I needed to escape Bangkok at the end of December and so I did what any farang would do: go to Isaan. OK, maybe the smart guys go to the beaches of the south, such as Krabi, Pha Nga, Phuket, Hua Hin. I just don't do beaches. I do not enjoy lying on the beach in the blazing sun or sitting on a patio drinking impossibly sweet cocktails and overlooking an ocean. Oceans scare me. Rivers are OK, because I can see the other side. Oceans have no side. I can't relate to them as they seem to cause some kind of short-circuit in my brain.
So off to Isaan. I have already posted some pix of Korat, my first stop. I've also covered Buriram, which I visited a couple of months later. So it's Surin's turn. In pictures. Well, quite a few more than I posted before. And I just happen to have hundreds more so you're stuck with them.
Why Isaan? It's is the source of labour for most of the rest of the country. Surin province and the rest of Isaan (39 provinces) are poor, really poor. So the kind folks there are easily lured by the money of the big towns, beach towns and cities, especially Bangkok. And, as I said before, it's mostly the region's women who migrate. You might call this trip, going to the source. But really, I just wanted out of the intensity of Bangkok for a while. It's an all-out assault on the senses, which can be a good thing, but, like getting too much of something, you need to forcibly remove yourself before you overload and do something like drown in a hot tub full of ice cream, or in my case, Singha with a Sang Som chaser.
Long winded intro over . . . I'll put the images in two category posts: hotels and bar district, then streets and related features. "Bar" is a popular key word in searches, which I noticed in my blog's site stats. The other biggies are, in no particular order, Thai girls, Isaan, Washington Square, karaoke, Buriram, etc. So I'm just going to let the photos roll with the odd comment thrown in:
From the top floor of the Thong Tarin Hotel, off Sirirat Road, which is seen crossing in behind the blue awning. The truck or van, running left to right in front of the 7-11, is on Sirirat. The street heading away from the view has two farang restaurant/bars, as well as a hi-so resto. Off in the distance, behind Nong Bua (lake), is the top-rung (for Surin) Majestic Hotel.
Closer view of the road leading to the bus station, just off to the right and out of view. On this street, in a kind of square. On the left side, is the well regarded Farang Connection, and to the right, across the street, is a Norwegian bar/resto, named after a motorcycle club. Scandinavians will find some of their fave foods there. Picture right is a closeup of the Majestic (900 baht a night and up. Thong Tarin is 400 baht and up, but mostly 740 or so).
View out the Farang Connection, owned by Englishman Martin and his Thai wife. Good food and beer at reasonable prices. Across the street, where you see plants and green awning, is the Norway bar/resto, The Oasis.
Driveway to Thong Tarin, immeidately on right is outdoor resto then the Caesar Karaoke, then the entrance to the hotel. Continue down the drive to the left of the hotel entrance and you will find a large massage place, otherwise known as a "soapie."
The outdoor beer garden and resto with the blue awning, plus the building with the green roof also belong to the Thong Tarin complex. Behind the green roof, on Sirirat, you will find many Thai bars, beer bars, food places, and around the next corner, go-go's, disco, coyote bars and the rest, some basic, some quite nice. As well, you will have no trouble finding girls.
Here we are, "around the next corner" -- the entrance to main bar street, soi Kola. (I've seen it spelled Cola, but Kola seems to dominate.)
Top, from left, Speed3 disco (pic 1); coyote bars Sixties and Hard Rock (I think that's name); then looking back toward Sirirat on Kola are karaokes and the like (pic 3); Thong Tarin seen from Kola (pic 4); closeup of Rose Queen soapie behind the TT (pic 5); and the back of Speed3 (pic 6).
The visit started here at the Surin Railway Station. See part 2 of this post to follow. If you want any further info on the city, you can go to Surin Farang website and click on Forum. There's also the Isaan sub-forum at Thaivisa.com.
Comments