The Tour De Isaan Route

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!