Tour De Isaan – Part 1

For those that don’t know.. Isaan is the name for the area covering the North East of Thailand. In Isaan everything is super laid back where life runs very slowly and the locals are so fucking friendly it’s unreal. And for some unknown (and crazy) reason, Isaan is the least visited part of Thailand. I call Isaan the REAL THAILAND.

My buddy and business partner arrived in Thailand a few days ago, and come up to visit and explore the area… and since then we haven’t stopped doing what 2 good looking guys do in one of the friendliest places on earth ;)

Here’s a daily breakdown of what’s been happening:

Friday
I decided to start the Tour De Isaan early and had a great night out in Mukdahan after returning from my trip to China. I was invited to a concert by some friends, but before meeting them I was keen on checking out a newly opened bar with a pool table… a rare sight in Mukdahan. It was great, and provided a great opportunity to mingle with the locals and make some new friends.

I then went onto a hole in the wall pub that I’ve not visited before. It was a rustic bare bones joint with one guy playing the guitar in the corner, a couple sitting on the concrete chairs enjoying the music and a bunch of old guys sharing whiskey after what I’m guessing was a slow day in the rice fields.

While I was sipping on my ice cold Beer Leo, one of the guys approached me and started asking the usual questions; where am I from, what I’m doing here in remote Thailand and if I’m already married. We ended up chatting for an hour or so and it made for an interesting, yet friendly, experience.

By this time it was time to head onto the concert… a famous “superstar” was in town to rock the house. Tickets were bloody experience for this area, costing 2,500b for 4 people. Luckily my ticket had been bought for me… which just goes to show how friendly the locals are here. They’ve got fuck all, but will always have a smile on their faces and share what little they do have.

Good times were had drinking more beer, dancing to Thai music and chatting with friends. Then it was onto another pub with my buddy Addy where more drinking and chatting to strangers followed. We drank beers to closing time before finally getting home at a very respectable 3am

Saturday
I jumped on the bus to Ubon – where I was to meet my buddy the next day. I quickly hired a motorbike, checked into the hotel before driving over to Spagos – the best Italian restaurant in town – for pizza. Then it was onto the foreign hang-out where I met more friends and played some pool. By this time I had sank a good few beers, along with wine with my pizza, and was on a mission to find fun. That meant heading out to the disco. As soon as I arrived I was invited to a table by a friendly enough guy, who turned weird after 2 sips of my beer. He seemed to like shaking my hand… in fact, he was obsessed with shaking my hand. After the 15th time it started getting a little annoying, so I looked for an excuse to move tables. Thankfully it wasn’t to difficult to hook up with some girls and before I knew it, we were sharing whiskey and having a good time.

Unfortunately, the guy who liked shaking my hand found me and kept on returning to the table so he could…. yes, shake my hand again… and again. What a freak. As the disco closed at 3am, I was invited to eat some BBQ with my newly found friends – never one to turn down food when my beer is full beer, I accepted. We ended up at a make shift restaurant where more whiskey and fun was had, to sunrise. I got home at 10am

Sunday
My buddy arrived. After sorting out another mo-ped we went off to explore Wat Nong Bua – a very peaceful temple that is surrounded by tall trees. Monks, both female and male, swept the pathways, and they slowly strolled around the temple grounds. It made for a super chilled, and much needed, afternoon.

The rest of the day was spent chilling, before what would be yet another crazy night out in Isaan. We began by getting some grub at the road side, followed by some pool and beers. We checked out a few pubs – met a super cute Scottish girl and some locals. Then it was onto the disco to get our groove on… and after a minute or so of arriving, we were already given a glass of whiskey and soda – the standard drink in Thai oriented bars.

As expected for a Sunday, the bars were pretty quite, so we opted to leave and find a massage joint. Luckily we found someone that offered to take us there… just out of generosity. We arrived at this massage joint and was soon getting our bits and bobs stroked and rubbed by some pretty old Thai ladies. We arrived home at 4am

Monday
We got some work done, figured out a plan for the next 3 months over some breakfast at the excellent Peppers cafe. After more work, this was followed by pasta and wine at Spagas in the evening. Then we went onto play some pool – where we met a super friendly biologist that spends a lot of time in the south on the corals. Super friendly guy. We end up playing doubles with him and his wife for ages. Good times were had.

After a few white rums on ice, we decided to check out another disco. Met some very friendly locals who appreciated my efforts to chat the local dialect with them. My buddy got super confused with one lady… communication breakdown that I now think is super funny (a story that is better saved for the pub).

While in the car park finding our scooters… we met some friendly girls that wanted to practice their English… food it was then. We went onto a typical Isaan make shift restaurant and shared hot-pot and som-tum. Good times. Got in at 4am

Tuesday
We went through more work before going to get our hair cut – always a terrifying experience for me. Luckily my buddy opted to be the guinea pig and as expected, he walked out with a super dodgy hair cut. I was
lucky that I could point out what I didn’t like about his style and ended up with a pretty good result. For some reason the barber wanted to give me numbers of the local prostitutes he knows. I declined.

Then we went onto a Thai restaurant and eat my fav Thai curry – Masaman. It was superb. More pool followed before I decided to head to my friends house, while my buddy stayed on to play pool. We both got home around 5am

Wednesday
I’ve got a cold now and my body is sending signals to slow down, or get some much needed sleep. But there’s work to do… so back in the coffee shop where me and my buddy look a mess and are sniffing and coughing while going over projects. Not a pleasant sight. We both feel like dog shit and decide to take a night off… after some delicious pad-thai, we are both in bed by 9.30pm

More to come…