I met my wife while on vacation in Pattaya, which is about 45 minutes south of the new international airport by taxi and the airport is around halfway to Bangkok. I met her on the first day I arrived on a double date with a friend who was already there. Within a fortnight she took me back to meet her family in what I later discovered to be north-eastern Thailand.
Isaan is known as north-eastern Thailand too, which is really confusing because where we are is further north but not so far east. Anyway, most people who call Isaan the north east live in Bangkok and Pattaya, the two big hang-outs for foreigners (called farang or falang in Thai), and we are all north-east from there.
A glance at the map and you will see what I mean. If you travel north out of Bangkok, in due course you will come to Phitchit, which is formally the start of the north and the northern race as they call themselves.
Then comes Phitsanulok, once a capital of Thailand. A further 40 kilometres north is Sukhotai and Sri Satchenali, Thailand’s first capital and the spiritual home of Thailand. The original city is still there, uninhabited and mostly restored.
I live in the next province to the east called Uttaradit, which borders on Laos to the east and the old mountain kingdom of Nan to the north. Around 10% of the population of Nan are of the various Hill Tribes. One of these, the Mlabri, are nomadic hunter gatherers who live in temporary shelters made from branches and leaves. Until very recently, they were living a stone-age existence and their language had never been heard by Western people before 1978 so far as we know.
This is 250 km north-east from where I live. Sukhotai is about 30 km east. Such a lot of difference within 300 km. This region was part of the old kingdom of Lanna, which means ‘ a million rice fields’ or even ‘millions of rice fields’. Phichai or Fort Phichai, 12 km away, used to be the capital of Uttaradit province. Phraya Phichai Dap Hak (Phichai of the two-handed swords) fought here in the late 18th Century. He is Thailand’s most respected and well-known warrior.
In any case, I live in amongst all this lot. Unfortunately, I do not speak Thai well enough for anyone to give details of it to me and nobody that I know speaks English well enough to do it either. Even my wife. I wish I knew more about this fascinating place where very very few foreigners ever come.
There are five of us here at the moment in a 20 km radius. An English teacher, a Canadian teacher, a retired Dutchman and a retired Englishman and me. Often there is an Irishman and another Canadian, but they have gone home for a spell. I usually do not see a foreigner or hold a detailed conversation for weeks on end. And I love it here.
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on several subjects, but is now involved with Khao Phansa – The Candle Festival. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Package Holidays to Thailand.
