Potted orchids dangle from roadside stalls on the roads to and from Isaan A spicy salad of mixed mushrooms is ideal for people conscious about their health and weight
Just a short drive from Bangkok, it’s a perfect weekend outing – three hours or less via Chachoensao’s Phanom Sarakham district or Nakhon Ratchasima’s Pak Thong Chai district. If you’re heading there for the first time, make sure you visit Thap Tawan, a cliff from which one of the region’s most beautiful sunsets can be enjoyed. And in the early morning the rolling hills and green mountains are dappled in dew at this altitude, particularly in the winter, so it’s worth a second visit to see the sun’s return. “The ideal time to come here is in the rainy season,” says Pavinee Manus, who owns Ban Rai Ozone. “Everything is green and it isn’t as windy as it gets at the beginning of winter. It’s perfect if you like sitting idly around the resort enjoying the rain.” Like most people who run guest accommodations in Wang Nam Kheow, Pavinee isn’t a local. She sold mobile phones in Bangkok before opening her Ozone getaway three years. She started with just a pair of bungalows and now has eight. And she knows what she’s talking about when it comes to the best time to visit. Most people come in the winter, Januar y 4-10, 2009
keen to experience the frosty chill, but where the produce comes mostly from the dry-season dust coats the trees and China. roads, so you won’t be able to roll down A trip to Wang Nam Kheow isn’t your car windows to enjoy that cool complete if you don’t sample the breeze. mushrooms. Of course the rain Start with boiled plays havoc with rice with the half- gravel, mushrooms in the half-tar roads too. morning, have a The cool weather spicy larb salad guarantees fame with mixed for the district’s mushrooms for an farm products. afternoon snack, Travellers return and then tuck into home with organic hot tom yam in the vegetables cut evening. At least one of freshly that same Mushrooms by the millions beckon these meals should day, and a lot of visitors at Wang Nam Khiew Farm be at Ton Sai, one them come from of the very few restaurants in the Uncle Krai’s store. Wang Nam Kiew Farm, which sells village. On the way back home, if you’re the six Mister Mushroom varieties, is not to be missed. You can get an 800- taking the Chachoengsao route, you gram bag of orinji mushrooms for just have to stop at an orchid stall. There are plenty of vendors along the highway. Bt120. Cheap prices also apply to other The prices are about the same as in Bangkok, but there’s much more items grown in air-conditioned barns. You just have to remember that the variety. Stick to these pointers and you’ll closer you get to noon, the more the selection dwindles. You’ ll end up return home with a well-fed heart as scrounging among the roadside stalls, well as a satisfied tummy. [15]
p h o t o / A c h ara D eb o o n me
Uncle Pia on his 12-rai plantation, which supplies organic vegetables to several Bangkok stores