The Thai Adventures of Rob B

My wife Taew and I had been to the Ubon Ratchathani Candle Festival twice before. While we'd enjoyed both visits, we wanted to experience the nighttime celebrations to complete the picture. So, in July 2026, we booked a hotel and turned it into a 24-hour adventure by adding a few other attractions along the way.

It had been a tough couple of weeks for this farang in rural Sisaket. Nothing that would affect my life long-term, but England getting knocked out of the World Cup when I was certain they were going to win it, followed by the death of Kevin Keegan, really saddened me. However, there is always something that surprises and makes life happy living where I do.

I love living in Thailand, surrounded by beautiful rural scenery, with visits back to our condo in Bangkok two or three times a year to give me a fix of city life. I have been lucky to meet and marry a wonderful lady from a good family. I have worked to understand our cultural differences. But the ‘mai pen rai’ mentality is something I’m always likely to struggle with.

One of the questions I’m asked most often in Thailand is how and why I ended up living here. Even people who have known me for many years are surprised that I now call a rural Thai village in the northeast of the country home, with no other Westerners living nearby. Let me explain.

Thailand’s Bun Bang Fai (Rocket Festival), usually shortened locally to Bun Fai, is one of the country’s most exciting and colourful cultural celebrations. Held mainly in the northeast, especially across Thailand's Isan region and neighbouring Laos-influenced communities, the festival combines tradition, music, food, dancing, and homemade rockets launched into the sky in the hope of bringing rain for the rice-growing season. I love them. Read more to find out why.  

Rainy season in Thailand can produce incredible storms and downpours, feeling even more dramatic in the countryside where we live. With no lightning conductors on the village houses, we switch off electrical appliances and simply sit and wait. When the skies finally clear, opportunities are there to be seized, like when I was up bright and early the following morning for a cycle ride through the surrounding countryside.

Some places continue to attract huge numbers of visitors to Thailand, drawn by its tropical climate, stunning coastline, legendary hospitality, and outstanding value for money compared with destinations elsewhere in the world. One of the most famous is Phuket. Here, I look back on my memories of the island.