Khon Kaen City is the fifth largest city of the northeastern provinces of Thailand and today i happen to be visiting my girl friend who lives in Khon Kaen about 50 kms out from the city. It's less then an hour's flight from Bangkok airport a 450 kms flight to be exact it was only a 50 minute flight quite quick actually.
Khon Kaen is a the large province in the center of Isan and is a well know agricultural province it is the capital for growing rice and the biggest exporter of rice but not only that the province is also know for many famous temples. This is the main road entry to this beautiful city only a few kilometers from the airport and as you enter the city you will see this enormous shopping complex called Central Plaza what a beautiful structure.
This huge metal metal cane basket structure is a design of what the province uses to serve their sticky rice at each meal time it is a symbol of Isan and it stands just opposite the central plaza shopping mall.
Further down from the central plaza mall is this massive concrete above ground bullet train railway link that has started from Bangkok city connecting to Nakhon Ratchasima to Nong Khai on the Laos border, through Laos and then to China and still under construction i hear it will be opening for service in 2023.
Enough of the city for now we have booked into a hotel in the center of the city we will have some breakfast and then go visit this famous temple called the Phra Mahathat Kaen Nakhon Temple the most worshiped temple in Khon Kaen.
This is actually the most eye catching temple in Khon Kaen it stands 9 storeys high they call it the 9 storey stupa standing at 80 meters from ground level. Inside the temple the walls are adorned with murals that show Isan culture, the history of Khon Kaen, as well as depictions of Buddhist stories.
Walking up these steep winding steps to the observation deck on the 9th floor it provides 360 degree views of Khon Kaen town and Bueng Kaen Nakhon lake just breathtaking views and we had the most beautiful clear blue sky day but you can also observe views from every other level the temple has balconies on every level.
After admiring this beautiful masterpiece we decided to head of to the Bueng Kaen Nakhon lake which you were able to see from the temple's observation deck on the top floor which was about a 30 minute drive away from the temple.
The lake spreads over an area of nearly 100 hectares of calm water, almost entirely surrounded by tree lined parks and it draws a lots of people who want to come here to exercise or simply take a walk and enjoy the sceneries.
From this lake you can look back at the temple we had just come from spectacular sunset across the lake with the Phra Mahathat Kaen Nakhon Temple in the background.
A very adventurous day but it wasn't over yet we left the lake and headed back to the central plaza as they have lots of food vendor stalls around that area as my girl friend told me and we had certainly worked up a appetite after walking all them steps in the temple then around the lake.
Take your pick seafood omelette , chicken or beef kebabs , seafood spicy salad , fried crabs , bugs , sweets and many more varieties of foods no shortage of street foods in Khon Kaen City like a small version of Bangkok city i am amazed.
After having a feast we were fully energized again and their was one more spectacular shrine that i wanted to see which was just down the road from where we were. We had decided to leave the car in the car park and walk down to this shrine after all that food we needed to walk it was about 1 km down the main road from where i came in from this morning , passing a few more vendors along the way food everywhere in this town there is no way you will starve around here...lol :)
This City Pillar Shrine is one of the most worshiped shrine's in Khon Kaen people from all over the city and villages will come here to pray in hope of success and fortune. It is even said that the Thai people come here to pray for hopping to have success in picking there lucky lottery numbers.
This Shrine is one of the best i have seen in Thailand it so vibrant and full of energy it's always lit up like a Christmas tree constantly changing colors i had to end the day with taking some photos of my beautiful lady in this beautiful manicured green area of this spectacular Shrine.
Thank you 
View this post on TravelFeed for the best experience.