Isaan 9 Day Trip – Need Your Advice

[Bredbury Blue]

The wife is from between Sakhon and Udon but Sakhon is their town. We live in BKK. Been to her village twice before, once just the two of us, another time with my elderley parents, but this time we’ll be going to the village for the first time in six years and taking our 2 and 4 year old boys to see their “roots” (her immediate family live BKK so my boys get to see Yai every day). Planning on a 9 day trip at Chinese New Year in February. Our previous trip were always similar durations and we’d take the route of BKK-Khorat-Khon Khan-Udon (not staying)-Sakon- Khon Khan-Khorat-BKK, usually one night stop on the way up in Khorat (Sima Thani) and a two stop return in Khon Khan (Sofitel – great value for money) and either Khorat or Khao Yai.

Need your help / comments to help plan it – all contributions gratefully accepted.

I’m currently have these questions:

1) Maybe go taking that road that runs by the back of Khao Yai through Kabinburi as I live near Bang Pakong and can pick it up somewhere near Chachengsao – anybody use it? Any good? Safe? Quick? Busy? Where does it end up – connecting to the Khorat to Buriram road?

2) Go up or down via and taking in nights in one or more of the following places: Surin and / or Ubon and / or Mukdahan. What does each have to offer (bear in mind the kids)? Can you recommend a decent hotel in each place of similar type to the two I mentioned above? My biggest concern is the drive time between places with two impatient busy little boys in the car.

3) Are these drive times realistic – if not can you advise what is:

KM Hours

Bangkok Khorat 261 3

Khorat KK 190 2

KK Muk 243 2.5

Muk Sakhon 119 1.5

Sakhon KK 205 2.5

Khorat Surin 198 3

Surin Muk 246 3

Khorat Ubon 420 5

Ubon Muk 165 2.5

4) Anybody in this forum live in Sakhon who could answer a few questions?

Cheers.

[lampard10]

Need your help / comments to help plan it – all contributions gratefully accepted.

You could do what some people do:

Day1. Arrive at F.C.

Day 9. Leave F.C.

Got some lovely pics of Chelsea on the wall

[Bredbury Blue]

Need your help / comments to help plan it – all contributions gratefully accepted.

You could do what some people do:

Day1. Arrive at F.C.

Day 9. Leave F.C.

Got some lovely pics of Chelsea on the wall :D

As my only football buddy in thailand (why does everybody seem to follow rugby here?) is a chelski supporter, plus your extravagance in paying us loads of money for SWP (can we have him back now please), plus its your lot rather than ManUre or those bighead scousers, i find myself these days as a sympathetic (alright pathetic) Chelski supporter, so would you welcome me in F.C. as a Man City supporter?

Football aside, any thing to contribute to my posting?

[jayenram]

3) Are these drive times realistic – if not can you advise what is:

KM Hours

Bangkok Khorat 261 3 (maybe slightly longer and assuming you're going via Saraburi)

Khorat KK 190 2 (ok)

KK Muk 243 2.5 (not sure)

Muk Sakhon 119 1.5 (again not sure)

Sakhon KK 205 2.5 (not sure)

Khorat Surin 198 3 (less - just over 2 hours on 226)

Surin Muk 246 3 (about right - maybe a little longer)

Khorat Ubon 420 5 (5 hours should do it)

Ubon Muk 165 2.5 (not sure)

4) Anybody in this forum live in Sakhon who could answer a few questions?

Cheers.

[phibunmike]

Hi,

I don't know much, but here's a little:

1. Khorat - Surin and Khorat - Ubon driving times ok, just did that yesterday. The 226 has been recently resurfaced in places and is good.

2. In Ubon I have stayed at Pathumrat and a cheaper place I often recommend to people who are looking for something lower budget - the Pathumrat is more like the Sima Thani but nowhere near as nice. There are a couple of other hotels in Ubon that might be closer to the Sima Thani but I haven't stayed at them, so I will leave that to others.

