Khorat is a big, busy city with little in the way of sights, but one that for many travellers serves as the gateway to Isan. A bumper dose of urban hubbub reflects the city's affluence, and Khorat's one-time historic charm has been largely smothered under a duvet of homogenous development.Khorat has a strong sense of regional identity (people call themselves kon koh·râht instead of kon ee·săhn) and is at its best in its quieter nooks, such as inside the east side of the historic moat, where local life goes on in a fairly traditional way.Nakhon Ratchasima is almost universally abbreviated to the much more succinct 'Khorat'. The two terms are interchangeable.