Khon Kaen

The 10 hour bus ride to Khon Kaen spit us out onto the streets of a city much larger than we imaged. Weary eyed with stiff backs and dazed expressions, the two "farangs" were immediately surrounded by tuk tuk drivers asking "Where you go?" (the typical "taxi" driver phrase in thailand) at 7am. The Prancers were ready to walk on their own 2 feet again though and hauled the packs to the nearest hotel.

The day consisted of breakfast, getting situated in our first town that really had no accessible English signs to go by, shaking off the lack of deep sleep, and visiting a local market and museum. Little did we know our friends that would be picking us up had arrived a day early. So, we were greeted by BunLueng, a 22 year old beautiful thai girl, and Eldon, a 73 year old man from the states. They had driven from their village, SamBerDang, a couple hours away from the city to pick us up and do their village grocery shopping, consisting of LOADS of fresh fruits and veggies for the next few days of feeding us! Get this: pineapples by the plenty! A huge garbage bag full of them for 100 baht, so roughly $2.50!!! Once, we met the two, they immediately packed us into their car and drove us to a local attraction, The King Cobra Village. What a sight! Local thai ladies and men put on a show dancing with snakes. Then the men, one-by-one, tempted the mighty venomous beasts by pecking at their heads, circling on hands and knees, and jabbing and grabbing the snakes by neck. It was a fierce fight back and forth, as the thai men would plunge quickly away from the deadly teeth and hiss of the opponent. At the end of the performance, Jill, Eldon, and BunLeung joined the group on the stage where they wrapped their human necks with the less deadly common thai snakes for dancing and pictures. What an introduction to the Isaan culture, Thailand's Northeast Region. We then drove back to Khon Kaen and ate a thai style dinner with abundant plates all around.

Before leaving town the next day, we were treated to a modern day temple completed in 1997. It consisted of a 9-tiered layout, standing for the king's power here. It was such a sight! You will see a picture here.

We then headed out into the remote villages of the Isaan. This is where we began to get the real tastes, sights, smells, and glory of this beautiful country. Finally FRESH AIR!!! We have still been blowing the black polluted boogers out of our nostrils from the continuous smog we take in when in the cities here. We stopped on the side of the road to take pictures with some concrete dinosaurs, as you will see here. Tons of dinosaur fossils were recovered in the 1980's in this region, so the dinosaur is symbolized quite widely here.
So, our stay in the village of SamBerDang begins.............. 28 houses and one street, what a change from Chiang Mai!