Unusual Thailand: Isan, Khmer Temples and the Mekong in 8 Days

You are met at Bangkok airport and taken to your hotel in the Silom area. The rest of the day is free to rest and adjust after your flight. In the evening, take a walk to a nearby night market or riverside restaurant for a first taste of Thai food before you head into the countryside tomorrow.Overnight: Bangkok

Drive northeast out of Bangkok, stopping at the roadside fruit market of Klang Dong, piled with local fruit and vegetables. Continue to Khao Yai, Thailand's first national park, opened in 1962 and today part of a UNESCO World Heritage forest complex. Walk the trail to Haew Suwat waterfall through tall evergreen forest, where you may spot hornbills, gibbons or macaques. Lunch is at a local spot of your choice before you check in to your resort.Overnight: Khao Yai · Meals: B

Head for Nakhon Ratchasima, still called Korat by local people, the gateway to Isan. On the way, stop at Dan Kwian, a village known for its rust-colored pottery. In Korat, visit the monument to Thao Suranari, a local heroine of the 19th century. In the afternoon, see the excavated burial pits of Ban Prasat, one of the oldest settlements in Thailand, then explore Prasat Hin Phimai, a vast Khmer temple that may have inspired Angkor Wat. End under the giant banyan tree of Sai Ngam.Overnight: Korat · Meals: B

Drive to Buriram province and climb the long processional stairway to Prasat Phanom Rung, a Khmer sanctuary on top of an extinct volcano and one of the best preserved in Thailand. A few kilometers away, visit Prasat Muang Tam, surrounded by lotus ponds and laterite walls with finely carved lintels. Continue to Surin and visit its National Museum, which tells the story of the Khmer, Kui and Lao peoples of the region (closed on Mondays and Tuesdays).Overnight: Surin · Meals: B

Visit Ban Khwao Sinarin, a village of silversmiths, and Ban Sam Kho, where silk is woven beneath almost every stilt house, then see the five brick towers of Prasat Sikhoraphum. Continue to Prasat Kamphaeng Yai, an 11th-century Khmer temple with carved lintels of Shiva and Vishnu. In the afternoon, arrive in Khong Chiam, where the Mun River flows into the mighty Mekong, and enjoy the evening by the water.Overnight: Khong Chiam · Meals: B

Follow the Mekong north to Mukdahan, a border town facing Savannakhet in Laos, and browse its lively Indochina market of Lao, Thai and Vietnamese goods. In the afternoon, visit Wat Phra That Phanom, one of the most sacred temples in Isan, with its tall white and gold chedi in Lao style. Before reaching Nakhon Phanom, stop at the village of Ban Na Chok, where Ho Chi Minh lived in the late 1920s, to see his restored wooden house. Your hotel sits on the riverbank.Overnight: Nakhon Phanom · Meals: B

In Sakon Nakhon, a monk ties a sacred white thread around your wrist in a traditional blessing for good fortune. Then visit Ban Chiang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where pottery and bronze tools more than 3,500 years old were found, and its museum. Stop at craft villages known for bamboo weaving and painted pottery. In the afternoon, near Udon Thani, take a boat across Talay Bua Daeng, the Red Lotus Sea, which is covered in blossoms from December to February.Overnight: Udon Thani · Meals: B

Visit an orchid farm where the fragrant Udon Sunshine orchid was first bred in the 1970s. Then drive to Nong Khai on the Mekong, the border with Laos, and walk among the giant concrete sculptures of Sala Kaew Ku, some more than 20 meters tall, inspired by Buddhist and Hindu stories. Browse the riverside Tha Sadet market for crafts from across the region. In the afternoon, return to Udon Thani for your flight to Bangkok and your onward journey.Meals: B