Sexpats and Song
Trip Start
Dec 15, 2008
1
30
37
Trip End
Ongoing
Khon Kaen, Thailand
Friday, January 23, 2009
Because, like all Thai buses, ours was late getting into Khon Kaen, we had to call and reserve a room, sight unseen, to ensure that we would have somewhere to stay as most places lock up at 10pm. We are not keen on doing this, but felt we had no real choice. This experience only confirmed why it is never a good idea to book budget accommodation in Thailand without first viewing it.
The place looked more like a storage shed than a functioning guesthouse. It was dirty, dusty and had random bits of furniture scattered or stacked all around. The rooms themselves were so bad, Tony felt the need to declare safe and unsafe zones. The only safe zones were those dark enough that we couldn't see the dirt or stains. We again had to make a sarong pallet to ensure that no part of our bodies actually touched any part of the bed while we were sleeping. The bathrooms weren't the worst we had seen by a long shot, but that's about all I can say for them.
The next morning, as I was inspecting the shower, I was startled by a young Australian who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. I stood, in my towel with my underwear in my hand, talking to him for a while before he escorted me back to his room. Now I know what you're thinking, but he only wanted to give me a map of the town and some tourist advice.
There isn't much to see in Khon Kaen, and even less to do. We walked out to the temple by the lake, which in addition to the standard images of Buddha, has a family of dinosaur statues. I know there are many things I don't know about Buddhism, but I was unaware that dinosaurs were considered spiritual beings.
That night we decided to go out and get a little taste of the infamous Khon Kaen nightlife. We managed to find the street with all the bars and clubs with only mild difficulty. I had been warned by Chris, the Australian, that Khon Kaen is a bit of a seedy place, and everything we saw only confirmed that. The only Westerners we saw were middle-aged, fat, bald men sitting in bars being attended to by barely legal Thai girls. The one club we went into had a karaoke room which was nothing but go-go girls and drooling men. We left rather disappointed, wondering if there was such a thing as "free" love here.
Having been in Bangkok for a year, I am used to seeing sexpats and their victims, but I never imaged that there would be so many stalking about in Isan. Sadly, I think the locals of this town must think that the West is just full of disgusting sex-starved men, as that is all that they see here.
On our way back, we stumbled into the bar Chris had told me was the least seedy. He was there, and they were celebrating the owner's birthday. The owner bought us a drink while questioning me on what I was doing with an Englishman when there were perfectly good single Scotsmen (he was Scottish). We somehow managed to stay out until 3am, even though the bar was officially supposed to close at 1am.
We got up the next morning at 7am and set off for King Cobra Village. I wasn't looking forward to this as I hate snakes, but I wasn't about to let Tony go watch a man box a snake without me.
When we got to the village, we were shown around by a little old lady who led us to each one of the snake cages, and the donation box, before insisting that Tony take a picture of her and me. The show started not too long after we arrived. It consisted of men going up to a platform with a king cobra and smacking it around and dodging its strikes. At one point they had a man don shades and box two cobras, which they had originally quit using due to their ability to spit their venom and blind a man.
The highlight of the show was seeing a boy box a snake and lose. The snake had been coming pretty close to the boy, but in the last 15 seconds or so, the snake struck and the boy wasn't fast enough to dodge it. The snake caught him in the chest and just hung there until a man came over and removed it with a stick. Apparently they had planned for this possibility because the boy was wearing a few layers of shirts which prevented the snake from actually getting him.
After the show, we headed back to town, had lunch with Chris and walked to the train station to get our train to Khorat. The train was over an hour late and had some difficulties along the way. At one of the stops, they were unable to get it rolling again. We could hear the deafening sound of the engine being revved to full, but the train didn't move at all. Just when we were sure they were going to tell us all to get off, it started to move slowly forward and we managed to make it to our stop.
