Taste of Thailand may be in your own backyard

The Canadian flag hangs over the entrance of the Phadaeng Mansion hotel in downtown Ubon Ratchathani. The owner dreams of visiting British Columbia. Brand new place, charging 400 or 500 baht a night for well appointed rooms. Photo inset taken from second-floor balcony.

When you read this,  I should be on the bus to Nakhon Panom, after spending three, long days and nights in Ubon Ratchathani.  Probably my fault that I feel that way. How do you know what a Thai city has if you only spend a few days exploring it?

I was intrigued by Ubon from complimentary reports on online forums and blogs. Part of its appeal is that it’s far from Bangkok. Could be I find “real” Thailand  there? Is this desirable? Or is there any such thing? Another part of its appeal is low incidence of foreigners. Or at least low numbers of the kind of foreigners drawn to places like Pattaya. Yes, Pattaya stands for much that is distasteful about certain visitors to the Land of Smiles.

But as I discovered, Ubon’s just as Thai as Bangkok.

   
The Moon River in Ubon Ratchathani. First looking north, then back to way I came and finally toward the bridge, which I crossed in a "taxi" -- clapped out pickup -- from the railway station.

I was first looking to escape Bangkok’s din.  But Ubon’s got the loud motos and tuk tuks, constant traffic, barking stray dogs and yowling  cats. From the nearby park where a country fair is underway, comes thumping bass sounds and public address systems with too much treble and amplification. Loud-speakers hail customers for fruits, vegetables and whatever.

I hoped to be able to walk in a relaxed physical setting. But the Ubon streets are just as disorderly as Bangkok’s, with shops blocking sidewalks with their wares and some simply taking over a lane of street with furniture or food tables. Then there’s the customer motorbikes  and pickups parked so you’re forced to take to the street, too. Of course, there’s the high sidewalks as barriers to annual flooding.

I know because I was on foot most of the time. Folks driving and riding are not used to pedestrians so you are invisible. You have to check every direction twice or three times before you set out. Then you want to check over your shoulder as you reach each segment of your crossing. 

I thought a trip to the outer reaches of the town core might be in order. I took baht bus No. 11 to a big mall near a major university. I went considerably beyond my intended stop. It felt like I was in a North American satellite town. Car dealerships, fast-food joints, giant hotels, wide, busy boulevards with three lanes of traffic, heavy truck traffic, and never-ending lines of motorcycles with helmetless teens blowing by vehicles on the inside.

I finally got to the mall and inside were typically ill-designed retail floors in Thailand. It was filled with stuff girls would buy, plus the fast-food outlets. Outside and in were hundreds of students in their uniforms, looking for something fatty or sweet. Or maybe something cuddly to hang from their mobile phones or chemical to put on their lips.

Before I entered, I spotted a sign for a serviced apartment tower. The project was named Costly Place -- I kid you not. See the photo. Of course, Thailand is full of examples of Thinglish, where some Thai with a “degree” takes a literal translation and it comes out just the opposite of the intention. Maybe it was supposed to be Luxury Place.

Teenagers play a kind of mini-football (soccer) at a big park near my hotel. There might be a Thai name for it. It was six aside and pretty rough and tumble at times.

Getting around town in the evening is pain in the butt. There are no taxis in this  city  (provincial population of 1.7 million). Yes, there are tuk tuks. I waited around a major street corner for 15 minutes. Then gave up and walked to the country fair. There were about 15 tuk tuks drydocked, so to speak. They didn’t roam around, looking for customers but hung around the fair for hours. You really need your own transportation here, as you do in every town and city I’ve visited, including Korat (which was a little better for taxi availability but pricy), Chiang Mai (a few tuks tuks roamed the streets), Surin, Buriram, Kohn Kaen, Udon Thani and now Ubon Ratchathani. Some bars can call you a taxi but if you’re a tourist like me, you might not know that -- as I didn’t last night.

I grabbed a tuk tuk at the fair and headed off. We went for 2 klicks before I thought, what if I couldn’t get back? I turned him around and went back downtown. Cost me 140 baht. For nothing. I later learned at the Wrong Way Cafe bar that they could call me a taxi. I imagine other bars can do the same, but as a first-timer, you learn the hard way.  Now Ubon is not a tourist destination, still in a city of 1.7 million, couldn’t there be, oh, I dunno, taxis. I suppose there’s no great need for them if you live here and have a car or bike. But drinking and driving is not my custom.

