It is time for another road trip with Tom from Isaan-Live. I look forward to these 3-5 day road trips around Isaan and get to spend time with a good friend.
Tom and I kind of make plans but we are totally flexible in where we go, how long we stay, and where the next stop is.
When I’m 64 Road Trip
Tom has lived in Isaan for about 20 years and has been to just about every place, temple, cave, market and many other sites that the Tourism Authority of Thailand fail to promote. I dig up as much as I can for the provinces we will be visiting and hope to find something interesting that Tom hasn’t been to yet. It is rare that I find something new.
Now that I have a smartphone, I have an additional way to conduct research – android apps. I just downloaded three apps. Two were from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (Mukhadan and Nakhon Phanom) and the other was from the Ministry of Culture. The latter displays a solid white screen while the former two are mostly in Thai with in-app advertisements. I wonder who gets the money at TAT.
I also take time to look at images, maps, PDFs, and videos to see if I can find anything new. I send what I find to Tom, and he marks them on a map. Which ones we actually go to depends on a number of factors – weather, time of day, located near other sites, or something we really want to go and see.
So, this trip is looking like nothing out of the ordinary with visits to some local temples, forest cave temples, Thai-Lao markets, maybe a museum or 2, and cruising along the Mekhong River.
Tom will have his DJI Phantom drone and another new drone that is small enough to fit in your hand. So, he will have photos and videos from the air and Tom may also do some live video on Facebook. As of today, I cannot do the Live Video thing on Facebook. It hasn’t been rolled out to me yet.
So, in about one week you can expect to see photos and videos from Nakhon Phanom, Bueng Kan, Sakon Nakhon and possibly Mukdahan.
I will fly to Nakon Phanom via Bangkok and then fly home about 5 days later from Sakon Nakhon. Flights are via Nok Air and Thai AirAsia and are cheap enough – about 1,000 baht for one leg of the trip (i.e. Khon Kaen to Bangkok is 1,000 and another 1,000 from Bangkok to Nakhon Phanom). Flights are plentiful and easy to book ahead as long as your credit card company isn’t being over-zealous blocking Thailand. A short phone call alleviated that.
Anyhow, I look forward to another fine road trip and time with my buddy, Tom. And, yes, I will be 64 on June 5th.
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