CLOSEUP
true north
60
FAHTHAI
F
orty years ago, Udon Thani was little more than a
backwater village. Visitors to the area at the time
would have been met with the bizarre sight of
hundreds of uniformed US servicemen drinking in
the handful bars that lined the main strip, readying
themselves for bombing campaigns over the border in Vietnam.
From its origins as a US air force base, Udon Thani has grown
into a key urban centre for north-east Thailand replete with
shopping malls, hotels and dozens of restaurants serving up
Mexican, Italian and other Western fare. They sit nestled among
the town’s decades-old markets and street food stalls, offering
visitors a chance to sample old-world Isaan alongside its newer
incarnation.
That Isaan of old is an exotic affair. Thailand’s poorest
region, which shares a long border with Laos, is nonetheless
rich in culture and culinary panache. Its best-loved export,
Isaan food (see opposite page), can be found across the country
– spot a stall in Bangkok and elsewhere whose counters are
piled high with grilled meats and fish, and you’ll find an Isaan
native behind it. In Udon Thani, the food becomes a mobile
affair – motorbikes with barbeques hooked to the back cruise
the streets, stopping at roadside bars to tempt drinkers with the
fragrant smell of meat and its steadfast comrade, the fiery Isaan
dipping sauce, an experience not designed for soft palates.
The town has seen great changes over the past five years,
particularly around the train station where once very local
watering holes like those of the UD Town complex have
transformed into open-air, hangar-like beer halls where the
town’s youth gather in their hundreds at the weekends to guzzle
towers of Chang and watch English Premier League football.
It’s here that the visitor can really mingle with locals who, as the
night wears on, will coax you over to share in their banter.
“Isaan is different to the rest of Thailand. It’s a different
world up here,” says Bill Watkins, a 72-year-old American
CALM HAVENS
But the centre
of Udon Thani is
modernising at a
quickening rate