People like to say Bangkok is not the real Thailand. But most of these towns appear to me to be not much different than Bangkok. Except Bangkok has a better transportation network. Also I have to say that I can get cheap food and drink there too. I paid 30 baht for a noodle soup here, same as Bangkok. I can get a quart of Leo for 45 baht on soi 36. That 2 km, 140 baht  tuk tuk ride (he wanted 200) in Ubon I can get for 40 baht in Bangkok. I’ve paid more for a massage in Thai cities than in Bangkok. The only thing that is very likely cheaper in other Thai towns and cities is accommodation, whether hotel or home.

Bangkok doesn’t sound so bad if you want a taste of Thailand.

More pictures of activity in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand:

Does the sign mean to say, Luxury Place? One of thousands of interesting uses of English in Thailand.

 

My "Go To" place for the duration of my stay, the Wrong Way cafe. Very decent food, good beer, nice setting and friendly boss, the Thai wife of the "owner."  Never met the man himself.

 

A night food market near the Hotel Ratchathani at Ratchabut and Khuanthani Rds., Ubon. Opens at 4 pm and closes 6 am.

And more pictures from the food market:

   

Comments

[Jonny]

1.

Hi Rick,

I didn't like Ubon myself either, though I many a foreigner does and I respect that. Me, I prefer Bangkok if I want a city, else I'm happy to be someone that is comfortable being smaller.

Btw, Futsol is the football game that snapped a picture of. Very competition, high on energy and skill and popular right across Thailand.

[Siam.Rick]

2.

Thanks for the input MeMock.

The pop figure is used in several sources, including the UN but now it's clear they meant the province. That wasn't at all clear in my original source. So I'll fix that in my story.

So I arrived during a festival. That must explain some of craziness in the streets.

I was aware the mall was not on the outskirts. I did travel far beyond that in the baht bus, beyond the bus station area and back through the Big C area and into some neighbourhoods.

Overall, I saw way more than a tourist would and still feel the same way about Ubon, i.e., it's Bangkok in miniature. I'm sure there are many features you could point out worth seeing and might change the balance of my view. But I had talked with many long-ish-term expats who really like the place. So next time! Cheers

[MeMock]

3.

1.7 million people? Where did you get this crazy statistic?

Shame you didn't like it but remember that you were at a hotel opposite the main park during the busiest 10 days for the entire year.

That so called mall on the 'outskirts' of town is in fact no where near the edge of town, in fact there are some great parks (much more relaxed then the one you visited) only a km or two from there. Given that the 'mall' is opposite the biggest university for hundreds and hundreds of kilometres did you really expect anything different then bangkok?

I wish we had got to meet so that I could have pointed you in some much better directions!

Cheers.

[Siam.Rick]

4.

I'm about to explore NP. With my camera. Last night I went to a small street food market. Don't remember the street but it's near Windsor Hotel (what isn't!!!) Had great Khao Mun Gai and cafe yen. I met an young Austrian traveller and we kept bumping into each other. NP is small! So we hit a few karaokes and bars. Had good time.

I don't know if it's normal or not, but there was a lot to do with street markets, another giant market (which I think was Indochine) and sizeable country carnival with rides and concert.

A tuk tuk driver tells me moments ago -- I'm sitting outside Windsor right now -- it's been raining for three days. Is this normal. Rather cool, too, at 20C.

And . . . I have to say the girls here are very, very pretty indeed. Coming from Ubon, I was not impressed. Score Ubon 0, NP 360928604.

I saw Mukdahan from the bus. Looked like quite nice town.

[Talen]

5.

Great post Rick. You're right it takes more than a few days to explore and find out about a city.

I think you'll really love Nakhon Phanom and it's nothing like Bangkok. A decent sized city with a small town feel. Make sure to hit the Indochine market and the promenade along the Mekong.

Mukdahan is about 20 minutes away and there isn't much there but the night market is awesome and has the best foods.

[glenn]

6.

you said, "How do you know what a Thai city has if you only spend a few days exploring it?"

If you've only spent a few days there and it feels like enough: it is. Time to move on and see more.

Enjoy your road trip in Laos. Travel is exhausting and so worth it!

P.S. I paid B100 from the Tokyo Hotel to the train station back in '97.

[michael]

7.

Ahhhh, Kuhn Rick, another fine post. It appears that you've achieved a better appreciation (or understanding) of Thailand through your travels. All is not gold. There's good and bad everywhere you travel in this conflicted country. But knowing you, the good will triumph as your personality will attract the same. Keep on the road and enjoy your times, if nothing else the experiences will help in future decisions.

Cheers
M