Last weekend I decided to check out the biggest province in Isaan, Ubon Ratchathani. The aim was pretty simple: to eat lot’s of western food, check out the nightlife and catch up on the latest movies at the cinema.
We left on Friday afternoon making our way down the highway 212 for 170km, passing absolutely stunning rice paddies like this one:
At half way we stopped of to chill at this beautiful lake:
Hotel
We checked into the Phadaeng Mansion based on memock’s great review – It was perfect: cheap (400b), in a great location and clean.
Food
We dinned at 2 Italian restaurants in town. Friday night was at Risotto Italian – A nice little cosy restaurant that offered very good grub. Saturday night saw us at Spago’s Italian Restaurant which has only been open for 2 weeks. Spago’s was excellent, in terms of food, atmosphere and extremely friendly owners.
Bruschetta at Risotto’s Italian restaurant
Franco the owner of Spago’s came over and asked why I had ordered so much food :) With prices half the price of what you’d pay in Bangkok and not having eaten western food for 2 weeks… You could say I was on a mission!
While sharing some Grappa with Franco, we talked about his previous restaurant located in Soho (London) that he had run for 20 years. It was interesting learning the differences of opening up a restaurant in Thailand compared to the UK. And I thought it was ironic that he is facing the same hurdles as I did when I operated my office in Bangkok – even though we both had businesses in different industries. There’s a lesson there I guess.
Franco’s Pizza – Italian sausage with Spinach – Yum!
Last but not least, we visited Peppers Bakery which is co-owned by Memock. The cafe was perfect! Great coffee, light decor and they served the best Egg’s Benedict I’ve ever had. Ever.
Cinema
Unfortunately the 2 cinemas located in Ubon were only showing Thai movies, and to make matters even worse, they didn’t have English subtitles as they do in Bangkok :( So we dedicated our only full day in Ubon in a hair salon… while my girlfriend had her hair cut! See, I’m nice like that ;)
Nightlife
We began by visiting U Bar that was a typical Thai pub set up – Live band, loud music with tones of uni students. Met some students studying Marketing, so it was interesting to learn more about what that involved. We then moved onto E-Bar that resembled more of a club than a pub. It was rammed with a slightly older crowd with great music.
We also checked out the local expat cafe The Wrong Way cafe for some pool, sambuka and to meet some friendly locals. Like everywhere in Isaan, the nightlife is always great fun due to how friendly everyone is. Good times.
Resources
While planning the trip, I used We Love Ubon – a great resource covering lot’s of different things to see and do there. I also used memock’s personal blog. The best Ubon map I found was over at Travel Fish.
All in all, a great weekend!