Brochure, English version. In recent years the Thai Government has had a 'cultural cleansing' program known as Thaification to 'make these people feel more like a part of Thailand'. In other words the Government (King?) wants these people to be loyal citizens of Thailand and not to have allegiances with their ancestral homelands. Khon Kaen is a sizable town of 114,000 and is the gateway city to Isan.

 With a tropical savannah climate the average high for February is 36.4 and for my first couple of days here it has been closer to 40.

 A dominant feature of the city is Kaen Nakorn Lake which is circumscribed with biking and jogging trails.   It's about 5km around the lake

Nine story stupa  Phra Mahathat Kaen Nakhon
at Wat Nong  Waeng, Kohn Kaen

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