Thailand 14: March 15, 2002

Last week, I traveled to northeastern Thailand for work. I'll use this e-mail to describe the trip.

My flight left on a Monday morning at 6:30, so I had to head out of our apartment at 5:15 to get to the airport. It was still pitch black out, but people were already out and about. The breakfast cart across the street was setting up and I saw plenty of people waiting for buses. The breakfast cart owner must have to get up at about 3 to get his food, equipment and travel to our block.

The Northeast of Thailand is also referred to as Isaan. If you look at a map, its the area of Thailand that seems to bulge into Laos and on top of Cambodia. Its bordered by the Mekong river to the east and by a long ridge to the west. Its basically a high plateau and is much drier than any other part of Thailand. Its also the most poor section of the country. Most residents are rice farmers, but as Isaan gets less rain than the rest of the country, it's less productive. Agriculture is the economic mainstay, though there is some trade with Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. There is very little industry. In many ways, Isaan is like the American south. Many of the taxi drivers and prostitutes in Bangkok are poor emigrants from Isaan who move to Bangkok looking to make money to send home to their families. Isaan food is sort of "down home" food and Isaan music is the Thai version of American country.

I first visited Ubon Ratchatani, one of the largest cities in the region. Its located in the far southeast portion of the region. Its a low-slung city mostly of 2-3 story buildings. The total population can't be more than a few hundred thousand and our 10 story hotel may have been the tallest building in the city. Nevertheless, the city sees some foreign tourists on their way to see local national parks and our hotel (I stayed in the junior suite) was quite nice. For most of the year, the city (in fact, the whole region) is a bit cooler than Bangkok, though it broils in the summer. With many fewer cars, its also much less polluted and much more quiet. We even saw a few foot-pedalled cyclos, none of which remain in Bangkok. With little traffic, we didn't need to build in an extra 20-30 minutes between meetings, which we discovered when we kept showing up early. Unlike Bangkok, people speak little English and most of my convesations with local officials were in Thai (I had a Thai co-worker help translate for me). I met with the Deputy Governor, health care officials, some development foks, and the local Chamber of Commerce. The central government has a plan to build a golf course on the Thai-Lao-Cambodian border, with holes in each country. Unfortunately, the area remains heavily mined, and the local Chamber members pointed out that exploding golfers would do little for regional tourism.

We went out to visit a small garment factory set up by a local NGO to try to keep residents in the area instead of migrating to Bangkok. They made women's shirts to go to Japan. Nearby was a small village where some older men still make brass bells using handmade molds. We watched an older man, his mouth stained red from chewing on betel nuts, twirl wet clay on a string and use a knife to shape it. Ducks and chickens wandered around with the pig barn located just behind.

My next stop was Mukdahan, a somewhat smaller city a few hours north. We left early in the morning to make the drive and I noted how good the roads are in rural Thailand, unlike most developing countries and better than I've experienced in rural Scotland and Italy. Had we been across the border in Laos, the 100 mile drive that took 2 and a half hours could have taken days. As we drove along, we could smell the fires that farmers had lit to clear their fields in preparation for planting season. We passed all kinds of fruit trees; mango trees -- a broad, leafy tree with fruit hanging down like light green christmas ornaments, papaya trees, jackfruit trees, tamarind trees and starfruit trees. Nevertheless, it was the middle of the dry season and everything looked dusty.

Mukdahan is right on the Mekong. We visited the local market which was stocked with goods from Vietnam and China that had come through Laos. There were no Lao products, because Laos doesn't make anything. Of course, Thailand gets its share of Lao forests. I bought some disgusting Chinese preserved peach candy and some plum scented soap for the wife. We again stayed in a nice hotel, again in a junior suite. My colleague had a huge, and I mean huge, bee hive outside her tenth floor window. There must have been 20,000 bees (no exageration) throbbing and pulsing together. Of course, there's nothing uniquely Thai about a huge beehive, but I'd never seen one so large before. Our hotel was across the street from the town's main park and we saw women doing outdoor aerobics, just like in Bangkok. We had dinner in a small fish restaurant overlooking the Mekong. It was remarkably windy and cool -- almost, almost jacket weather. We then visited the night market, a block and a half of food stalls with Vietnamese food and various Isaan specialties, including barbecued insects. I passed on the bugs and went back to the hotel. It was a great room. A soda from the room bar cost 33 cents. The TV had cable -- two Indian language channels, an Arabic channel, a French channel and an Indonesian channel (featuring a tribute to Led Zeppelin). However, the only channel in English was MTV.

The next morning, we drove another 75 miles north to Nakhon Panom, another small city on the Mekong. On the way, we passed a famous wat (temple) which apparently holds a relic of the Buddha. It's a pilgrimmage spot for Thais and Lao. After morning meetings, we ate at a noodle stand and did a little shopping. I picked up some weaved baskets and some silk for Liz. Nakhon Panom recently opened up a modern, little airport complete with a VIP lounge. It gets one flight a day, a 737 to Bangkok. It's quite a sight for the locals and many villagers gathered around outside to watch it come in. While we waited for the flight, I saw two older women walk up to a donation bucket seeking funds for a charitable project endorsed by the King. The women, clad in the sarongs that many Isaan women still wear, took off their shoes, bowed and placed their baht into the bucket.