Absolute Isan Tour

Day 1 – Ban Chiang
On the way north from Khon Kaen we will stop to meet the urban monkeys that live in Kumphawapi’s town center and visit a weaving village before heading to Ban Chiang, the site of an enigmatic civilization that began making bronze tools around 2000 BC; long before any other known place in East Asia. The myriad artifacts unearthed here, most famously the iconic burnt ocher swirl pottery, rewrote the history books and today can be seen both inside the excellent Ban Chiang National Museum and in situ at a burial ground excavation site. We’ll also see how sticky rice baskets are woven. Then it’s up to Nong Khai city, on the Mekong River, where we’ll walk through the popular Tha Sadet Market, filled with bric-a-brac from Thailand, China, and other countries.

Overnight in Nong Khai

Day 2 – Sala Kaew Ku & Bueng Kan
The highlight of your morning tour of low-key Nong Khai is Sala Kaew Ku, a wonderfully bizarre religious center filled with immense and strange concrete sculptures blending Buddhist and Hindu iconography. We’ll also see some incredible Buddhist temple murals, including the well-known ones at Wat Pho Chai. We’ll then turn east and follow the Mekong River, often on small country roads, with stops to see a temple honoring naga (magical serpents) and the scenic red boulders at Ban Ahong, just upriver from Bueng Kan city.

Overnight in Bueng Kan

Day 3 – Wat Phu Tok & Ban Kham Pia
We’ll begin the day in a village seeing how thatch roofs are made before climbing and exploring the labyrinth of walkways at Wat Phu Tok, a temple built on a mountain plateau with wooden platforms leading along the cliffs. Then, based on your preference, we’ll either trek up to a soaring clifftop viewpoint in the Phu Wua Wildlife Reserve or spend a few hours strolling around a typical agricultural village seeing local life up close – or do a little of both. We’ll arrive in Bung Khla, our overnight stop, early enough to fully enjoy the incredible views of the mountain-lined Mekong River here.

Overnight in Bung Khla

Day 4 – Tha Uthen & Nakhon Phanom
Heading south, we’ll stop to see some amazing wood carving and dinosaur footprints before taking a break to enjoy lunch with the peaceful scenery of the Two-Coloured River, where the greenish Songkhram River joins the muddy brown Mekong. Further downriver we’ll see the soaring 66-meter (217 feet) tall Phra That Tha Uthen stupa and ogle the impressive variety of local foods for sale in the Tha Uthen market. Sticking to country roads hugging the Mekong, we’ll see hats made from bamboo husks and walk over a rickety bamboo bridge to a small island (accessible at the end of the dry season only). It’s then down to Nakhon Phanom, a very laid-back capital city with beautiful mountain views. There we’ll visit a fabric weaving group, go to the local museum to see examples of the “fire boats” that grace the river at the end of the Buddhist lent, and enjoy some marvelous modern temple murals.

Overnight in Nakhon Phanom

Day 5 – That Phanom
Probably the highlight of time spent in Nakhon Phanom is watching the sun rise behind the mountains across the Mekong River in Laos, which you can choose to watch from your hotel room or along the riverside promenade. On the way down to little That Phanom, home to the holiest temple in Isan, we’ll stop to visit a replica of the house Ho Chi Minh lived in during his time here and a basket weaving village, where, if you wish, you can get advice from a local spirit medium. In That Phanom town we’ll see a Buddhist temple with historic murals and stroll down a well-preserved block of French-Indochina style buildings to a large symbolic arch, similar to Patuxai in Vientiane, before arriving at the famous Phra That Phanom, a gleaming white 53-meter (174 feet) stupa, topped with a 16-kilogram (35 pounds) jewel-encrusted gold parasol.

Overnight in That Phanom

Day 6 – Mukdahan
As we follow the river south to Mukdahan, we’ll make a quick stop at Kaeng Kabao, a dry-season-only stretch of rapids and islets on the Mekong River before visiting the contemporary Our Lady of the Martyrs of Thailand church, built to commemorate seven Thai Catholics executed in 1940 by the police for refusing to renounce their faith. Then we’ll sample a variety of traditional snacks made on-site by a women’s cooperative. Next up are two old temples with well-preserved historic buildings that will delight even casual art lovers and we’ll say hello to some local monkeys in a small patch of forest. In Mukdahan city, we’ll climb Ho Kaeo Mukdahan, a 65 meter-tall (213 foot) tower built to mark the king’s 50th year on the throne. It has a good museum and great views. Phu Pha Thoep National Park’s main attraction is a field full of mushroom-shaped rock pillars. We’ll finish the day back in the city at Mukdahan’s large Indochina Market.

