Nang Rong and Region

Monday, February 3, 2014

It was meant to be a short drive to Nang Rong along fast roads. Instead we started late, eventually found the Starbucks, visited some temples which weren’t really on our way, took a route that was about 90 kms longer than it needed to be (by accident) and finished the day’s drive on Thailand’s slowest major highway trying to make sure the crazy Thai drivers didn’t kill us. Needless to say we had a great day of travel and really enjoyed all of the scenery along the way.

We stopped and had lunch at Prasat Sikhoraphum which is a small but very nice Khmer era temple with an impressive lintel. Every temple needs a draw card, and the carved stone lintel is the big deal here. Also stopped at Prasat Muang Thi to see 3 small phrangs making up this tiny site.

After our temple visits we hit slow traffic with over-zealous Thai drivers trying to out-do each other with crazy overtaking moves. After 340kms I was ready to check into the first hotel we could find. As luck would have it, we saw an aging sign with directions to our preferred choice of hotels. Good luck indeed as this hotel was not coming up on our GPS and otherwise we’d have had no way of finding it. It was not long before we were checked in and sensation was returning to my bottom (which was numbed from the many hours of driving).

The home cooked dinner was wonderful. We will be staying two nights I think.

On the logistics front: we just booked some award tickets for our flight home. Hard to believe in 10 months we will be flying back to San Francisco. At least booking this early means we get super saving tickets, so don’t need to blow too many miles on the flight home.

Prasat Sikhoraphum
Prasat Muang Thi. Can you see part of Sterlin in the background?

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

There used to be an extensive system of 6 roads leading out of the Khmer capital at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, one of which headed north-west through Phanom Rung and onto Phimai. Consequentially there are Khmer temples that lie on this reasonably straight line that was once this transportation link.

Today we visited Phanom Rung Historical Park which is apparently one of the more impressive ones. And it did not disappoint. We were up early to beat the heat of the day and therefore also beat the tour buses. We practically had this magical place all to ourselves. The temple complex is situated upon a spent volcano and also claims to be the largest and best restored Khmer style temple in all of Thailand. Thus it was one the must-see list. We wandered the grounds taking it all in. It will be interesting to see how Angkor Wat compares.

About 8 kms away was Prasat Muang Tam, another 12th century Khmer style temple. Ok, not as impressive as Phnom Rung, but still worth the visit. We were still ahead of the tour buses and apart from the man in the pink shirt trying to get into all of our photos, the temple was also pretty empty. Last up for the morning was Wat Khao Angkhan with its 29m golden reclining Buddha and nouveau Khmer style main building (circa 1982) surrounded by hundreds of people-sized Buddhas.

We didn’t explore Nang Rong town itself but did manage to find a great little coffee shop alongside a noodle restaurant where we had a very nice lunch. Ordering involved hand waving to avoid the dish being too spicy. The afternoon was spent relaxing and updating the blog.

Caroline managed to wrangle a free cooking lesson from the hostess of our hotel and was soon preparing my Green Curry Chicken and her Lemon Grass and Coconut Tom Kha. Both quite delicious.

Arched Gateway of Phanom Rung
From Phanom Rung
From Phanom Rung
From Phanom Rung
From Phanom Rung
Entrance of Prasat Muang Tam
The kids practicing their English on Caroline.
Sterlin at Wat Khao Angkhan
Buddhas at Wat Khao Angkhan