Name

Comments

   CAR HIRE

Goldlai Car Rent
and Travel Ltd

229/33 Srichant Road
Khonkaen
Tel +66 43 332933

Very close to the Charoen Thani Princess Hotel this company provided me with a very good Toyata Pickup for 1180 baht a day. With a 2.5 turbo diesel engine it was economical, even cruising for most of the time around the 90 kph speed limit.

The manager, Mac, speaks some English so it was very simple to complete the formalities and get on my way.

I thought it polite to use a car-wash before I returned the pick-up to them. The Petrol Station adjacent to the Hire office provided that service for about 100 baht. Cleaned inside and out and including a chassis clean. All that AND time to enjoy an ice-cold Liptons Lemon Tea while I waited sitting in the sun.

   HOTELS

K.S. Mansion

Apibanbuneh Road
Muang Nakhon Phanom
Tel: +66 42-516100

Very basic - but clean and very comfortable indeed - and excellent value at 300 baht per night for an air-conditioned room. If you can cope with just a ceiling fan then that will cost you about 250 baht each night.

There is a patio window which leads to a small balcony - and has the much needed sliding screen-door to keep the mosquitos at bay.

There is no restaurant, but Nakhon Phanom has numerous excellent restaurants within easy walking distance. Snacks (top of the menu is Pot Noodle) and chilled drinks are available at supermarket prices at reception.

Napalai

572 Pracha-Raksa Road
Muang Udon Thani
Tel: +66 42-516100

A comfortable quality hotel in Udon Thani with rooms at very good prices.

Large clean rooms with excellent aircon for those more used to a temperate climate.

It has a pleasant atrium-type garden which can easily be reached from the restaurant or lobby a gentle stroll after a tasty meal is most relaxing.

The restaurant serves wonderful food. I have only eaten the local food, but I believe that Western food is also available.

Local musicians provide great music ... BUT ... (A BIG BUT) ... they can be a little too enthusiatic with the volume control making intimate conversation very difficult . Don't let that put you off, service and food in the restaurant is wonderful.

PP Hotel

Darun Samran Road
Amphur Muang
Khon Kaen
+66 43 226500

The hotel is close to the railway station. Just stand at the entrance and look slightly to the left across the fruit and veg market and you will see the tall white building almost in front of you.

Very clean, comfortable and totally Thai. The service is first class but the price is 'budget' (less than £8.00 sterling a night). I booked in for one night and stayed a week I liked it so much. I recently stayed there again for about 5 weeks - I found the staff still as helpful and friendly as ever.

It has the invitable Karaoke bar - which doubles as a restaurant with excellent food and friendly waitress service at little more than roadside stall prices.

Be careful if you enjoy quiet solitary evenings though - this is not the place for you. A quick visit to the restaurant for prawn fried rice will develop into a party evening lasting many hours - and many drinks. If you smile back at the other diners/drinkers/singers when they look at you, you will soon be invited to join them at their table to share food and liquid hospitality.

Please remember to offer others drinks if they ask to join you at your table - a coke is 15 baht and bottle of Scotch whiskey about 240 baht so you can afford to be generous with it. IF (as the result of some pitiful miscalculation) there is any left in the bottle, the restaurant will either keep the bottle for you, or allow you bring it back next time you go in.

Also worth remembering is that a 20 baht tip is less than the cost of a can of Coke in the UK - but it is a great help to whoever is looking after you and your table if you give that amount as a tip.

Pratunum Park Hotel

40/1 Petchburi Road
Bangkok 10400
Tel: +66 2656 2525
ptnpark@loxinfo.co.th

Although not in Isaans, but in the heart of Bangkok I cannot fail to include this hotel. It is a good centre to relax after a long flight and also explore the shops and culture of Bangkok before setting off to the North East. A taxi to the Airport is about 180 baht, and to the Railway Station it is about 80 baht.

Not only is it close to the big computer mall - the Pan Tip Centre and to the Baiyoke Market area of Pratunum, it is impeccably clean and very comfortable with at least 5 Star service. I don't care how many stars the guide books give it - this site is MY view after all. (And yours too, when you have stayed there!).

Receptionists (and Front of House Managers), restaurant staff and the bell boys all speak good English. Whilst on the subject of restaurant staff, the restaurant serves excellent traditional Thai dishes at reasonable prices

There is a connection with Isaans though, several of the 'Front of House' staff are from the region so I guess that easily justifies its inclusion.

Sofitel Raja Orchid

9/9 Prachasumran Road
Khon Kaen 40000
+66 43 322155
sofitel@sofitelkhonkaen.com

Undeniably Khon Kaen's top hotel. Pure luxury and treatment like a multi-millionaire at a nightly rate similar to a seaside B&B in the UK. It even has it's own 'micro-brewery' in the basement bar (The Underground).

Western and Asian food is available and room service meals are cheaper than a fast food joint in UK .... and made of real ingredients not soya and plastic!

