Isan returns to Bangkok

Years ago when men living in the furthest eastern parts of Isan planned to travel west, they would say they were "going Thai". This was when the country was still known as Siam, so what they meanjt was that they were going to where the Thai lived. Not many people did make that journey iin the days of Siam, and the few only made the trip infrequently. Pensri's grandfather used the expression when he was going to drive his buffalo down to the market in Korat.

The completion of the railway, which reached Ubon in 1926, made the journey a lot easier, but you wouldn't have thought so if you wanted to travel this weekend. We tried several weeks ago to book to travel from Ubon to Bangkok on Saturday night, 2 January, but everything bookable was already booked. The same was true ofr all the flights from Ubon.

Luckily, there are four buses which come through Phana from Khong Chiam on the Mekong River, headed for Bangkok via Yasothon, Suwannaphum, Surin and Korat. These were heavily booked in advance too but extra buses were being put on so we were able to get one leaving Phana at 5.50 p.m. and aiming to arrive at Morchit at 4.30 a.m.

Phana bus station, usually almost deserted, was swarming with people, most of them young, many of them clearly students. Some young women were kissing goodbye to their small children before heading back to whatever it is they do. Luckily for us and the bus company, the majority of people, and almost all the rowdy ones, were only there to see others off.

All went well and on schedule until I saw a road sign saying Nakorn Ratchasima (Korat) 97 kms. I reckoned that should take about 75 minutes. It took two and a half hours, crawling along in traffic often 4 vehicles wide on a two-lane road. But everyone was driving sensibly, nobody that I saw getting frustrated and doing anything reckless. And I didn't see any sign of a single accident. There were some somewhere I am sure, but my observations over the New Year period suggested that most of those would be motorbike riders with no rear lights, no road sense, no helmets, and no awareness of the danger bigger vehicles pose. And presumably with an inflated idea of their own invulnerablity.

So, it looked for a few hours as if everyone in Isan was on the road, many of them huddled up beneath blankets in the back of pick-up trucks. It also looked as if we might have difficulty getting a taxi from morchit to Bangkapi because so many taxis, driven by their Isan owners I guess, were also heading back to Bangkok.

Well, we got there soon after 5.30 a.m. which is still a good time for clear roads on a Sunday morning, and there were still some taxis around. Now, after a day spent mostly asleep, we're to meet our daughter and son-in-law from England and their three little girls, and go with them for a few days at Hua Hin and then an bit further south. So it's good-bye to Phana for a while although I have some PIC OF THE DAY minblogs scheduled, and although the site has not been working well, you should find something there as well as a couple of posts on this site. We'll see what the beach brings. What the tide washes up, you could say.

 

Comments

[Mike]

Lawrence before I lived here I would never have believed the mass exodus that takes place at holiday times.

If only they had dual track railways with high speed trains.

[Lawrence]

Mike, This has always been a Thai phenomenom, but the "long weekend" is relatively new and means even more people take advantage of the chance to get out of Bangkok. You can't blame them.

I've read a lot recently about the need to improve Thai railways. I'm not comletely convinced. the lne to Ubon has been upgraded (the track, I mean)and it's much smoother and quieter now. But still cheap. The 3rd class gives lots of people the chance to travel (especially now its free). Like India, trains here provide mass travel at affordable prices. High-speed would get rid of that. It could be the beginning of the end as it almost is in UK.

[Martyn]

Lawrence I couldn't get a flight or bus from Udon to Suvarnabhumi on the 3rd and rented the car for one more day. A seven hour drive took over 11 hours and I missed my check in by 20 minutes. The roads were absolutely jam packed. I re booked my flight for the 9th and I'm now back in the UK. Best wishes from a very cold and white England.

[Lawrence]

Hi Martyn

I read about your nightmare journey. Hope the chest virus has cleared up now. At least you got a bit more time with Wi in Thailand.

I don't envy you or anyone in UK at the moment. And we met people down near Hua Hin who went back to Beijing yesterday. They knew what to expect but it must still have been a shock. Two blankets in Phana this morning, though.