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Issan and others


FAT_AUSSIE

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p.s. They ain't Khmer.

 

 

 

No, ain't Khmer. But the if Korat is considered Isaan, there is certainly Khmer influence there that is quite in evidence: both in the ancient ruins and in the physical attributes of many of its inhabitants. In fact, Ms Hoy (Khmer) said she liked Korat because the people looked and "acted" like those at home (Sisophone). She felt comfortable. As for other parts of Isaan (say Surin, for example), Khmer is spoken. The only thing that might differentiate the inhabitants of Cambodia/Thailand along the border is a political line "drawn in the sand" (though the cultural differences may have become more diverse over the last generation and may continue to become more divergent).

 

HH

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There are some cultural differences between (Isan) Lao and Central Thais, and definite cultural differences between Khmer (Isan) and Central Thais, but yeah, mostly it's just racism (the Northerner and Central attitudes toward Isan of which the OP speaks). Lao are generally looked down upon by the Central Thais; Khmer and Kuy (the Thais call them Suay) are looked down upon even more.

 

Interestingly, the Northerners (Lanna) are a different linguistic and cultural group still. What the Lanna, Lao, Kuy and Khmer all have in common, however--and what makes the Lao, Khmer and Kuy generally stick together in Isan---is that they were all colonized by the Central Thais.

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Chiang Mai has been taken over in the past two decades by interlopers from Bangkok. They moved north to get away from Bangkok ... and are doing their best to turn CM into a Bangkok clone. Want to see my Mrs get angry? Just watch her when a Bangkok carpetbagger tries to speak Kham Muang!

 

Intriguingly, my wife and her friends said they could get along well enough in Sip Song Panna (now part of China) by speaking Kham Muang to the locals - except in the cities, which are full of Han Chinese "immigants".

 

 

 

 

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