So today I really had no idea where I was going when I woke up this morning. I debated on whether to head back towards kanchanaburi a day early for the river kwai festival, or head further east and get really out in the middle of no where. I ended up deciding to head east for a day trip, but really had zero idea of how to get where I wanted to go. Phanom Rung sits atop a rather large mountain and is very difficult to get transport to. I did a little research and headed for the bus station. I found a bus matching the bus number I found online for the route I was looking for. The bus was bound for a town called Surin, although I was going to have to get off midway through in a small village called ban ta ko. The bus ride had me a little uneasy as I had to be on the lookout for signs the entire trip and really couldn't relax. After 2 hours I saw the sign I was looking for and got off in what really was the middle of nowhere. I came across a few moto-taxi's and they new were I was going but quite frankly also new how stranded I was out here and greatly inflated the price and wouldn't budge. The ride was level for about 5 minutes, until we hit a rode that started to climb sharply. Theg up the climb up this mountain is hard... Turn after turn winding up the mountain getting jerked around while the driver switches to lower gears it felt like an uphill ski slalom on a bike. The reality of just how high up I really was didn't really hit me until the top. The view was spectacular, nothing but land for as far as the eyes could see....

       By time I had arrived at the top, the scenery had already impressed me and I was glad I came here. The temple complex at the top is said to be the best in Thailand, and since I've now seen them all it will be my last for quite some time. The walk to the entrance seemed to go on for absolutely ever! for what seemed like it could be a full mile there was nothing but a rock walkway leading to the complex. Then it happens. Stepping over just one more row of steps, you see it. Phanom Rung. Settled so far in the distance, it almost looks unreal in the distance. Bliss. I took a look behind me to see just how far I'd climbed... Conclusion? Too damn far!

      Upon entering, I stare in awe at this place. Truly the best was saved for last here. The center is the largest single structure I've seen here in Thailand, made of a beautiful pinkish stone that has largely withstood damage over the years. Covered in hindu reliefs dating back to the 1200's showing it's original purpose even after being converted to a buddhist structure years later. The center is off limits and still considered holy and not allowed visitors, but you can get glimpse from the side doorways which adds to the mystique. I walked circles around the monument or what seemed like hours taking every possible photo from any angle. Remnants of aqueducts are still present even after all this time. The people or monks living here most likely had running water way before it became main stream in the area. A truly stunning place.

      After taking my sweet time checking out every detail of this place, I started the dreaded decent back down towards the road to meet back with my driver for a ride to a bus stop. This time there was nothing to see at the end.... Just a lot of very tiring steps to descend... I stopped at a cheap place to eat on the way back grabbing some fried rice with shrimp, passing over the more expensive place with a view. But I grabbed the photo anyway..... Just after that I passed a tree that just stood out to me. Covered in pick flowers resembling lotus flowers and swarming with black butterfly going in and out of the petals. It was just plain nice.

      After my time taking pictures there I made my way back down and eventually was on my bus back towards khorat to spend one last night there before heading off again in the morning. Most likely going to Kanchanaburi for a night to catch the river kwai festival and see some fireworks thai style, then work my way to nong kai and enter laos by next week!

       Awoke early enough to see the sun come up today as I got ready to catch the bus to Phimai for my day trip. After getting ready I walked outside to some pretty empty streets so getting a ride to the bus station proved difficult. Finally I decided I'd just walk and asked for directions. I've learned "bus station" in thai by now so it makes it a little easier. Still had some trouble but found someone who pointed the way. I got about 2 blocks when he pulled up next to me and offered me a ride. I gladly accepted although I was sure a cost would be involved. Arriving at the bus station I was shocked to find out it was just a gesture a goodwill and got off the bike. He took it upon himself to ask where my was only to find out that my bus was operating from the other bus station on the opposite side of town. He again gave me directions but I was tired and simply asked if he knew the way. He did but said it was far and couldn't do for free. "OK, but you pay" he said. So again we where off and a few minutes later I was getting of the motorcycle again but this time in front of my bus. I paid him the 40 baht he wanted which is actually steep for the journey here even thought incredibly cheap by standards back home. But the truth is he wasn't a taxi, and was just a guy who I asked for a ride so for his time it seemed reasonable. An hour and a half later and a $1 bus ride later I was dropped off in front of my destination, the Prasat Hin Phimai National Historical Park. ( The temples lol )

       Immediately I could tell this complex was different than the others and worth my visit. There was a whole different style here, and if this was a tiny tiny version of whats in store for me in Cambodia I simply can't wait. Upon entering the gate you see the vast temple, and the vague silouette of the buddha image inside. The complex is set up like a compass. Theres smaller temples at each direction, the N,S,E,and W points along the walled enclosure. In the center sits the main temple, towering above all the others. Upon entering there was something else that stood out to me.... It's supposed to be deserted, but theres hundreds of school children here!

