Maps of Thailand and Isaan ...

[Marsilius]

Yes - and no (see below!)...

[dinagam]

The people of the North for example don't give a hoot about somtam, the sometimes fiery green papaya salad which is a staple of a typical Isaan meal.
Apart from food, there are similarities between the people in the provinces along the banks of the Mekong River with their cousins in Laos, culture and language, come to mind.

[frequent]

The people of the North for example don't give a hoot about somtam, the sometimes fiery green papaya salad which is a staple of a typical Isaan meal. Apart from food, there are similarities between the people in the provinces along the banks of the Mekong River with their cousins in Laos, culture and language, come to mind.

My recollection is reading somewhere that the 19th Century Thai governments invited in settlers from Laos and Cambodia to populate a very sparsely settled North East (now the Isaan region), hence the cultural and linguistic differences

[christianpfc]

The Esan map in the OP used five colors, while four would be enough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_color_theorem
Even worse, Nong Khai and Bueng Kan have the same color.

All provinces have the same name as their capital (not necessarily the largest town, e.g. Songkhla / Hat Yai). When asking boys where they come from, I sometimes get the province name, sometimes the region of Thailand.

In rare cases, I get a simplification. A boy from Ang Thong said he is from Ayutthaya, but when I asked for the district, he said he is not from Ayuatthaya but Ang Thong, but thought I wouldn't know where Ang Thong is and his home district borders on Ayutthaya. I have been around to so many places, I often ask for district as well. That weeds out foreign boys as well; I'm not good at recognizing accents, so a boy from Cambodia could pass as coming from Surin, but when I ask for his district, the truth will come out.

[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.

[goji]

I have been around to so many places, I often ask for district as well. That weeds out foreign boys as well; I'm not good at recognizing accents, so a boy from Cambodia could pass as coming from Surin, but when I ask for his district, the truth will come out.

How often do foreign boys try to pass themselves off as Thai ?

The only way I can check is by the ID document & I don't recall a case of one lying about his country of origin.

[frequent]

How often do foreign boys try to pass themselves off as Thai ?

I've never encountered one; quite the reverse

[pong]

How often do foreign boys try to pass themselves off as Thai ?

The only way I can check is by the ID document & I don't recall a case of one lying about his country of origin.

Not that often. These are 2 most frequent, or rather If it happens its from there:
real Lao guys who fake /deny this and tell them theyre Isany. Very rarely also Khmer guys pretend to come from Surin (where Khmer is more spoken as Lao=Isany)
Much more notorious and sometimes warranting to vigilance are the hilltribeys, notably the Shan/Karyen who take the issue of nationality not that serious anyway. (thats the way I like it to take all the burocrazyness anyway). Their own widely held view is that they are entitled to have their very own nation. Though all know that a Thai ID is much better as a Burmese, even if its just the pinky. And lending out IDs or swapping them or whatever is also widespread-in the black market you can fairly easily arrange that. An awful lot of Thai IDs get stolen/lost/whatever, that makes them invalid for real officialdom (thats why they are chipped) but still very usefull for not so serious goals.
(in my home country they now even check the ID-among the best secure in this world already- in banks when you come for a little more serious bisnis, like transferring the big sums for a new house. Check for it being stolen/missing and for it to be genuine real with some secret devices.

[arsenal]

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

[latintopxxx]

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