Superb Thailand :KhonKaen City

Khon Kaen is the commerce and political center of Northeastern Thailand, and is well known for the silk that is manufactured in the area. Khon Kaen is the home of tennis sensation Khun Paradorn Srichaphan. The province is also home of Thailand's First Olympic Gold Medallist, the 1996 bantam weight Khun Somluck Kamsing. Located in the heart of northeast region of Thailand (Isaan), this community was experiencing one of the fastest growth rates in Thailand until the baht was devalued in 1997. In the last several years, construction has restarted within the city, including the widening of Mitaprahp Road on the West side of Khon Kaen (Highway 2 Bangkok-Nong Khai). The present population of the city is around 150,000. The government had endorsed Khon Kaen as the export center for trade into the Indo-China Region, but politics may play a role in preventing this. Laos and Vietnam have located consulate offices in the city to process visa applications. The city also hosts the largest university in the North East, Khon Kaen University.

An individual is just as likely to see water buffalo weaving in and out of traffic in Khon Kaen as they would a BMW or Mercedes. Men and women dressed for success carrying cell phones & leather briefcases are hustling through the marketplace at lunch time along side orange-robbed Buddhist monks. If hungry, one can purchase grilled chicken and sticky rice at a pushcart in front of Pizza Company. The old and the new integrated into one society that seems to work.

The more popular tourist destinations in Thailand are Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, and Chiangmai, but these places tend to be overly commercialized. If you want to go to a place where you can experience some of the local people, customs, and traditions, Isaan is the place to be. The real Thailand is outside the popular tourist destinations. Northeast Thailand is often neglected by tourists so what better reason do you need to come. It is also a good starting point for excursions into Laos and border visits to Cambodia.

is quite easy by bus, air, train, or car. Thai Air has 4 to 5 flights daily to and from Bangkok If you have the time to take the train, some of the sights will be quite spectacular and some quite monotonous, but you will be traveling with the local population. The bus is more convenient for the shorter trips, while it is much cheaper it sometimes appears the driver has no concern for anyone's safety (including their own). For more information on transportation within the Khon Kaen city limits. it is a country of farming, rural country life, water buffaloes in rice paddies. Other people see a rapidly developing country both technically and economically. The truth of it is, both people are correct. Thailand is one of the few countries left in the world where the people are struggling to hold onto their customs and beliefs while trying to keep pace with a rapidly changing world. Read about the Thai Farmer. the Northeast are Isaan sausage, kai yang (grilled chicken), som tam (hot + spicy papaya salad), and mu phaeng (marinated grilled pork). In Khon Kaen it's refreshing to get outside of Bangkok's stagnate air and high prices. Prices in the Northeast are considerably cheaper for everything from hotels to food.

Operating Hours: 0900 - 1600 hours
Closed Monday, Tuesday, and Public Holidays
Admission Fee: Thai Citizen - 10 baht, All Others - 30 baht

Khon Kaen National Museum was officially opened by His Majesty KingBnumiphol Adulyadej on the 20th of December, 1972. Most of the exhibitions are concerned with history, art, and archaeology. Temporary exhibitions are set up on a rotational basis throughout the year.

Exhibitions on the geography, history, archaeology, culture, and ethnology of the museum are arranged as follows:

The Geography and Geology of Pre-historic Period

Settlements, utensils, burial rituals, major archaeological findings

Ancient cities and communities

Period of Recorded History

Dvaravati Culture

Stone boundary markers, religion and beliefs, costumes, script, architecture, votivetablets, archaeological objects taken from the Muang Fa Daet Song Yang excavation site, Kamalasai District Kalasin Province.

Khmer or Lopburi Culture

Ancient cities and communities, religion and beliefs, ceramics Thai-Lao culture

Religion and beliefs, utensils used in daily life

Evolution of art in Thailand Muang Khon Kaen

Traces of the past, history of the city, way of life, folk culture.

Services
Educational activities such as tours, temporary exhibitions, educational documents andlibrary services, stalls, sales of books on art, archaeology, history, and souvenirs.

Wat Nongwang is located south of the city on Klangmuang Road. This Wat was built at the cost of around 40 million baht. A good view of Khon Kaen city and Bung Kaen Nakhon Lake can be seen from the 9-tiered balcony that surrounds the outside of the Temple. The wat abbott will occasionally invite visitors to the top of the wat to view ancient Buddhist artifacts.

Wat Wutharam is located on Darun Samran Road just south of the train station. Many people, as part of there Buddhist merit making, buy fish at one of the local markets and set them free in the small lake that is near the wat.

Wat Jien Bung Kaen Nakhon is a Chinese temple located on the East side of Bung Kaen Nakhon Lake.

West Side East Side

Also know as Pattaya Song (2), this is a good place for the family to eat lunch, let the children play in the reservoir, take a boat ride, or even better yet get on the bananna boat for an enjoyable but bumpy ride. Numerous food stalls line the shore of the reservoir, umbrellas and ground mats can be rented to sit on the ground and for shade from the sun.

Getting there:

Travel West on route 12 from Khon Kaen city center. At around 36 kilometers (about 45 minutes) at the village of Nong Rua there will be a large dinosaur which will indicate that road number 2038 is on the right. Follow 2038 North until the village of Phu Wiang. There are plenty of signs in Thai indicating which turns to take to get to Pattaya Song, it can be rather challenging if Thai is not your native language. After going through several small villages and 40 minutes later you will arrive at the West side of the reservoir.