There are only two types of weather in Khon Kaen-very hot and very wet.
You don't have the right to an opinion on the matter, either. One minute your skin is melting off your bones, your body fat sizzling away; the next you're drenched like a wet rag, dirty from the dust and soaked in sweat.
What do you expect? This isn't Phuket where the sexy beaches seduce a constant rush of breeze from the Andaman Sea; nor is it Bangkok where shamelessly opulent hotels lavish you with cold, moist towels, refreshing drinks and heavy air-conditioning.
This, my friends, is Isan Province-flat, dusty and painfully landlocked. Don't let those massive terrestrial crabs sauntering about fool you. There are hardly any bodies of water nearby.
Yet for all that Khon Kaen isn't, it makes up for in many other things.
It's the first place in Thailand to unearth dinosaur remains (more on this if you pop round the Phu Wiang Dinosaur Museum). It is home to the biggest and best university in the region, along with the region's medical hub.
It's also Isan's hipsterville, if such a thing exists in Northeastern Thailand. At the heart of it is the Laorauvirodge family whose culinary empire arose from the flora-carpeted grounds of Suppaniga Home Boutique Hideaway nestled a few minutes outside the city.
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The property-which the family matriarch insists must be called a home rather than a hotel or a homestay-is verdant, alive and charmingly rustic. It's certainly a far cry from the skyscraper hotels of Bangkok: Butterflies (and many other creepy crawlers) prowl its gardens while an eclectic collection of villas pepper its grounds.
In town, her daughter owns a cool cafe called Coffee Der La, the perfect hangout for all the textbook-perusing, laptop-lugging university students that roam Khon Kaen. (Admittedly, it's heaven for the overheated tourists as well.) Banal use of superlatives be damned, their Thai iced coffee might just be the best in the city.
Khon Kaen, while small compared to Bangkok, is unquestionably modern; yet vestiges of the traditional Thai culture are still present here.
Take the Khon Kaen's Silk Village in Chonnabot, for example. Here, a women's co-op still uses the traditional way of Thai silk weaving. Taking a turn on this off-the-beaten road means not only learning about the process but also participating in it too. You might not be allowed to handle those delicate silkworm cocoons yourself, but you'll certainly have your turn at the loom.
Or the mystical Pra That Kam Kaen, whose foundation, legend has it, was built upon a miracle that arose from one of the relics of Buddha.
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Ultimately, the best way to experience this city is through its food. It's what the cool kids are doing these days, after all.
Have lunch at Gai Yang Khao Suan Kwang; you wouldn't want to miss their Isan-style barbecue chicken and sticky rice. Later, dine at Krua Suppaniga where they bust out dishes from Phajongkit "Jim" Laorauvirodge's family recipes. If you've had the pleasure of sharing plates at NYC's Somtum Der, you're gonna want to eat here.
And though you've eaten your own weight in Isan food, the Khon Kaen Night Market still deserves a visit, if only to brave a sampling of those goliath bugs, roasted to gastronomic perfection.
Because if we're being honest, you haven't fully experienced Thai food unless you've feasted on Isan's hearty, spicy dishes. A plate of those fermented sausages, if you please. And keep it coming.
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