Buriram for Digital Nomads

The town of Buriram, capital of the Isaan province of the same name, is located about 120km east of Nakhon Ratchasima. With an urban population about 1/18th the size, my expectations were that it would be less developed and even more local. So it was a bit of a shock when I arrived here and found it to be more foreigner-friendly than some of the big cities in Isaan.

I didn't realise it until I arrived, but my hotel on this first stay was only 150m from the campus of Buriram Rajabhat University. If Wikipedia is to be believed, then Buriram Rajabhat University has around 15,000 students. The population of Buriram is less than 24,000, so this is a very, very student-centric town, which is nice. Students are young enough that they haven't become embittered to the world yet, so the vibe around town is very positive. It's the opposite of what I was expecting.

Of course, in a town so small you're limited in what is available, and the lack of vegan food here is a definite frustration.

Welcome to Buriram

Who is Buriram suitable for?

While I found that Buriram had more foreigners than I was expecting (a mix of expats and tourists), it's still not a touristy place. All the expats I've encountered here are 60+.

My point is that there's not much in the way of a social life here. There are some foreigner-aimed bars, as I'll get into below. They're a good bet to drink some beer and chat to some people, but beyond that, Buriram is not a place for the socially-needy nomad. It's also not great for vegans. You won't go hungry, but you'll probably be pretty bored of the food by the time you leave.

With the number of students, it's a good vibes kind of place, so if you're an independent-minded omnivore who just wants to hangout somewhere for a bit, you'll probably like it.

How affordable is Buriram?

Buriram is more expensive than you'd expect. As a small town located between Nakhon Ratchasima and Ubon Ratchathani, I was expecting it to be cheaper than them, but it's not the case, and there's actually a noticeable bump in price compared to everywhere else in Isaan I've been.

For example, in Buriram a one-hour massage will typically cost 300 baht. In the rest of Isaan you'll pay 200-250. A small bottle of San Miguel is 99 baht in my most-visited bar here. I'd expect 65 to 80 baht elsewhere. A meal at a local 'jay' restaurant here costs around 70 baht. An equivalent meal will be 40 to 50 baht elsewhere in Isaan.

These are all pretty insignificant increases in the grand scheme of things, and paying an extra 50 baht for a massage, or an extra 20 baht for a beer isn't going to make much difference unless you're on an extremely tight budget, but if you are, there are cheaper places in Isaan to be.

Is Buriram safe?

As you'd expect in a small, studenty town in Isaan, crime is basically non-existent. The biggest risk I've encountered here are some aggressive soi dogs.

I walk wherever I go, day or night, no matter where I am in the world, which means I'm often wandering down side roads and encountering packs of stray dogs after dark. You expect them to be territorial and to bark a bit, but I've never felt as close to actually being attacked as I was walking home here on my first night in Buriram when I got surrounded by a pack of eight to ten dogs. They were very protective of the road right outside my hotel.

I went out a couple of nights later thinking it would be wise to take a motorcycle taxi back to my room instead of dealing with them again, but then I drank eight beers and thought fuck it, I'll get in a fight with some dogs. I got myself all hyped-up on the 25-minute walk back, and when I got there... they weren't there. They were obviously off trying to intimidate people outside another hotel.

Apart from the dogs, Buriram is very safe.

How is the Internet in Buriram?

In my first room the connection had 26mbps download and upload speeds and was a little unstable. In my second room it was 187mbps download and 113mbps upload and stable, so the infrastructure is there for a good connection, it just depends on where you're staying. In both places I was able to get through video calls without issue.

Is it easy to get by with English in Buriram?

Frustratingly so. Part of my motivation for spending my time in Isaan is that I want to be forced to practice Thai. Perhaps given the high student population here, many people you encounter speak decent English. It's certainly not everyone, but many do. It's very annoying.

Being sociable in Buriram

You won't find any events for meeting new people in Buriram. Or at least I haven't found any events for meeting new people in Buriram. What you will find is more foreigner-aimed bars than in Korat and Ubon Ratchathani combined.

They only have one bar each so that's not too hard, but still. Dotted around the town you'll find a small number of bars.

One of the better options is Bee Stop Bar and Grill. They have a pool table and a couple of TVs playing sports. Most of the clientele are older foreign men, but that's to be expected anywhere in Isaan.

I've also been to Amsterram a couple of times. As you can probably tell from the name, it's a weed themed bar. They sell weed alongside alcohol, which gives it a slightly odd vibe, both in the music that they play and in the demeanour of the clientele. If they get the same paranoia I get when I'm high, that's understandable. They sometimes have live music.

Some other bars I've bookmarked but never made it to are Nekromantix, which looks like a 90's themed craft beer bar, which is right up my alley. MarieJane Craft is another craft beer bar, which I'd assume by the name also sells weed. And Bamboo Bar always has foreigners drinking in it, even in the middle of the day, however nothing about it ever made me want to join them, but perhaps it's what you're looking for.

Bee Stop is a classy bar. I suggest wearing a shirt and shoes so you don't get turned away.

Things I don't like about Buriram

As I've mentioned above, I've never encountered soi dogs quite as aggressive as I did on my first night in Buriram. It didn't happen again, so perhaps it was a one-off.

