After viewing the ruins I decided to check out the rest of Lopburi. The new "modern" part of Lopburi was moderately interesting with it's main feature being two huge traffic circles. I have no idea why a small town in the countryside needs such overblown monuments. Perhaps they are trying to recover a past glory, who knows.
In any case, after driving past the two circles on a city bus, I took refuge from a rain storm in a Big C supermarket. As I walked the aisles I felt like I was in the Wal-Mart back in my grandparent's hometown in a small town in Arkansas. The attire, the hairstyles, the language, the attitudes all screamed "small town". I'm not sure I would have noticed the difference when I first arrived, but the longer I stay here the more I realize that Bangkok is nothing like the rest of the country.
After exploring the modern, yet still provincial, section of Loburi, I decided not to stay the night and intead I took the train south to Ayutthaya where I am now. Tomorrow I will spend the day touring the ruins. I hope it doesn't rain!
You saw Thais sporting "The Mullet?" I don't know how long you've been away from the "Good Ol' South", but unless you saw some big 4x4s with stickers of Calvin peeing on the Ford/Chevy emblem, you aren't at Walmart nowadays. (ref: http://www.annoying.com/nightmares/obsessive/02/0001/0001.html) Note: this really is as widspread and annoying as the author presents it to be.
Haha. I wasn't looking for mullets, but I probably saw a few. Luckily there are no "Peeing Calvins" in Thailand, though.
The more I thought about it, provincial Thailand is to Bangkok as rural Arkansas is to New York City. I guess it happens all the time in every culture. Big cities foster environments where everyone tries to be fashionable while they only looking out for themselves and no one ever gets to know their neighbor. Folks in the small towns, on the other hand, don't care so much about the latest fashions and are more willing to get to meet and to know and to help those around them.
Of course, I just threw out some huge generalizations there. As always, your milage may vary...