My Egg Noodles

Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

This guide is not for those traveling on a super tight budget or those that like to follow everyone else.

Having spent the last 5 years in and out of Thailand (more in than out I should add), along with a recent 6 week trip touring around Bangkok, Southern Thailand and a touch of the North East with a buddy of mine, I thought I would jot down some notes and advice that will hopefully help you get more out of your visit to Thailand.

I haven’t gone into the food, transport, temples etc., as this info has been re-written thousands of times already. If this is the kind of information you need, I have added a “Further reading” section at the end of this post that lists some great resources that should help you with the basics of traveling in Thailand.

My aim here is to walk you through my most recent trip around Thailand, highlighting how I prefer to travel. I’ve also made an effort to cover areas that most travel guides miss, offer a local perspective on things and my thoughts on areas of Travel that not only apply to Thailand, but travel and Asia in general.

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I didn’t expect spending my first day of the Songkran festival searching for a buddy who got lost in a Thai national park.

As I needed to catch up with work, I voted to stay in the hotel room yesterday while my buddy Owen went off to find a hot-spring here in Krabi, Thailand. I was surprised that I got a phone call from Owen saying he was lost in Phanom Bencha National Park and he needs help. Not realising how serious the situation was, I busted out laughing! How could he get lost in a National Park with signs and people everywhere?

It turns out he decided to go of the beaten path and changed routes a few times before realising that he couldn’t find he’s way back, going deeper into the 50 square km park that he intended too.

With only an hour left before the sun went down, I made my way over to the Tourist Police station here in Krabi to see what could be done. After a couple of phone calls to check to see if he’s bike was located in the park’s compound, myself and 3 police officers were going full speed over to the park, with sirens on.

Around 30 locals were gathered together to do a search, including police officers, the park manager and the village head. Unable to find Owen in the dark, the park manager called of the search at 1am and asked everybody to resume the search at sunrise.

After a day of searching in groups, Owen was found sitting by a stream 28 hours after he entered the park. He was brought back to the main entrance for food and water before taken to the local hospital for a check-up, and then back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

I was so impressed by how everyone pulled together, even though it’s the first day of the biggest holiday on the Thai calendar where families join together to spend some quality time with each other. Not only were the locals dedicated in finding Owen, I was very well looked after as well. I was fed often with great Thai food, was taken to the waterfall for a shower, was offered a place to sleep and well, generally well cared for.

After chatting with Owen about the ordeal, it sounds like there were a couple of times when he was in tricky situations. After phoning me, he’s battery died. He was lucky he could make that one call as I expected him to be at the hot-spring rather than at a National Park.

He had no water, and as a result had no energy. He told me that he got so desperate that he started licking leafs that had a little rain water on them, along with sucking water out of holes in tree logs with a straw he had made out of a leaf.

He didn’t sleep, and as there was no moon light, decided to stay put until some sun light started appearing. He told me he spent the night thinking up a list of drinks he was going to buy as soon as he got to a 7-11 :)

The next morning he tried to walk as far as he could, and says it was a real struggle from being dehydrated. He tried some fruit he’s never seen before thinking it would be rich in sugar. Luckily he found a stream a few hours later and drank liters of the stuff while getting munched on by leaches. While planning where he was going to spend the second night, a group on the search team found him.

Luckily, Owen is fine now.

Taking a quick break on our groups 4 hour search this morning.

Owen getting he’s wounds cleaned up!

Ouch!

The village head on the left, Owen, a local policeman, the park manager along with another policeman.

The last 3 weeks I’ve been touring around the North East of Thailand on a little mo-ped and bwoy, it has been so much fun! I know it won’t be long before I’m back out on the open road mingling with the friendly locals again.

The image above is the route that I took. I’m not sure how many miles I did, but it felt like I did a lot! I started in Ubon Ratchathani where they have great temples and the best xpat community I have ever seen. Then it was up to Mukdahan where life along the Mekong River runs extremely slow and you have the Mukdahan National Park with the weird rock formations. Then it was up to That Phanom where I witnessed a huge ceremony consisting of thousands of monks at the impressive That Phanom temple.

Monks at Wat That Phanom

My fav Isaan dish – BBQ’d Fish – Normally eaten with sticky rice and a very spicy dipping sauce.

I kept going north to Nakhon Phanom before banking left to the sleepy province of Sakhon Nakhon – where I witnessed a Chinese Dragon performance. I kept heading west until I reached Udon Thani, one of the biggest provinces in this part of the Kingdom. Many bars, both aimed at Thai’s and foreigners alike meant for some good nights out.

Chinese dragon performance in Nakhon Phanom

A typical sleepy street outside the main towns

After 2 nights in Udon Thani I was back on the bike heading to Loei – easily the most beautiful out of all the provinces I visited. While on-ruote to Loei I passed through Nong Beau lamphu provice, which is where I spent the best part of a year living in a rural Thai village – I still think Nong Beau lamphu province has the most friendly locals, not only in North East Thailand, but out of all the countries I’ve ever visited.

One of many lakes we passed and stopped of at.

Tree’s and lakes lined both sides of the roads for most of the time while in Loei. After a night in Loei, I headed onto Phukradueng National Park where temperatures dropped to 5c in the early hours of the morning. But the bright stars, waterfalls and the young Thai tourists made it one great adventure that the average tourist misses out on.

Tamarind is in season. Yum!

I then went South to Khon Kaen, easily my fav province due to the excellent (and cheap) accommodations options, bars and the newly opened Central Shopping Mall that hosts a 7 screen cinema – the only cinema in Isaan that shows movies with English language.

Impressive mountain in Loei province

Outside the main towns, most of the smaller roads are similar to this one.

For the last leg of the trip, I headed north east up to Mukdahan where I traveled through rice paddies, fields and more traditional Thai villages. I then got the opportunity to watch some famous musicians before shooting a gun for the first time, with the local Police.

Me at the shooting range in Mukdahan. This is the first time I’ve ever used a gun.

An annual concert that draws in big crowds in Mukdahan.

All in all, it’s been a great trip and I would highly recommend you come and explore this unique part of Thailand before it changes. Local transport is very good, and extremely cheap. Or you could simply hire yourself a motorbike in either Khon Kaen or Ubon for 200b a day and experience adventure travel that 99% of Thailand’s tourists miss out on.

If you have any Q’s about traveling in this region, feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll try my best to answer them!

I like being spontaneous. Yesterday I decided on a whim that I’d take my last travel trip of the year. A week touring around Isaan… which I had started at the beginning of the month which had to be cut short. With my ruck sack packed, I jumped onto my motorbike and within an hour and a half I had reached the sleepy town of That Phanom, 55km south of Nakhon Phanom.

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