The lack of variety in available vegan food is definitely another frustration, as I'll get to below.

And the last thing that annoys me a bit here, is how out-of-date or inaccurate Google Maps is. It's fairly common outside of major cities for Google to get a few things wrong, but here it feels like there's just loads of places that exist on Google Maps that have either since closed down, or were fantasy to begin with. It's always a bit annoying when you plan to go somewhere that it turns out doesn't exist.

Where to run in Buriram

Khlong Lalom is an 1,800 year old moat that was once dug as a defensive barrier for what is now Buriram. I assume back then it hadn't been dissected into five different parts by roads crossing over it, because that would have made it a bit pointless, but that's how it is now.

If you run a full lap of Khlong Lalom it has a total distance of 5.36km, however the fact that it's cut into sections means that you'll have crossed roads eight different times by the time you get back to your starting point. None of them are especially busy or hard to cross so it's not really an issue on relaxed runs. If you want to come here and do a faster run without crossing any roads, then each of the five sections can be done as a lap on its own. The middle of the five sections is by far the biggest, although worth noting that the people that built the path only knew how to build right-angles, so there are some oddly sharp corners seeing as it's meandering around what's now a large lake.

It's a very enjoyable route, it's not very busy, you'll get to see a bit of the town, and you'll also come across a few sporadic workout areas. I've also come here to walk on my lunch breaks.

An alternative is the running track in Buriram Rajabhat University (BRU). To look at it on Google Maps, you might think that you can access the stadium from the main road, but you can't. I tried. Unless you're willing to jump a fence, you can only access it from the university campus. Walk until you see a big tree, then behind the big tree is an open gate that leads onto the running track.

I came here in the middle of the day and there weren't any other people here because all Thai people are scared of the sun, so you'll likely have the track to yourself. It's an eight-lane 400m track (with a ninth lane on the straight), and is a better choice than Khlong Lalom if you want to do a fast run.

During my second stay in Buriram, I was staying on the very edge of the city, and right outside of my hotel were a couple of fields with roads going around them. The roads do have vehicles on them but are so wide that there's little risk of being hit. Instead you should be more concerned by the hundreds of stray dogs that call these fields home.

Running and stray dogs don't usually mix, and on my first couple of laps I did garner a few barks, but after that they seemed to get used to me. Each lap of these fields is 1.5km, and I ran four laps on six consecutive days when staying here. I didn't have any major issues with the dogs. You'll also pass several buffalo grazing nearby.

Khlong Lalom is the best place in Buriram to go running. To run an entire circuit is 5.36km, although you have to cross some roads.

Getting vegan food in Buriram

My favourite vegan-friendly restaurant from my first stay in Buriram, La Paz, had closed down by the time I returned, limiting even more the meagre options for vegans in Buriram.

There's a 'jay' Vegetarian restaurant behind the municipal market, which is your best bet for an easy vegan meal in Buriram. It's your typical vegan buffet, nothing to write home about, and only open until 4:30pm everyday, but it's better than nothing.

Another place you could try is The Salad Lab. I went to a restaurant called 'The Salad Lab' during my first stay, which had also closed down by my second. I'll assume it just relocated to here, although I never made it to this second location, but if it is like the first then it has a salad bar which is vegan friendly, apart from no vegan proteins.

You could try Healthy Cafe Buriram. They do smoothie bowls made with almond milk and oat milk, although on the one day I came here the chef was off sick, so I never got to try them.

Apart from these places, I typically resort to ordering off Grab - you'll find a couple of restaurants on Grab, such as Miles Cafe and Donburi, that have dedicated vegan sections on their menu. Presumably they offer the same if you go to the restaurant in person, although I haven't been to either.

The truth of it is that Buriram is not a very vegan-friendly city, and half of my meals here I end up just making in my room myself.

The vegetarian restaurant behind the municipal market is a standard point-and-hope 'jay' buffet, although they have a higher than average number of sausage-type things on sticks. This plate cost 70 baht and is a typical price here. It's a bit more expensive than equivalent restaurants in other parts of the country.

Where I stayed

Snow House Buriram

527/99 Jira Nakorn Soi 4

I have very mixed feelings about Snow House. Some things about it I loved, and some I just didn't.

I had a great start here, because despite arriving just after 10:30am when check-in time is 2pm, they let me check-in right away. That's always welcome, and I found the staff to be very friendly and personable.

But when once I got up to the room, a couple of things instantly annoyed me. The first was that there were cigarette butts on both the floor and in the sink of the balcony. These weren't hard to spot, and as they got ignored by the housekeepers who came into my room everyday of my stay after that, I can assume they just don't get paid to clean the balcony because it was disgusting out there. Not just cigarette butts, but the floor didn't look like it'd been cleaned in months either. Just ignore the fact that you get a balcony at this hotel because it's not usable.

The other thing the cleaners did that annoyed me, was there was no bag in the bin when I arrived. That's never good for me because I drink so much tea and eat so much fruit, the remnants of which always end up in the bin, that I'm just going to make a mess of it if there isn't a bag in there.

