Known by Thais as I-San, the sprawling Northeast Plateau is bordered to the north and east by the Mekong River and Laos, and to the south largely by Kampuchea.

The Northeast is a distinctive region thanks to a topography of lovely forested mountains and national parks and rolling farmland; to its colourful inhabitants who speak their own melodious dialect, have a delicious highly spiced cuisine, and a hospitable, vibrant and oftentimes boisterous folk culture; and because of archaeologically significant excavations and shrines - such as Ban Chiang where the world's oldest Bronze Age civilisation flourished some 5,600 years ago; and venerable prasat hin (stone castle) temples; legacy of I-San's former importance to the Angkor-centred Khmer empire.