"Isaan in the North East of Thailand" Top 5 Page for this destination Northeastern Thailand by badgeron

The North East of Thailand is called Isaan, It has borders with, Laos & Cambodia.
It is effectively the ''Rice basket '' of Thailand, Where the world famous Fragrant, Thai Jasmine Rice is produced for consumption at home and for export worldwide.
I have been to Thailand a few times
however this time I was fortunate to visit Buri Ram Province (Changwat)at Rice Harvest time.
I was invited to have a go, of course,
the farmers duly took the '' p_ _s out of the Farangs (Westerner) attempt at harvesting the Rice, All in good fun though, the farmers laugh with you - not at you.
On a more serious note, I was astounded, indeed shocked to discover how much these poor farmers were getting paid for there Rice, you just would not believe it, and they only have one harvest per year partly due to inadequate rainfall and poor soil conditions.
How they survive I dont know?
Most of Isaan people speak either or all of three languages, Classical Thai, which they are taught in school upto the age of twelve, Laos and a dialect they call Karmeen (pron), which is Khmer.
Isaan has its own distinct food dishes, so for the food buffs there is plenty to discover on the culinary scale,
Probably the most famous is the Pappaya Pot -Pot, which supricingly has fresh local crab in it, how come you may ask being so far from the Sea?- the answer is - Land Crabs, they live in the Paddy fields.

Typical Isaan settlement

Suprisingly Buri Ram Province is easy to get to, the main city, Buri Ram has its own airport with regular flights from Bangkok with Andaman Air, Buses are frequent or you could get a Taxi, costs between 3.5 - 5,000 baht.
Buri Ram would, I suspect be one of those places that everyone passes thro to go somewhere else

Silk weaving, from the grub to the cloth

As people pass through they miss all of the fine experiences that i have enjoyed, that i never came across in other parts of Thailand, the best has to be the people, they have very little, however their positive outlook on life, life is something to be enjoyed that stand out the Isaan people as special.
Dont miss it - go there.

• Pros:Honest Friendly Buri Ram people, only 2 tourists
• Cons:Exploited Rice Farmers,
• In a nutshell:See the Thailand of old, before it disappears fast!