Maha Sarakham is the capital city of Maha Sarakham Province in Thailand's north-eastern region. Sarakham, as it is known to its inhabitants, is in a rice-growing area on the southern Korat plain, straddling the Chi River. Maha Sarakham is 456 km north-east of Bangkok and 87 km south-east of Khon Kaen. The city has long been known as a regional education centre, the so-called "Taxila of Isan". It is home to six colleges, as well as Maha Sarakham University and Maha Sarakham Rajabhat University. Sarakham has the feel of a student town with the younger, more cosmopolitan population much in evidence in the downtown campus area and near MSU's second campus a few miles away at Kamlieng.