3. You could detour to Khong Chiam, stay at the Toh Siang, very nice but more expensive than Sima Thani - but this would be a quite different itinerary for you, heading from there up to Amnat Charoen to rejoin your original plan. Worthwhile if you want to take the family there for the Mekong, Pha Taem National Park, waterfalls, etc.

4. The road at the back of Khao Yai - if you mean the 24, I have not used the western end of it, but do enjoy the eastern end. It is a smaller road than the 226 (mostly 2 lane) but has less traffic. The scenery is nicer, I think, and you have the options of dropping in at Khao Phra Vihan etc. You could also then drop in for lunch and let the kids run around at TV member Trond's place, a pleasant guest house and restaurant among the fruit trees (near Nam Yuen). Heading this far south is also a bit of a detour, it depends how much "touring" you want to include on your route.

Enjoy your trip,

Mike

[lampard10]

[, i find myself these days as a sympathetic (alright pathetic) Chelski supporter, so would you welcome me in F.C. as a Man City supporter?

Football aside, any thing to contribute to my posting?

Actually we've got the other three Man City supporters use our place.

No, not really Yorky has put down all the ones that I know. Although saying that ,he did take around nine hours to get from Korat to Surin once.

The only other thing is, you can go almost direct from Surin to Mukdahan. But 3 hrs is about right.

[Cuban]

From your OP I think the road that you are talking about through Kabinburi is the 304, it has been improved a lot in the past 5 years. I last drove down about three or four weeks ago, no serious delays I recall. There is a lot of rebuilding happening on the 304 section between Kabinburi up to Pak Thong Chai, if you travel during the working day I would expect a fair amount of truck overtaking is required on the unmade road sections. Also if you have not driven this route before there is a nice mountain range as you drive through Khao Yai National Park, one section in particular seems good at causing accidents, they used to have a wrecked car on a stand next to the road as a reminder to people not to speed or overtake on that section but it was removed a few years ago. That said it's a nice drive during the day.

On the way up North the 304 flows smoothly into the Korat by-pass forming Highway 2.

FYI. As the 304 crosses the 24 up to Korat it straightens up and has a wide central reservation with plenty of trees that brown cars enjoy parking under.

I prefered the 24 when driving from Korat to Ubon, I found it less busy than the 226, but it's been about three years since I did that trip.

Mukdahan has a few nice hotels, but since the opening of the new bridge might be busy, I've no recent experiance just what I read in The Bangkok Post before Christmas.

You could drive up Highway 23 from Ubon to Yasothon, Roi Et, Kalsin, Sakon Nakhon as an alternative to the 212 via Mukdahan, I think that probably offers more sight seeing options. There is a huge new (?) Wat that is being build about an hour or so from Yasothon the family might want to see that, I would have to check with my OH for the exact location. The climb to the very top is a little scary.

Looking at the map, has anyone been to the little town that is at the junction of the 214,215,202 ?

[Bredbury Blue]

[, i find myself these days as a sympathetic (alright pathetic) Chelski supporter, so would you welcome me in F.C. as a Man City supporter?

Football aside, any thing to contribute to my posting?

Actually we've got the other three Man City supporters use our place.

So there are four of us thailand then, thats good to hear.

[Gary A]

Highway 304 through Kabinburi and through the mountains is being made into four lanes BUT it's not complete by a long ways. There is about a 55 kilometer stretch of two lane that can sometimes be pretty bad because of overloaded trucks grunting along at 20 kilometers per hour. There are a number of places where they will pull over as far as they can and it is possible to pass them even with oncoming traffic. That said, I still prefer to go to Pattaya/Jomtien that way rather than taking highway 2 and the bypass around Bangkok.

[farangconnection]

From Pattaya to Surin the best way is 331 up to the 304, then take the 359 direction Sao Kao from there Wattana Nakon, take the short hill trip at Ta Praya NP, Nong din Dang, lahan Sai, Baan Kruat Prakonchai, Krasang Surin. If you are going to Buriram, keep going on to Pakham & Nang Rong after Nong Din Dang. Pattaya to Surin is just under 450 km's that way.

