Isaan Area Back Roads

Driving along the roads of Isaan presents a series of challenges as well as "surprises"

Having developed a certain familiarity with driving on the left hand side of the road is not the conclusion of adapting to driving in Isaan. Isaan is an agricultural area so many of the roads traverse fields and farming villages. Although the roads are typically paved, there are many dirt roads or partially paved roads that add to the challenges of driving here.

In areas where sugar cane is grown and along the country routes to the sugar refineries, the roads are seriously degraded. The large and heavily laden trucks hauling cane breakdown the pavement very similar to the breakdown of roads in northern climates due to frost heaves. The soil in Isaan is mostly clay which is not a very good engineered fill material. Houses and roads are built upon elevated sections of land created by backfilling upon clay with more clay. These elevated portions of ground are not resistant to infiltration of moisture or worse yet - errosion by rains during the rainy season. I was advised not to buy a home that had not weathered at least two rainy seasons. Some newer houses have cracks and settlement issues during the first two rainy seasons due to improper backfilling operations.


The United States has areas with similar soil conditions as in Isaan but utilizes different construction methods to ensure adequate structural soil base for roads and homes. In Louisiana, oyster shells, lime stabilization, geo-textile fabrics, and importation of granular engineered fill materials are used in combination to provide structural integrity.


Here in Isaan the techniques used in Louisiana are too expensive if they are even available. After the heavy haul season, which will end in about 4 months, the roads will be repaired. They will be repaired by removing the damaged pavement, filling in the ruts with more dirt, compacting the backfill, blading the surface to required contour, and paving with asphalt. This will provide a fairly nice road until next year when it will all have to be redone - just like this year.


The ruts, dips, and in some spots - holes create a maze and challenge for driving. When I first started driving here, I seemed to hit every road hazard that there was. Now my driving skill has evolved to the point where I can dodge just about all of the hazards. Dodging involves swerving or driving in the wrong lane along with driving on the shoulder to avoid obstacles.


Now that we are in the dry season, large clouds of dust are kicked up as you motor along the roads out to the villages. Young women driving motorbikes have adopted a technique of squinting their eyes, covering their mouth and nose with one hand as they drive with the other hand. The young boys, in general, just tough it out.


Just outside of a local village the road has been undermined by running water creating a fairly large as well as deep hole that encroaches into 1/3 of the road lane. When the hole first appeared about 9 months ago, one of the villagers placed a broken tree branch in the road as a warning ahead of the hazard. In Thailand as well as Malaysia, broken branches are used to warn motorists of disabled vehicles or road hazards. As you drive along and see a fresh tree branch in the road, you need to watch out. The use of the broken branch is a good idea except that most of the time it is only 10 to 20 feet from the hazard - you see and have react to the branch at the same time as the hazard. Now that the hole in road has been there for 9 months the villager no longer sets out broken branches. A more permanent warning has been installed for the dangerous hazard - a long bamboo stick has been placed in the hole. The bamboo pole protrudes about 5 feet out of the deep hole.

As you drive along avoiding all the road surface hazards, you must be aware of the surrounding traffic sharing or in some cases usurping the road. Along the country roads there are many farm vehicles similar to trucks. These vehicles, called "etan", transport workers to and from the fields as well as tools along with harvest. They are always slowly moving no doubt due to the small (lawn tractor sized diesel engine) engine that powers them. As they move down the road they make a "tuk, tuk, tuk" sound. They are not pretty. They are not fast. But they are reliable. I have yet to find one broken down along side of the road. One of my favorite sights here is to see one of these running down the road with the driver's wide brimmed bright yellow straw hat with the brim flipped up vertically in the front from the breeze with 6 to 12 family members of all ages standing in the back cab on their way back home after a long day in the fields. These farm vehicles are a menace only in that they are so slowly moving.

As you drive in addition to all the motorbikes, driven by 12 to 80 year olds, you will encounter three wheeled motorcycles called "somlaws". Somlaws are used for just about all purposes. They are used like taxis to take people to where they want to go. Some people own a somlaw rather than a motorbike or car. At the markets you will find many somlaws parked waiting to be hired. Somlaw drivers like most people here carry cell phones and can be called for door to door service. There are no posted rates. The price of your journey needs to negogiated and agreed to prior to departure. The charges are reasonable - one way within Udonthani limits is around $2. We pay the somlaw driver that comes to our home, takes us into town for shopping, and brings us back - $6.00 USD for our 2 to 3 hour trip. On main roads there are locations will congregate. These locations are where people get off of songeaws (songtels). The songeaws are pickup trucks that have a canopy and two benches in the pickup bed for passengers. The songeaws travel a set route. The trucks have a number as well as color that specifies the route that they travel. Duang and I have traveled fro Udonthani to Tahsang Village entirely by songeaw - a journey of 30 miles for 50 baht ($1.43 USD) each - one way. It is a very economical way to travel but slow. It takes 2 hours whereas I drive it in 1 hour. It is reassuring though to know that if we did not have a vehicle we could still get around even if it is slow.

Regular trucks drive the back roads of Isaan. But, this being Thailand, "regular" is a relative term. Just as in the case of songeaws where I have seen 20 people riding in the back, outside of the back, AND ON TOP OF THE PICKUP BED CANOPY, passengers, sometimes ride outside of the cab of trucks. There appears to be no problem in this behavior. The police stop mostly motorbikes for lack of helmet by the DRIVER (Passengers are apparent exempt from the requirement), and to check for the appropriate license. Cars are stopped mainly for driving in the passing lane without actually passing anyone (Yes,I was guilty as charged - 200 baht, $6.00 USD fine "on the spot") or speeding.

Besides the other vehicles you encounter livestock along Isaan roads. All cattle here are "free range". There are no feed lots for cattle. The cattle with their herder wander about from early morning until sunset foraging for feed. The cattle consider the road to be an intigral part of their territory. They have a great deal of practise in that they do not panic when they encounter any type of motorized vehicle on the road. They continue at their determined pace in crossing the road or in their ambulation along the side of the road oblivious to the speed, size, or number of vehicles trying to get by them.

Sometimes you will come across an "etac". Etacs are versatile devices. I refer to them as mechanical mules. They can be used to plow and prepare the ground for planting. A compartment can be added to them to transport goods or in this case a family and their best friends. These vehicles which are much smaller, and slower than the etans share the road with everything else. As you drive your full sized pickup truck you execute all kinds of twists, turns, swerves, accelerations, and deaccelerations to avoid the roadway challenges as well as perils.

With this being Isaan, it all seems to work out somehow rather harmoniously. You don't get upset to see someone coming straight at you in your lane. You pull slightly over to make way for him and they only take what they need of your lane to get around whatever is in their lane. Lane designations are more of a suggestion in people's minds than a territorial demarkation. Everyone gives and takes without emotion as required by the current situation. To avoid having to travel a little out of their way to find a turnaround along the road, some people driving any and all types of vehicles will travel in the wrong lane towards on coming traffic. They do this in the breakdown or shoulder along the road so as far as I can tell (so far) head on collisions are avoided. I have become comfortable to expect the unexpected here and I am seldom left unamazed at what passes for driving

Duang has remarked that I drive good in Thailand now. She then smiles and adds that I will need to be afraid, and the police will complain when I drive again in America.

I believe that she is right. It will be different.