I never like to complain, especially if my complaint could get someone else in trouble, so instead I went to 7-11 to get a plastic bag that I could use in the bin. Ok, surely they won't forget to replace it again.

Bzzzt, wrong. The next day they actually did replace the bag with another bin liner, but the day after forgot. Off I went to 7-11 again. By the end of my stay I was just using this bin without a bag in it, which made it kind of disgusting. I'm not sure what the game was we were playing, it was very annoying though.

Apart from the balcony, the room was actually pretty nice. Huge, east-facing windows, and being up on the fifth floor (out of seven) I was high enough that I could leave the curtains open while I slept, which I always do anyway, but here I didn't have to worry about people watching me sleep. I woke-up drenched in glorious daylight every day. The desk being right in front of a window was great too.

A downside was that the room was just a little bit too small to be comfortable. I moved the bed about a foot closer to the window than it was when I checked-in. That gave me a bit more space to exercise (although the extra foot of floor space that had been previously covered by the bed was predictably dusty), but it still just felt a little bit too small. The room was listed at 22m². I've stayed in 22m² rooms before that didn't feel so cramped. There was also an annoying number of ants in the room. They seemed to be everywhere.

The walls weren't very soundproof either. I had a corner room so was only sharing one wall, but anytime the couple in the room next door were talking, or watching a movie, or fucking, as they did a lot, I got to listen to it. That was fun.

The Internet was fast enough (25.5mbps download, 26.4mbps upload). It was slightly unstable, but mostly ok.

One thing I absolutely loved about this place though, was that apart from the aggressive soi dogs that live outside, the location here is perfect. It's a short walk from the university, meaning it's a very student-centric area which is my kind of vibe. 7-11 is nearby (about a three minute walk) as are a couple of fruit vendors that setup every day. In the surrounding streets you've got pretty much everything you need, from coffee shops to launderettes (of which there are multiple), and you're an easy walk from Khlong Lalom, which is a great place for a walk or run.

It's why I have such mixed feelings about Snow House. I either loved or hated everything here. Loved the location, loved the friendliness of the staff, loved how much light gets into the room, hated that the balcony never got cleaned, hated that they refused to give me a bin liner, hated how many ants were in the room, hated I could hear the people next door fucking.

In a town like Buriram there are few options. Despite its flaws, Snow House is still one of them.

One of the best things here is the floor-to-ceiling east-facing windows. So much daylight streams in through the windows in the mornings. I love it.

Jiahaus Hotel Apartment

560 Tambon Krasang

Jiahaus has spacious, comfortable rooms, fast and reliable Internet, a great location and amazing cleaning staff.

Jiahaus can go fuck itself.

Coming back to Buriram from Ubon, my transport options were to arrive here earlier than I'd like (in the late morning) or later than I'd like (in the early evening). So I emailed Jiahaus and told them I'd be arriving about 11am - would early check-in be possible?

Yep, no problem. No mention of any additional charges, but why would there be, right? I've already paid for the room for the day and I'd be arriving after check-out time anyway, so it would be completely unreasonable to try to add-on any charges.

So I arrived at the hotel a couple of hours early like I said I would, went up to the front desk, and the guy working on the front desk said to me "we usually charge 100 baht per hour for early check-in."

In short, I told him where to go - I'm not paying extra for a room that I've already paid for. So for the next two hours, with my room at this hotel sat empty and clean, I sat on the sofa in reception, studying a bit of Thai, doing a bit of coding, but underneath it, I was absolutely livid.

It was the way he said it as well. "Usually." We usually charge 100 baht. So you mean it's not a hard-and-fast policy, you just feel like being a prick, don't you you fucking prick. And where's 100 baht per hour come from? I'm paying 850 baht per 24 hours to stay here, but it's 100 baht per hour now?

It's one of my absolute pet peeves that hotels try and charge you extra for a room you've already paid for. And at that point there was absolutely nothing that this hotel could do to make staying here a positive experience.

I wouldn't have had anything bad to say about it otherwise, the room was great. Genuinely. It was spacious, the Internet was fast and stable, the cleaning staff here were amazing, when even if I only went out for thirty minutes, without fail they'd have cleaned it by the time I got back. And the location is amazing. You're right on the edge of the city, so out the window of my sixth floor room I'd see fields and buffalo grazing - you could go running right from the hotel entrance, but it was only a very short walk to the nearest 7-11, and a bar, and a launderette, and Thawikit Supercenter was only about a 15 minute walk.

It was perfect. It would have been perfect, but instead, fuck this fucking hotel. I feel nothing but resentment towards it, and it was so unnecessary. All it needed was for the frontdesk staff not to be pricks. But they are, so fuck this place.

The room is really spacious, with lots of natural daylight, and lots of space in front of the TV for exercise by moving the coffee table out of the way. Fuck this place.

Summary of Buriram

Do I want to come back again?

I felt somewhat indifferent about Buriram after my first stay, but its location mid-way between Ubon and Bangkok meant I decided to give it another go.

It was such an unenjoyable stay at my second hotel that I've now been here twice without feeling any real affinity towards Buriram, so I think it's unlikely I'll be back again when there are so many places in Thailand that I do like or have never been to.