Boxing Day in Isaan Thailand.

On Boxing Day we did what a lot of people do back home, relax and eat food. We ventured out to some water huts that sit on the Moon (Mun) River here in Ubon Ratchathani.

The river is full as we have had plenty of rain over the wet season, not so much of late but still the water is flowing fast.

We had picked up Noot’s mum, stepfather and half brother, this is Beer and he can be a real handful, full of energy and cheeky as hell.

This is Nong Ja and her uncle Beer together, these two together at times can really test you.


Noot’s younger sister Benjawan had come along, she can be as bad as a two year old at times. She really pushes Ja’s buttons and then I have to berate both of them.

We had ordered the food and was waiting and the girls thought it was a good chance for a quick nap.

Ja, Beer and Ja’s grand father look out over the river, they were trying to spot fish.

Here Ja and Noot are looking at some small fish hanging around as Ja was feeding them some chips.

And then the food started to arrive, first was the fried rice.

Then probably one of the most popular dishes at the river huts, dancing shrimp. Noot was giving the plate a little shake and Ja was telling us she was scared of them.

Thy are called dancing shrimp as they are still alive when they get to you and if you remove the lid they jump all over the place, some had escaped here and there and Ja was not impressed.

With the dancing shrimp safely locked away, Ja tucked into her fried rice. A few times she got up and made it well known that she wasn’t impressed when the lid as removed and some shrimps took off.

Then the roast chicken, more on how they cook this later.

Deep fried pork came next and was delicious.

The fish, we always order this dish when we dine here.

A spicy seafood salad, also very yummy and was not too spicy in fact.

You will have a few hawkers drop in on you offering different things and Beer wanted this Thai dessert. We were a little slow as he bit through the plastic wrap to get to it.


Another very popular dish, ants and their eggs. A delicacy here in Isaan and very popular and does taste good with sticky rice.

Lots of smoke in this open kitchen.

Inside this tin is a chicken cooking, it is placed on a large skewer or stake, then coconut husks are piled around the tin and lit. Water is tipped onto the tin during the cooking and in roughly 20 minutes you have a cooked chook.


The cook was kept busy; the roast chicken is probably the most ordered dish at the river.

Then it was time to go home, all with full bellies. All the food and the drinks cost a whopping 705 Thai Baht or about $23 Australian dollars.

We have been going to the same shop for years now, never had a bad meal at this shop. It is a little further out of town than other river huts but this is good as the others get filled with young rowdy kids but here is usually quite and families.

So that was our Boxing Day, much like back home with family or friends together for a BBQ or leftover food from Christmas Day.

Brunty