I'm thinking of riding my motorbike up to Mukdahan from Bangkok in a couple of weeks time, there's a couple of things I'd like to know;

Can anybody recommend somewhere to stay around half way there? I'd like to have a few beers and maybe play some pool, nothing too strenuous.

I've checked Google Maps and there seems to be some roadworks just past half way on one of the most direct routes, has anybody done this route on a bike recently? Which route would you take for quality of roads and scenery?

 

At a quick quess I would stop in Surin plenty of cheap places there when we last rode and stopped  there.

I would make the stop either in Korat, Khon Kaen, Buriram or Surin, obviously depends a bit on what route you want take.

Korat is after the first 30% of the ride, Khon Kaen more like 70% of the ride, Buriram at about 50% and Surin maybe 60%. So it also depends on how you want to split the ride over the two days.

You should find some beer and pool in all of these cities.

There is nothing scenic on the route that I'm aware of. If you take the route through Khon Khaen, it's basically a big 2-3 lane highway all the way, if you ride through Buriram/Surin it's a bit smaller 1-2 Lane highway after Korat.

 

I do a similar route each year to That Phanom. Phimai Historical Park is my preferred mid point stop. Nice little town to stay a night in.  

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'm fine with big long highways as opposed to scenic routes, I realised there might not have been much to look at.

Phimai historical park looks interesting, so does Buriram. Surin is just a bit too far off the main highways. Ignore that, Surin is an option too, I'm assuming Surin is a little bit more rural than Buriram? The route from Surin up to Muk looks a lot more rural, lots more dark green landscape...

This route is looking the most likely, and perhaps I'll stop off at Khon Kaen and then Phimai on the return leg...

 

18 hours ago, MaiDong said:

I'm assuming Surin is a little bit more rural than Buriram

I've only spent 2 nights in each of them, but from my subjective experience they are relatively similar, both are small cities.

Buriram gets more visitors though due to the "Chang circuit", so there are more hotel options.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, FriendlyFarang said:

I've only spent 2 nights in each of them, but from my subjective experience they are relatively similar, both are small cities.

Buriram gets more visitors though due to the "Chang circuit", so there are more hotel options.

 

 

 

Thanks, I think I'll go NR - Kalasin route on the way out as the road is bigger and hopefully less farm machinery..., and possibly the Surin or Buriram route on the way back.