Holiday Trip to Isan

[ChiFlyer]

The GF and I built a nice little house in the Khon Kaen area. We are spending the next few weeks there so that she can visit her family.

We drove up to the Khon Kaen area house two days ago. I spent 9 hours behind the wheel on Thailand's highways.

My unsolicited advice to any lesser experienced BMs, who may be thinking about doing this. -> Keep your wits and cool about you if you decide to do this. Between being unable to read some highway signs (because of being sandwiched in-between large trucks), highway debris, poorly maintained roads, farm vehicles, and Ms Google Maps deciding to direct me down a rural road it is trying.

We made it without incident, but there were a few times that I was watching the gas closely because I was concerned that the line may have been punctured by debris encounters. The final approach (20 kms) down a narrow rural road was a thrill a minute for sure. Must be some way of setting Ms Google Maps to not use rural roads for the trip back in January.

Glad we made the trip. The GF is very happy to see her family for 3 weeks. Her nephew (my godson in my words, as we tied arms when he was born) gave me the wai of the century. At least somebody is glad to see me. I am certain this is because I had agreed to buy him a futbol and also make a spaghetti dinner tomorrow, which he much appreciates.

The long distance home improvements (driveway, flower garden, additional kitchen cabinets and counters) all look good and were worth the money IMO. Looks like my dip pool has had it's space encroached upon by the driveway and also been moved to the 2024 budget due to us buying a pool villa in Hua Yai. We only spend about 2 months a year here in Khon Kaen at this time. I guess I can struggle through without a dip pool for a while longer.

More later.

A pic of the house prior to the most recent round of renovations.

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by ChiFlyer

[Captain_B]

26 minutes ago, ChiFlyer said:

The GF and I built a nice little house in the Khon Kaen area. We are spending the next few weeks there so that she can visit her family.

We drove up to the Khon Kaen area house two days ago. I spent 9 hours behind the wheel on Thailand's highways.

My unsolicited advice to any lesser experienced BMs, who may be thinking about doing this. -> Keep your wits and cool about you if you decide to do this. Between being unable to read some highway signs (because of being sandwiched in-between large trucks), highway debris, poorly maintained roads, farm vehicles, and Ms Google Maps deciding to direct me down a rural road it is trying.

We made it without incident, but there were a few times that I was watching the gas closely because I was concerned that the line may have been punctured by debris encounters. The final approach (20 kms) down a narrow rural road was a thrill a minute for sure. Must be some way of setting Ms Google Maps to not use rural roads for the trip back in January.

Glad we made the trip. The GF is very happy to see her family for 3 weeks. Her nephew (my godson in my words, as we tied arms when he was born) gave me the wai of the century. At least somebody is glad to see me. I am certain this is because I had agreed to buy him a futbol and also make a spaghetti dinner tomorrow, which he much appreciates.

The long distance home improvements (driveway, flower garden, additional kitchen cabinets and counters) all look good and were worth the money IMO. Looks like my dip pool has had it's space encroached upon by the driveway and also been moved to the 2024 budget due to us buying a pool villa in Hua Yai. We only spend about 2 months a year here in Khon Kaen at this time. I guess I can struggle through without a dip pool for a while longer.

More later.

A pic of the house prior to the most recent round of renovations.

 

We had a house built in 2003 in the vicinity of Roiet. First time we went up on a Kawasaki Boss 175cc bike. If you think the roads are bad now you should have seen them then.:) I have lost count how many times we have driven back and forth but in those initial years we passed many fatal accidents, police checks and  terrible road conditions poor signage and of course, no Sat navs or Google. Today l,m in Khao San Rd, flying up tomorrow from Don Muang as my missus took the car up 2 weeks ago with the dogs etc. It will be a quieter Xmas and New Year than Pattaya. She has been cleaning  the pool ready for me and it's filling now. Happy days.

[coxyhog]

After we got married in Bangkok I rented a brand new Corolla in Pattaya & drove up to Korat.

That was in 1991 and as said above if you think the roads are bad now you should've seen 'em then!

Occasionally the tarmac would end without warning & on one occasion when I had a car full of females the dual carriageway suddenly ended & we nearly had a head on.Lots of very loud screaming.

My mate Wayne Tischburn said that no way was that car coming back unscathed but I proved him wrong.

