A Leisurely Drive to an Isaan Village
We arose in the early morning and embarked on our trip into deepest, rural, agricultural Isaan. For the majority of our journey we travelled along roads similar to the one pictured below (you can click on the photo to enlarge it).
This road is typical of the majority of roads which connect the smaller Isaan townships. Such roads are adequately wide, two-way affairs. They’re rarely busy, and other than during the dead of night they’re equally rarely deserted. Most of the main arterial roads that traverse Isaan are dual carriageways, but we employed precious few of those for our cross-country journey.
One thing that always fascinates me when I travel by car in Isaan is to see cattle grazing close to the roadsides, and in the case of dual carriageways along the central reservations too. These animals appear to be totally oblivious to the motor traffic which roars past them, often at high speed, and often only centimetres away from their noses. It must be a great gift to be able to find such detachment in such bothersome and unsettling conditions.
The final twenty minutes or so of our journey were spent chugging along cart tracks and dirt tracks. These tracks were reasonably wide and not too badly contoured, but they were never intended for saloon cars. And we were travelling in a saloon car. I saw it as a testament to our driver’s concentration and courage that we arrived at our destination in as good a condition as we did.
And what an arrival it was! We were greeted with a rapturous welcome, good humour, great kindness, and great warmth from our hosts. They’re lovely people. It was great. And I’d like to tell you a little more about the people that I met, their hospitality towards me, and the way that our visit to this Isaan village panned out in the next entry on Doodee’s Thailand. I hope that you’ll pop back for a look.
This road is typical of the majority of roads which connect the smaller Isaan townships. Such roads are adequately wide, two-way affairs. They’re rarely busy, and other than during the dead of night they’re equally rarely deserted. Most of the main arterial roads that traverse Isaan are dual carriageways, but we employed precious few of those for our cross-country journey.
One thing that always fascinates me when I travel by car in Isaan is to see cattle grazing close to the roadsides, and in the case of dual carriageways along the central reservations too. These animals appear to be totally oblivious to the motor traffic which roars past them, often at high speed, and often only centimetres away from their noses. It must be a great gift to be able to find such detachment in such bothersome and unsettling conditions.
The final twenty minutes or so of our journey were spent chugging along cart tracks and dirt tracks. These tracks were reasonably wide and not too badly contoured, but they were never intended for saloon cars. And we were travelling in a saloon car. I saw it as a testament to our driver’s concentration and courage that we arrived at our destination in as good a condition as we did.
And what an arrival it was! We were greeted with a rapturous welcome, good humour, great kindness, and great warmth from our hosts. They’re lovely people. It was great. And I’d like to tell you a little more about the people that I met, their hospitality towards me, and the way that our visit to this Isaan village panned out in the next entry on Doodee’s Thailand. I hope that you’ll pop back for a look.
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posted by Doodee at
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
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