Yasothon

Yasothon is famous for one thing: the Bun Bang Fai rocket festival, one of the most exhilarating events in Thailand. Every May, enormous homemade bamboo rockets — some 9 meters long — are launched into the sky to bring the rains, accompanied by parades, dancing, drinking, and an atmosphere of gleeful mayhem. It's a pre-Buddhist fertility ritual that's been absorbed into Isan's cultural calendar, and it's absolutely worth timing a trip around.

Beyond the rockets, Yasothon is a quiet Isan province with a strong local identity. Phra That Yasothon (also called Phra That Anon), a Lao-style chedi in the town center, is the province's most sacred site. The Ban Si Than village specializes in triangular axe pillows (mawn khwan) — the distinctive Thai floor cushions are produced here in huge quantities and sold nationwide. Tung Kula Ronghai, a once-barren plateau in the province's south, now produces Thailand's most prized jasmine rice — Hom Mali from this region consistently wins international rice competitions.