[Horizondave]

I have a small place in Khon Kaen as well (about 25 mins drive north west of the city). I love being there for a short trip but need a bit of social interaction beyond the Thai family. I used to drive up from our place in Hua Hin, leaving at midnight and going through the other side of Bangkok around 4am. The roads heading through Saraburi and onwards were pretty busy early in the morning but getting to our place at around 0900 was good for a few hours sleep before being sent down to the mom and pop shop for the beer.

Would love to be there now, especially with this cold weather right now here in Wales.

[Zambo]

4 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

A pic of the house prior to the most recent round of renovations.

 

Great looking house

[Zambo]

4 hours ago, Captain_B said:

We had a house built in 2003 in the vicinity of Roiet. First time we went up on a Kawasaki Boss 175cc bike. 

Yikes, sore ass i guess.

Thailand has a good road network with many 6 lane highways. compare to neighbouring Malaysia which struggles to link Penang- KL-Johor with adequate roads. For me the worst regionally is Vietnam which although now reasonably industrialised has a road network which struggles to get you above 50km/hr.

[ChiFlyer]

I have been looking at my Ms Google Maps routing problem, where it directs one down rural roads that are barely passable. It appears that the algorithim selects the route figuring that any road can be traversed at maximum speed. Not really true when one is behind a caravan of Thai Sugar Cane trucks on a washed out road. The only way around this is to plan a partial route to where you want your local route to end. According to multiple Google problem requests this is a common problem.

[Freee!!]

On 12/14/2022 at 2:07 PM, Zambo said:

For me the worst regionally is Vietnam which although now reasonably industrialised has a road network which struggles to get you above 50km/hr.

I've seen enough stretches where it is possible to drive faster, but the legal speed limit on the motorways is only 80 km/h, sleep inducing slow.

[ChiFlyer]

On 12/14/2022 at 5:16 PM, coxyhog said:

After we got married in Bangkok I rented a brand new Corolla in Pattaya & drove up to Korat.

That was in 1991 and as said above if you think the roads are bad now you should've seen 'em then!

Occasionally the tarmac would end without warning & on one occasion when I had a car full of females the dual carriageway suddenly ended & we nearly had a head on.Lots of very loud screaming.

My mate Wayne Tischburn said that no way was that car coming back unscathed but I proved him wrong.

This is most certainly not meant as any kind of rebuttal to your post.

Today, I think the roads from Pattaya to Korat are pretty decent  -> Rt 7 to Rt 9 becomes Rt 1 into Rt 2. They all have their charms. 7 is actually really good. 9 is also not bad. 1 has some heavy truck traffic. 2 has some dangerous u turn action but all in all is pretty decent.

About 30 kms west of Korat we are at the halfway point for our destination and turn onto 201 toward Chaiyaphum. This road is not all that bad, and in fact pretty good in most places, but has a lot more of the road debris etc. problems that I described. Heading North off of 201 to get to our destination, things get more dicey. 

[ChiFlyer]

On 12/14/2022 at 6:05 PM, Horizondave said:

I have a small place in Khon Kaen as well (about 25 mins drive north west of the city). I love being there for a short trip but need a bit of social interaction beyond the Thai family. I used to drive up from our place in Hua Hin, leaving at midnight and going through the other side of Bangkok around 4am. The roads heading through Saraburi and onwards were pretty busy early in the morning but getting to our place at around 0900 was good for a few hours sleep before being sent down to the mom and pop shop for the beer.

Would love to be there now, especially with this cold weather right now here in Wales.

Our house is about 45 minutes East of Khon Kaen, about half way between Khon Kean and Chum Phae. I agree a couple of weeks is my limit at this time. Things have been a little chilly as of late. Got into the 60s F the other night.The TGF appropriated my hoodie. 

[Horizondave]

4 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

Our house is about 45 minutes East of Khon Kaen, about half way between Khon Kean and Chum Phae. I agree a couple of weeks is my limit at this time. Things have been a little chilly as of late. Got into the 60s F the other night.The TGF appropriated my hoodie. 

You mean, west of Khon Kaen, Chum Phae is a place I have been through many times on the way to Sukhothai and to a mates place in Kaset Sombun. Headed west a lot to go to a great dinosaur museum at Phu Wiang which must be near you guys.

