According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, around 100,000 Vietnamese people currently live in Thailand, with most concentrated in northeastern provinces.

Vietnam-Thailand friendship in northeastern Thailand

Nakhon Phanom is one of the northeastern Thai provinces where Vietnamese influences and Vietnam-Thailand friendship remain particularly visible.

The most notable site is the commemorative site for President Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) in Nachok Village, which includes a memorial area, a museum, and the house where Uncle Ho lived while conducting revolutionary activities in Thailand from 1928 to 1929.

On commemorative occasions, Vietnamese people from different places gather at the site to offer incense and remember the great leader of Vietnam.

Nakhon Phanom is also home to the Thai-Vietnamese Memorial Clock Tower, which was built before the Vietnamese community’s repatriation in 1960.

More than 60 years ago, the Vietnamese residents decided to raise funds to build the tower as a gesture of gratitude to the Thai king and government.

Your correspondent visited the site on a rainy day in early September. Right next to the clock tower was a fairly busy local breakfast restaurant.

Inside, the correspondent came across familiar Vietnamese dishes and drinks, including sticky rice, banh canh noodles and phin-brewed coffee.

"You can tell this is a Vietnamese-owned restaurant because there is a photo of Uncle Ho," one member of the journalist's group said, referring to the way Vietnamese people affectionately call President Ho Chi Minh.

A portrait of the late president was respectfully displayed on the wall.

In a city along the Mekong River, the way people remember President Ho Chi Minh, together with familiar Vietnamese dishes, offers a glimpse into the everyday life of a Vietnamese community that has been connected to Nakhon Phanom for generations.

From historical sites to everyday corners of local life, Vietnamese influences in Nakhon Phanom have been preserved and passed down naturally over time.

A Vietnamese noodle shop of over 50 years in Mukdahan

Before reaching Nakhon Phanom, the correspondent also visited Mukdahan, a province in northeastern Thailand bordering Laos.

In an area known as Vietnamese Communities 5-Junction in Mukdahan, a Vietnamese family has been running a banh canh shop for more than half a century.

The restaurant is owned by the family of Nguyen Van Tan. They have lived in Thailand for four generations.

They opened the central Vietnamese-style banh canh noodle shop in 1972.

Tan and his wife, Ha Thi Gai, were both born in Thailand. In the past, they also spent time teaching Vietnamese to Vietnamese people living in Thailand.

Their son, Nguyen Van Phi, 50, now runs the family restaurant.

The restaurant is open daily from 6:00 am to 10:30 am.

Ingredients such as pork rolls and banh canh noodles are made in-house.

In the past, the noodles were made entirely by hand. The family now uses a machine to press the noodles, but the flavor has remained appealing throughout the past five decades.

The restaurant’s banh canh noodles are made from rice and are small, round, and moderately chewy.

They are served with Vietnamese pork rolls, meat, and a small twist in the form of a soft-boiled egg, adding to the flavor.

Besides banh canh, the restaurant also serves banh goi (Vietnamese empanada) and banh cuon (Vietnamese steamed rice ools), offering customers more choices.

On Google Reviews, the restaurant, listed as 5 yak rice noodle, has a rating of 4.4 stars and has received numerous positive comments.

One reviewer even described it as a “a must-try restaurant when you're in Mukdahan.”

Many Vietnamese families live around the restaurant, most of them with roots in central Vietnam.

“Everyone in our neighborhood is Vietnamese, from Hue, Quang Binh, etc. There are many people from central Vietnam here in Mukdahan,” Tan said.

Familiar Vietnamese flavors in northeastern Thailand

Vietnamese banh mi is also easy to find in northeastern Thailand, from roadside food stalls to restaurants in upscale hotels.

However, one Vietnamese dish that is among the most popular with Thai people is nem nuong, Vietnamese grilled pork sausages.

The correspondent's group visited Daeng Namnueng, a Vietnamese restaurant in Nong Khai Province, shortly after lunchtime, but the restaurant was still packed with customers.

Located along the Mekong River near the Indochina Market, the restaurant serves Vietnamese dishes such as cha gio (fried egg rolls), chao tom (grilled ground shrimp wrapped around sugarcane sticks), and goi cha lua (pork roll salad).

But the venue’s “star” dish is nem nuong.

On TripAdvisor, Daeng Namnueng is ranked second among 52 restaurants in Nong Khai.

As your correspondent traveled through northeastern Thailand, she realized that Vietnamese influences in the region are not limited to historical sites and stories.

They are also present in the most familiar aspects of everyday life.