Isan ( Northeast )

The northeast  or I-San as it is called by most Thais - the sprawling Northeast Plateau is bordered to the north and east by the Mekong River and Laos, and to the south largely by kamphuchea. The Northeast is a distinctive region thanks to a topography of lovely forested mountains and national parks and rolling farmland; to its colourful inhabitants who speak their own melodious dialect, have a delicious highly spiced cuisine, and hospitable , vibrant and oftentimes boisterous folk culture; and because of archaeologically significant excavations and shrines -- such as Ban Chiang where the world's oldest Bronze Age civilisation flourished some 5,600 years ago; and venerable prasat hin (stone castle) temples, lagacy of I-San's former importance to the Angkor-centred Khmer empires.

Nakhon Ratchasima

259 kms northeast of Bangkok, is the gateway to I-San. 56 kms to the northeast of provincial capital lies Phimai, site of an 11th-century prasat him temple one of the loveliest examples of classical Khmer architecture found outside Kamuchea. The complex occupies land within boundary walls measuring 250-280 metres and was sufficiently important to have bean connect by road with Angkor.

 

 

Other major I-San attractions include Khon Kaen, a university town some 450 kms from Bangkok in I-San's geographic centre and famous for its Mat Mi silk; Loei province's Phuu Kra Dung National Park, a crisply beautiful forested plateau between 1,000 and 1,350 metres where night-time temperatures sometimes drop to near freezing point, and the Kaeng Khut Khu rapids at Chiang Khan the scenic Si Chiangmai to Nongkhai road which largely parallels the Mekong River; Udon Thani's Ban Chiang village and museum which house priceless Bronze Age jewellery and pottery excavated from local burial mounds; Nakohn Phanom's Phra That Phanom, the most revered Northeast shrine, the spire of which dates from the 9th century; Ubon Ratchathani, 629 kms from Bangkok, which introduces the annual Buddhist Rains Retreat with a lovely Candle Festival, and the pre-historical rock paintings at Pha Taem in Khong Chiam district near the Mekong River; Yasothon, where, each summer, massive homemade rockets are ceremoniously fired into the air to "ensure" bountiful rains; Surin, where and annual Elephant Round-Up each November attracts visitors from all over the world; and Buri Ram's Prasat Hin Phanom Rung, a lovely hilltop Khmer sanctuary once connected by road with Angkor.

Isan Tour

 

5 days 4 nights Beauty and Ancient of Isan

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