Today I started out not feeling particularly motivated, but it was set to be a big day, travelling through Maha Sarakham, Kalasin, and Mukdahan!
I felt like I just wanted to go hang out and do almost nothing, like I seem to do in Chiang Mai, or go straight back to Bangkok.
I say I do nothing in Chiang Mai, but really I mostly go eat, go for coffee, check out temples, and walk around.
It’s a great place for doing just that! I really need to check out more of the area there.
So, I decided to stick to my original route, and my first stop in the three provinces I would see today was Maha Sarakham. At the end of the day, I will have been to 66 provinces in Thailand.
First stop: Maha Sarakham
I had researched the area a bit, and my main stop for the day was Wat Puttha Wanaram (Wat Pa Wang Nam Yen), or was it Maha Chedi Si Maha Sarakham (มหาเจดีย์ศรีมหาสารคาม)?
Quite often you’ll get multiple pins on Google Maps for the same place with slightly different spellings, or completely different names. Same photos though! And then throw in poor translations and variations and it gets confusing. I just like to know the official name in English and Thai. Not always straightforward!
This temple complex was very busy and it took me a bit to find some parking. I was wondering why it was so busy, but it was Saturday. Not sure if it was a Buddhist holiday too. I was getting a few stares, and could hear the occasional “Falang” comment (ฝรั่ง Thai word for foreigner). I only spotted one other foreigner, a woman in her early 20s; haven’t spotted too many on this trip!
Many of the structures were made of wood, and some were varnished to a mirror finish. Some of the trees used in parts of the temples were huge! I got energy back from being here, and there was a lot to see! The gold tower, I believe, is called a chedi. I walked around it, ringing the bells and banging the gongs that lined the outer perimeter. I would have liked to have flown my drone here, but I felt like it was way too busy for that.
It really warmed up while I was there and I was sweating by the time I was done!
This place was exactly what I needed to start the day, and I did get a good early start too.
Second province of the day: Kalasin
Next I headed to Kalasin, filled up the car, and found a bite to eat. I didn’t want to stop here, but ended up stopping a while down the road at Wat Sawang Bueng Thong (วัดสว่างบึงทอง กาฬสินธุ์). I spotted the tall white spire of the temple from the highway, and knew it had to be a small village, so I decided to find it.
It was easy to find and it looked like it was pretty new. The complex was very quiet, so I had a walk around. Soon after I arrived, a monk came over on his three-wheeled scooter. I chatted with him for a while and he was cool with me flying the drone. Soon we were joined by a few boys on bikes from the village. I flew the drone around for a while, showing them the video as it was flying. That was a fun experience! Later I sent one of the photos to the monk there.
Province three of the day: Mukdahan
I continued on to Mukdahan, and checked into another Hop Inn, of course! I will have to tally up all the Hop Inns I’ve stayed at. Once I got to my room I had to figure out where I was going to eat. I decided on a Vietnamese restaurant, VT Namnueng Mukdahan.
There are not a lot of Vietnamese restaurants in Thailand, and they don’t often have a lot of the dishes we are used to in Canada. I ordered 5 items on the menu, which ended up being way too much food! They didn’t look like large orders! One more dish and it could have fed 2-3 people easily! Besides, I wanted to try many dishes I hadn’t seen before.
It was all delicious. The banana blossom salad was way too spicy for me though and I just couldn’t finish it. It was good, but needed a lot less heat for me! I think my favourite was the pork sausage wrapped in betel leaf. The bill was only 480 Baht ($17.93 Cdn) for a large meal.
I drove around the city a bit on the way back to my hotel, and it seems like a nice place. Definitely one I would like to explore more. There is much more to the provinces in Isaan that I am not seeing. I hope to be able to come back to some of these places and spend a few days exploring the area.
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