Eating Out and Beating the Heat, Isaan Thailand.

We went to try a new grill restaurant and also Jaew Horn shop that opened in the street that runs parallel to Big C here in Ubon Ratchathani.

They have these electric grills that you can buy in the supermarkets and electrical stores about the place, usually you would do over coals with a domed grill.

This was a small mixed meat that the girls had ordered; they spent a good ten minutes deciding what to order and many discussions with the waitress.

This is the meat for the Jaew Horn, a very popular meal in Thailand, it is virtually a soup and usually also cooked on coals in clay pots, this was being done in a hotpot.


Miss Benjawan and Noot were waiting eagerly for the food to arrive.

The vege for the Jaew Horn.

Then it is simply add the meat and vegetables and let boil for a bit and add a little sweet and spicy or very salty and bitter sauce.

On Sunday we headed over to the weekend market 400mtrs from our house. It has been bloody warm at times as it storms up here and there over the coming months. The oppressive heat builds and when it finally rains there is relief for a little while.

We wandered about the market for about 30 minutes but it was just too hot and we decided to head to Big C Shopping Centre. Weekends at Big C is just bedlam. The Clampetts and every other hillbilly heads to Big C with every family member, relative and neighbour they can fit into their pick-up trucks. It is a big day out.

Big C was packed, many like us had probably decided to beat the heat and enjoy the air conditioning. Noot was feeling peckish for ice-cream but Swensons was packed full and people waiting for tables to empty.


So we headed into MK Restaurant. We didn’t have the hotpot, just the duck, a seafood soup, some rice and noodles.

It didn’t take too long and Ja wanted to up and explore. She wandered about for a bit before dragging me along outside where we wandered here and there until Noot exited MK.

We went upstairs to Big C and it was busy, families were flocked around a single trolley, kids rode bikes chaotically between people and parents laughed and didn’t seem to care in the least.

We were not in any hurry, so we just wandered about browsing at this and that before picking up te few things we wanted, heading to the mostly vacant checkouts, lining up in slow moving lines listening to an annoying ladyboy announce which checkout didn’t have that many people over the P.A system so people could rush off to a traffic jam of trolleys.

We headed off home for Ja to have her afternoon sleep and I could get some more work done on the computer while she and Noot slept.

This is a great feed that we have been having a lot more of, of late. I really like fish, especially grilled fish that has been stuffed with lemongrass and other spices.

To complement the Pblaa Nin which is Talapia, was of course somtam Thai.


The shop we buy the fish from that comes with the salad and noodles is a bargain. The tilapia on its own at the market this size would be at least 80 baht and that would be pushing it, more than likely 100 baht. The salad and noodles with dipping sauces it comes to a measly 159 baht or just over $5 Australian dollars and that feed 4 of us and there was left overs, but we did have a few extras.

There was some dried and grilled beef, delicious and they are Thai sausages or Sai Gorg, sai gorg can be really tasty or absolutely terrible depending on where they are made and the ingredients.

The elderly couple I buy from make great Thai sausages, he makes his own and I have been buying from his shop for a couple of years now, they are not just filled with fat and crap. I don’t know when they sleep as they are at their stall each night until around 10pm and arrive early afternoon.

He said he usually makes them three times a week. I have no idea if he actually has a sausage making machine or does it some other way. But for 10 baht a piece there cannot be a massive profit margin per sausage.

I have wanted to do many things of late but time is lean. I haven’t had a chance going out to the village and taking pictures of the Noot’s mother’s house. I spent 140,000 baht giving the house a facelift; I went out a few times in the early stages but just got too frustrated with the builders so ended up staying away.

I haven’t seen the finished product yet, but for the money had a lot done. It is just under $5,000 Australian dollars and we had some rooms built, doors changed, the entire house tiled, the roof fixed, the kitchen done up with a bench and sink and other odds and ends. I am hoping when the upcoming public holidays come along I can whiz the 20klms out and get some pictures and pick the work to pieces.

My Thai brother in law and myself are opening another little business so that has been taking up a fair bit of time, getting all the things in place. Thais seem to do things without too much thought a lot of the time.

I always marvel at the turn over of the small shops about the place. They open another hairdresser shop, internet shop, photocopy shop, corner store and within a few months are long gone. Another comes along, refits the vacant shop and in a few months they are gone too.

Also for some reason of late the internet has been slow, TOT here in Thailand have been bearing the brunt of my anger. When the internet slows down I take regular speed checks and print them out. I have the fastest internet available here in Ubon, it used to be great for 5 years but just the last few months it has been all over the shop.

But I have received credits and last month I didn’t have to pay my bill. I have been thinking of trying 3BB but have heard good but also many bad things about them. Better the devil you know.

I have one computer that virtually downloads 24/7; it is hardly ever turned off. And it is frustrating when you are an hour or so into a download and the internet craps out or slows to a walk but it isn’t the end of the world.

That is about it for me of late, nothing exciting at all. I missed the fireworks festival, Noot went along but I had too much to do and with her and Ja out of the house for a few days I got a lot done. At night I could relax with an ice cold beer and enjoy the AFL football or watch a movie.

So that is all from Isaan Thailand at the moment. Just an ordinary boring life in a sleepy Isaan.

I do have an interesting story about a falling out I had with an expat Australian that I will have to blog about in the near future. After years of putting up with the guy things came to a head not so long ago.

I might have to entitle it, The Amazing and at Times Far Fetched Life of Barry White (not the singer). I will have to see if I get inspired to write about it, in truth I couldn’t be bothered wasting my breath but again I don’t have much else to write about at the moment.

Brunty