Maps of Thailand and Isaan ...

[arsenal]

The majority of Pattaya boys come from Issan so therefore it should definitely be in our thoughts and prayers.

[frequent]

Although I'm not sure how you could tell that they were referring to the nearest large town, as the examples given have the same name for both the capital town of the province and the name of the province itself. This is frequently the case.

Indeed - but that wasn’t the purpose of my post

[latintopxxx]

if we are looking at historical provinces should this not include parts of cambodia and laos ...

[Jellybean]

On another topic below our dearest Moderator and Orator made a mistake regarding the Thailand 'area' of Isaan ... i.e. he referred to Isaan as being a Thailand 'province' . . .

Over the years I have referred to ì-sǎan in my posts many times and have never before referred to it as a province. The only explanation for doing so on this occasion is that I may have lost a couple of my marbles. If any member finds them, would you please be kind enough to PM me and let me know where I can pick them up. Many thanks.

Great maps by the way, Smiles.

[frequent]

Over the years I have referred to ì-sǎan in my posts many times and have never before referred to it as a province. The only explanation for doing so on this occasion is that I may have lost a couple of my marbles. If any member finds them, would you please be kind enough to PM me and let me know where I can pick them up. Many thanks.

I’ll see if I can help using my crystal balls - both of them

[Smiles]

" ... My point was that Isaan might be better defined as a "region"... "

For some reason I did not think this thread would have even a tiny slice of controversy. This is after all Sawatdee ... I forgot.
Marsilius I do agree with you, the word 'region' is indeed a better choice than my original 'area'.

" ... All provinces have the same name as their capital (not necessarily the largest town ... "

Correct. A perfect example is in fact Hua Hin in Prachuap Kiri Khan Province. Hua Hin the city is much larger than the capital town of Prachuap Kiri Khan. My guess would be at least five times larger. In comparison Prachuap the town is tiny.

[Nirish guy]

Thats it - I'm disgusted at Smiles use of the word "area" - I've never been so offended and I'll be leaving the board immediately if the Mod's dont immediately ban him - this is outrageous ! ........oh wait, perhaps it's not that bad after all and I'm over reacting, sorry, it's just it seems to be the order of the day around here to spit the dummy out of the pram for the slightly infringement of late ! :-)

PS I have to admit that i didn't know that Issan WASN"T a province as I've heard many bar boys describing it exactly thus when asked where they come from ! Perhaps we should print off copies of the above maps and have them laminated and we can take them round the bars with us when asking that question and reeducate the boys as to the actual area SORRY REGION ! that they come from !

[dinagam]

Sa Kaew, Buriram, Surin, and Sisaket constitute an area with a lot of Khmer influences from the adjacent region.
On the other hand, the provinces of Satun, Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and Songkla have been peopled by Malays before being annexed by the Thai kingdom in the last few centuries. This region is now fighting for secession.

[Smiles]

" ... The Esan map in the OP used five colors, while four would be enough. Even worse, Nong Khai and Bueng Kan have the same color..."

The fact that out of all the provinces in that map there is only two which have the same colour seems to make you itch.
The name of the province ('Bueng Kan') is mighty large and takes over the entire geographical space of the province, so much so that one would have to be a total idiot not to trip over it. Christiano my boy you seem to be getting more anal by the minute. Perhaps you should keep to moderating.

[christianpfc]

Yes it does. OCD at work. The first thing I noticed when looking at the map: five colors, and yet two adjacent provinces have the same color.

The map was probably created before Bueng Kan was split off from Nong Khai, and they just drew a new border and added a new name, but did not change color.