Overnight in Mukdahan

Day 7 – Yasothon
This morning we leave the Mekong River behind and head through seemingly endless rice paddies. The first two stops are a Catholic church built of wood and a Buddhist temple built with old bottles. After visiting a basket-making village we’ll see a pair of historic wooden Buddhist scriptures libraries (haw-dtrai) built in the middle of ponds to keep termites at bay. We’ll then stroll one of the last remaining blocks of French colonial-style architecture in Thailand and a market where many of the products for sale are gathered in the surrounding forest. After visiting the ancient Ku Phra Kona Khmer temple ruin, which has been converted into a modern Buddhist shrine and hosts a troop of semi-tame monkeys, we’ll roll into the little riverside town of Tha Tum.

Overnight in Tha Tum

Day 8 – Elephant Village & Surin
Ban Ta Klang is home to the Kui (aka Suai) people, Thailand’s legendary elephant handlers, and about 150 elephants live side-by-side with them at their homes in the village. We will spend the morning getting up close and personal with elephants by walking with them to the Mun River where we can jump in to help the mahouts bathe them. We’ll then visit the elephant museum and see the elephant cemetery. We will say good bye to our pachyderm friends by feeding them some fresh fruits or vegetables. Surin province is just as renowned for its handicrafts as it is for its elephants and after we bid farewell to them, we will visit a workshop to see Khmer-style silver beads and other products being made by hand. The most expensive silk fabric in Thailand, popular with the royal family, of course, is made in Ban Tha Sawang village. The exquisite brocade cloth (called paa yok tawng) made here uses threads coated in gold and silver and is woven on a two-story-tall loom worked by four women simultaneously.

Overnight in Surin

Day 9 – Muang Tam & Phanom Rung
Today we will visit two of Thailand’s biggest and best Khmer ruins: Phanom Rung and Muang Tam. Crowning an extinct volcano with views all the way off to Cambodia and reached by a grand promenade, Phanom Rung is a brilliantly restored temple built mostly in the 12th century. The artistic detail is as beautiful as the entire structure is grand and it will impress you even if you’ve already visited Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. Down below Phanom Rung is Muang Tam, a smaller but also impressive and excellently restored ruin that retains some wonderful carvings. Being on flat ground, it follows a more typical layout (the same as Angkor Wat) and the complex is surrounded by four lotus-filled pools. Between the two temples is a village that weaves reed sitting mats. Near Khorat city, Dan Kwian village has been producing pottery for hundreds of years. The original rough, rust colored products are still made, along with a great variety of vibrant modern designs. We’ll visit a seemingly timeless workshop with its giant wood-fired kilns and hit a few stores to see the finished products.

Overnight in Khorat

Day 10 – Khorat & Ban Prasat
Nakhon Ratchasima is a bustling modern city, though its moat and city fortifications still stand as evidence of its long history. We’ll start by admiring Wat Pa-Yap, which has a shrine encrusted with stalactites, stalagmites, and other beautiful rocks rescued from a cave that was destroyed during the excavation of a quarry. Then we’ll join the devotees at the very holy Thao Suranari Memorial, built in honor of a woman who, according to legend, devised and led a prisoner rebellion against the invading Lao army (One version says that the women seduced the soldiers and then the men launched a surprise attack.) in 1826, thus saving the city. Performers do a local folk dance throughout the day to thank “Grandma Mo” for wishes people think she has answered. Many of the lovely buildings at nearby Wat Salaloi, founded by Thao Suranari and her husband, are decorated with Dan Kwian ceramic tiles. Outside the city we’ll stop to see pottery of a completely different kind from the day before. Women here hand make perfectly round clay cooking pots and water containers using the ancient paddle and anvil method rather than a potter’s wheel. In Ban Prasat, on the way back to Khon Kaen, we’ll see the remains of an ancient agrarian culture in three excavated burial sites displaying skeletons and pottery in situ. Then we’ll visit two villages to see how reed sitting mats are made and see the entire silk weaving process: raising silkworms, spinning silk thread, and hand-weaving mut-mee fabric. If you want, you can sit at a loom and try it yourself. Then we’ll stop to admire a historic little temple building featuring original Isan-style murals, which are now very rare, before arriving back in Khon Kaen.

If our itinerary doesn’t fit your exact needs and desires, please let us know. With advance notice we can usually modify things.