[bergen]

4. The road at the back of Khao Yai - if you mean the 24, I have not used the western end of it, but do enjoy the eastern end. It is a smaller road than the 226 (mostly 2 lane) but has less traffic. The scenery is nicer, I think, and you have the options of dropping in at Khao Phra Vihan etc. You could also then drop in for lunch and let the kids run around at TV member Trond's place, a pleasant guest house and restaurant among the fruit trees (near Nam Yuen). Heading this far south is also a bit of a detour, it depends how much "touring" you want to include on your route.

Enjoy your trip,

Mike

Hi BB

If you consider to visit Khao Phra Vihan, (which is a "must see") in lower part of Isaan, you are very welcome to visit us on Suan Loong Daeng Farm. If you want to know more about our place, you will find our web site on Farang Connection's links. - Good luck and cheers!

Trond

[Pink Mist]

avoid surin at all costs, it's full of rampaging drunken falang

[jayenram]

lthough saying that ,he did take around nine hours to get from Korat to Surin once.

Seven hours. We didn't pass a single pub!

[farangconnection]

avoid surin at all costs, it's full of rampaging drunken falang

That's why you're always welcome Bloncs

[Bredbury Blue]

Thanks to everybodies comments so far, been great.

Can anybody recommend a good quality hotel or resort in or just out of Buriram and Surin?

How big is Buriram compared to Surin? Which offers best facilities (thinking here of Big C, Lotus,etc)?

Anybody been to Sakhon Nakhon in recent times and can recommend a decent hotel? How about Nakhon P?

We've stayed in SN in a reasonable hotel there whose name escapes me right name, remembered for the amazing gaudy carpets, bedspreads and curtains - a blessing that i'm colour blind.

[Bredbury Blue]

If anybody has any comments on my question above NOT Surin related, i'd appreciate it.

Lamps, sorry i was being a bit slow as i thought FC was in Ubon (doh!)

Had a look at your website and quite fancy taking in Surin and maybe then heading up further north (either to SN or via Mukdahan to SN). So what's the best hotel in Surin then - pm if you can't state it publicly. Or any decent resort just outside Surin you'd recommend (thinking nice gardens / pool where my rabble can runaround crazy)? Cheers.

[farangconnection]

If anybody has any comments on my question above NOT Surin related, i'd appreciate it.

Lamps, sorry i was being a bit slow as i thought FC was in Ubon (doh!)

Had a look at your website and quite fancy taking in Surin and maybe then heading up further north (either to SN or via Mukdahan to SN). So what's the best hotel in Surin then - pm if you can't state it publicly. Or any decent resort just outside Surin you'd recommend (thinking nice gardens / pool where my rabble can runaround crazy)? Cheers.

The best hotel in Surin isthe Maj*stic, sorry I can't use the full name. Oh sod it.Course I can. The Majestic, I forgot I was on as Farangconnection today, and as they are part of our set-up. Just PM me for reservations. It'll be nice for some support against all these "REDS" that litter the place. The pub next door to us is a definate United stronghold for the Thais.

[steve73]

Anybody been to Sakhon Nakhon in recent times and can recommend a decent hotel? How about Nakhon P?

Stayed in NP just before xmas in a really dirty place just under the famous clock tower, maybe called "first hotel" if memory OK. Cheap (300 a/c-h/w) and central but not recommended. There's a bigger, newer place about 1/2 km further south overlooking the River that looked nice, but didn't note the name, & no idea how much.

[nev]

on your way up to udon thani maybe stop at kranuan, there is a nice hotel resort there called castle howchoi resort, i think they have a ewb site, i have been here and had a look it is very nice.

not far from my girlfriends village in nong kung si.

what days will you be up khon kaen and udon thani bredblue i will be up there from around 18th feb. cheers nev

[Bredbury Blue]

We don't have anybody living in the Sakhon area? Anybody been recently?