It is a great hotel - I loved to swim in the outdoor pool at dusk, with the underwater lighting giving a friendly glow - but it is a Western environment, an oasis of Euroculture transplanted to Thailand. I absolutely loved staying there experiencing service and treatment the like of which I have not found in the West. However after a tour around the smaller towns and rural areas being spoilt in the Isaan's manner you may feel the need to find somewhere truly Thai.

Submukda Hotel

72 Samutsakdarak Road
Muang Mukdaharn 49000
Tel: +66 42-633 444, 42-633 555

New, very comfortable and of course impeccably clean as you would expect with a hotel for Thai people. Standing on the reasonably sized balcony I could glimpse the Mekhong river. Mukdahan does not appear to have riverside resorts or hotels, so a 4th floor room was the only way to see acroos the Mekhong to Laos.

I had a very large room with fridge and satellite TV and, naturally, air-conditioning.

As with many hotels for Thai people there is no restauarnt, but for snacks 7/11 is 20 metres away across the road. Diagonally across the road junction from 7/11 is a clean and pleasant restaurant where breakfast is less than UKP 1.00.

Mukdahan has many good restaurants, I list the 'Sukavadee' on this page, but, compared to some Isaans cities, such as Khon Kaen, there are far fewer pavement food stalls and restaurants.

Vasu Hotel

1066/4 Rimklongsomtawil Rd
Maha Sarakham 44000
Tel: +66 43-723075

I've stayed here many, many times and I have no intention of changing my habits at this time.

Although not many of the staff speak English that seems to cause few problems. The service is always first class, and the foyer bar is pleasant with the karaoke singers easy on the eye. Most of the singers are students and are happy to sit at your table to share a drink (but NOT your room). Several can speak reasonable English so a conversation can make a pleasant, relaxing evening.

The rooms are comfortable - a double at about 500 baht and a huge suite size room about 800 baht. That does not include an American Breakfast .... but that is only about 60 or 100 baht extra.

   RESTAURANTS        This section does not include restaurants at the hotels - all of which were very good.

E-sans Orchid Restaurant
(and Entertainment Complex).

Phrachasamasorn Road
Khon Kaen
Tel: +66 43 336961/2
Mob: +66 1739 9013

This is the first restaurant I ever visited in Khon Kaen ... and it has had many visits from me since that time.

I enjoyed Isaans food at really good prices ... and the first time that I ate there I thought that they had brought me the bill for someone eating alone, not a party of three adults and three children.

Not only is the food and service very good, but the restaurant also provides live Morlam music and dance. It is great to see the rich Isaans traditions kept alive at venues like this. The live music and dance is generally only on Fridays and Saturdays, but on all nights there is karaoke ( "sing-a-song" which I ALWAYS decline out of respect for other diners' ears).

On a recent visit the music was provided by a Ponglang band composed entirely of teenagers. Their talent and stage presence was the equal of any adult band that I have seen - but they also showed that teenagers know their culture and want to perpetuate the traditional values, not emulate the worst examples of Western music(?).

Although it needs a 'tuk-tuk', motorcycle or car to get to it, is very easy to find. Travel east on the Phrachasamasorn Road from the Tourist Police Office, past Khon Kaen Vocational College and it is about 5 minutes journey (with a brave 'tuk-tuk' driver).

Khrua Foonan Restaurant

Darun Samran Road
Amphur Muang
Khon Kaen

Just turn right out of the PP Hotel and less than a 100 metres walk you will find this great restaurant. The quality of food is as good as any restaurant in the world - but none of the tiny 'nouvelle cuisine' arty-farty servings - just real size portions ... most dishes are enough for two or three people. You also get the wonderful carved decorations which are special to Thailand cuisine.

One meal I enjoyed there had roses carved from radishes to adorn the salad. One beautifully presented meal I had that night was chicken and cashew nuts - not spread across the plate, but served in a trumpet-shaped crispy pancake. With the green salad beneath it, the meal resembled an orchid or a lily.

Live music is provided too, but at a level which does not disturb good conversation and in the course of a meal you can expect three different sets of entertainers.

WARNING! Don't put down your glass after each sip - it will be whisked away for a top-up before you can swallow the sip!

Sukavadee Restaurant

Sumranchaikhongthai Road
Muang Mukdahan, 4900
Tel +66 42-611 882

On the river front overlooking the Mekhong. Walk South from the ferry terminal, past two Wats and you will see the restaurant on your right. There are outside tables, and for those (like me) who are bored with feeding the mosquitos, there is also an enclosed air-conditioned section.

Ignoring the menu for mosquitos and selfishly looking at my own needs, I do not know how to describe the wonderful meal that I ate there. The flavours were exquisite, three stir-fried dishes each had entirely different flavours. I think the fried rice I had as an accopaniment was probably the best that I have eaten in Thailand ... or indeed anywhere in the whole of South East Asia.

The owner and his son both speak English, so no difficulties there. The only difficulty - as in every restaurant in Thailand is stopping your glass from being refilled after every sip. Efficient, attentive staff looked after me very well