[SteveBC]

9 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

This is most certainly not meant as any kind of rebuttal to your post.

Today, I think the roads from Pattaya to Korat are pretty decent  -> Rt 7 to Rt 9 becomes Rt 1 into Rt 2. They all have their charms. 7 is actually really good. 9 is also not bad. 1 has some heavy truck traffic. 2 has some dangerous u turn action but all in all is pretty decent.

About 30 kms west of Korat we are at the halfway point for our destination and turn onto 201 toward Chaiyaphum. This road is not all that bad, and in fact pretty good in most places, but has a lot more of the road debris etc. problems that I described. Heading North off of 201 to get to our destination, things get more dicey. 

I live in Khonsan, about 30klms west of Chum Phae, and i drive to Laem Chabang every 4 or 5 weeks to spend some time with the Mrs. ( she has a good job with a Danish company there and will continue working for maybe another couple of years before moving to our house up here ). But the route i use, and prefer, is the 331 - 304. It takes you directly to Korat and in my opinion is a far more interesting route than using the motorway. I take a left onto the 24 just south of Korat then right on the 201 which takes me pretty close to home.

[ChiFlyer]

19 hours ago, Horizondave said:

You mean, west of Khon Kaen, Chum Phae is a place I have been through many times on the way to Sukhothai and to a mates place in Kaset Sombun. Headed west a lot to go to a great dinosaur museum at Phu Wiang which must be near you guys.

Oops, my bad. I meant West.

We are very near Phu Wiang.

[tko]

When we moved here I had a quite big house built on my wife's land.  She had about 3 acres (7+rai) in Buriram.  I loved the house but after a few years it was too remote for me, so we ended up moving to Rayong where we had gone on our honeymoon ~20 years ago.

We still stay at our Buriram house twice a year during school breaks.  There's only one tough part to the drive: going over the mountains from Sa Kaeo into Buriram and back.  That's my wife's part of the drive.  I do the Rayong-Chonburi-Chachoengsao-Prachinburi drive and she does Sa Kaeo and Buriram.

That separation of the drive made it handy when we got caught by a speed camera once.  When the ticket showed up in the mail from Sa Kaeo she got to go pay the fine. 

Edited December 19, 2022 by tko
spelling

[ChiFlyer]

Well we attended a Wedding reception over in Khon Kaen.

Who got married -> No one.

The GF and I made the 90 minute morning rush hour drive over to Khon Kaen to witness some paperwork for the love birds. The bride to be is a long time friend of the GF. I would categorize said friend as having a pleasant disposition, but also not being the sharpest knife in the drawer. The guy is a Brit. I had met him a few times before and he seemed like a decent enough bloke.

Anyway we met them at the Khon Kaen Municipal something or other. In about 5 minutes it became obvious that they (he) did not have the appropriate paperwork to proceed. I noticed that he walked out of the building with a little more bounce in his step and a smile on his face. She was not digging that routine.

Since the wedding reception (somewhat ostentatious) was already paid for, they decided to have the reception anyway. It was actually a very nice reception held at the Kosa Hotel. I am guessing that they are out 250,000 and recouped very little of that from wedding gifts. 

Another guy I know was sitting at the same table as us as the stories of the events came out (lots of he said she said). The other guy and myself were both rolling our eyes trying not to laugh too loudly. It came out the couple had spent a grand total of two weeks together before deciding to tie the knot.

O well,

oh - the wifi service available from the Kosa blocks access to 24x7 as well as PA. Not sure why. It does some kind of bot check and then nothing. No problems with any of other regular internet sites. Many of those did the bot check as well, but then proceeded.

Edited December 29, 2022 by ChiFlyer

[Captain_B]

On 12/14/2022 at 8:07 PM, Zambo said:

Yikes, sore ass i guess.

Thailand has a good road network with many 6 lane highways. compare to neighbouring Malaysia which struggles to link Penang- KL-Johor with adequate roads. For me the worst regionally is Vietnam which although now reasonably industrialised has a road network which struggles to get you above 50km/hr.

A sore ass indeed. The Mrs was massaging me as l drove moving one cheek to the other constantly but hurt like he'll. Couldn't,t do it now of course