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Phanom Rung

Posted by Stuart at 04:48 PM on March 10, 2003

After all of my complaining about sweaty bus and train rides in "Air Con" vehicles, I more than made up for it on the bus ride to Khorat last night. For some odd reason the weather was very cool today and tonight it was downright chilly. It is a very odd sensation to be cold in Thailand. It's almost like a warm Christmas in Florida -- it just doesn't seem right. In any case, I shivered under a blanket the whole trip.

Early this morning, I started my trip to the Khmer ruins of Phanom Rung. My plan was to take a bus to Buriram, then take another bus to Nong Rang where I would rent a motorbike to go to the ruins. On the way to the bus station, however, I noticed people on the street getting on buses that seemed to be going in that direction, so I jumped on too. At first I was bummed that it appeared to be a local bus (i.e., making stops every 2 blocks) but then I realized that it would take me directly to Nong Rang, making my trip much easier.

The ruins were impressive. Again, these ruins were Angkor-style and built in the same period as the ones I saw last week at Phi Mai (11th-13th Century). The difference here was that there were many sites in a small area. There were also a lot more Thai tourists here. In any case, I was reminded again of riding the motorbike taxi between the thousand year old piles of stones in Angkor. As I said last week, if you don't want to deal with the extra hassles of going to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat, then head to Southern Isaan.

Tonight, I finally head home to Bangkok after 9 days on the road. I am especially looking forward to a nice long hot shower.