Yasothon
Isaan Town Best Known For Its Bun Bang Fai Rocket Festival In May · Yasothon, Yasothon
Yasothon is a quiet provincial town on the Chi river in the heart of Isaan, the north-east of Thailand, and for most of the year it moves at the slow pace of the rice country around it. Then, in May, it hosts one of Thailand's most famous and raucous festivals, Bun Bang Fai, when villages build huge homemade rockets packed with black powder and fire them into the sky to ask for the rains, amid parades, dancing, bawdy humour and heavy drinking. The town celebrates the legend behind it at Phaya Khan Khak Park, where a gigantic toad-shaped building houses a museum. In the old quarter of Ban Sing Tha, a row of old shophouses and houses from the early twentieth century shows European and Chinese influences, and Wat Mahathat keeps a revered Lao-style chedi. Around the town, villages make the triangular axe pillows sold all over Thailand, and farmers grow organic hom mali jasmine rice. Yasothon is about 1 to 1.5 hours by bus from Roi Et and a little more from Ubon Ratchathani, and it makes a gentle, very local stop on an Isaan journey.
Phaya Khan Khak Park, Nai Mueang, Yasothon, Yasothon, 35000, Thailand
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the toad museum in Phaya Khan Khak Park has opened during the day, roughly 8.30 am to 4.30 pm, and may close on some weekdays; temples are open from early morning to evening; the night market runs from early evening. The rocket festival follows its own schedule, usually around the second weekend of May, with parades on one day and launches on another. The traps are arriving at the festival without a room, standing too close to the launch ramps, planning by an old festival date, and finding the museum closed. Confirm current times before relying on them.