       My fellow readers, today at exactly 9:53 local time November 20th, a day that will live on in infamy, the temples were invaded by hundreds of children :-).Turns out I chose to go on the one day out of the entire year that local school children come here as what I can only assume was something like a elementary school field trip. Getting my space seemed easy as looking in there direction since when are eyes locked they yelled "Farang" ( foreigner ), giggled and ran away. I started exploring the outlying temples as the kids only went to the more interesting center. These were impressive in there own right, and since I was able to walk inside them here, it was something new all together.

        Having done my rounds, the center was relatively free of anyone now and my plan of waiting everyone out seemed to have worked. One thing I noticed on the outlying temples is just how much the old mixes with the new here. Looking through ancient walls just a stones through away are the markets in full swing and trucks driving by. A far cry different from other temples here which are usually set away in acres of pristine park land.

       Having made it to the center and the prime target of most visitors looking down the long path approaching the temple, the sheer size is just incredible. The people standing on parts o it give a clear comparison of the size. Making my way inside, The buddha image isn't covered in gold or jewels, but rather of simple grey stone which is actually why I liked it. There are of coarse decorations applied by devotee's.... It's shadow can be seen from all sides of the temple and really gives off an aura when inside.

       Finally to end my day at Phimai even though It's only noon, I decided to check out a place called Soi Ngam, the largest grouping of Banyan trees in the country. Getting here it was either walk or talk a ride on an old fashioned rickshaw like peddled bicycle taxi, it being the only public transport in the very small town. Theres something about having someone physically have to break a sweat to move me from one place to another just didn't sit well with me. Paying him or not, it give me on odd feeling and I won't take one again. Upon arrival I forgot all about it. This spot is incredible! Literally hundreds of banyans with roots covering anything exposed to them they have taken over everything! The shadows created by the sun going through thousands of separate vines gives of an out of this world experience.

      All that before lunch time... Not bad at all. After the banyans went back to the guesthouse to.... well to type this  :-P

    View from front door, and then from balcony:

      In bangkok on my way to the east, the ride back down from the north was quite a trek. Caught a bus to Chiang Mai early yesterday morning to the train station there which took about 3 hours. I was supposed to catch the over night 14 hour train direct from Chiang Mai to bangkok at 3pm. Train turned out to be 2 hours late so was stuck sitting at the station for a while which got tiring. Nothing compared to the train ride. Sleeping the 14 hours away is no problem.... Trouble is there was a screaming child that literally yelled every half hour the entire 14 hours and I was awake the entire ride. Extremely relieved to be done with the ordeal and was ready to start my site seeing in bangkok since I skipped it on arrival and went straight for kanchanaburi. So I planned on spending the night and leaving the east in the morning. First stop was MBK. The largest mall in SE Asia at a enourmous 7 floors and the top few are like flee markets with anything and everything for sale. Have to pick up a few things before heading away as things are hard to find outside the city sometimes. New t-shirts, boxers, a cheap watch, a sturdy lock for my guesthouse doors etc.

     The mall, and bangkok in general are really the only places in the entire country with a mcdonalds so I decided to grab a burger for old times sake and eat in. As you walk in, your greeted by the ronald of the east, greeting you with palms together in typical thai fashion. I was delighted by it.    

     After MBK, I headed for my first temple here that wasnt crumbling stone for years past... There temples are shining everywhere covered in gold. Wat Pho is a spectacular complex although far too crowded for my taste. A bump from an older man... A collision with a younger couple trying to exit the same gate... etc. Aside from the large crowds the large golden buddda's and temples are worth a little frustration but still I didn't stay long.

      Next up was the Grand Palace, which I had really no idea of what to find inside. There are 15 - 20 white castle like walls blocking any view from outside the gigantic complex. Inside did not disappoint. The palace is superb. Although again clustered with people, the area is large enough to give you ample space. The Palace reminds me of what the white house would look like in asia... It's a combination of temple and government building. The palace grounds also hold a Wat so there are excellent temples surrounding the palace that out due the actual outlying temples in the area. The only real downer about this place was the price. At 350 baht ( $10 ), It's rather expensive for a single site by SE asian standards. Well that and the fact that there are con artists outside telling you its closed and try to get you to go to a place that they get a commsion from instead.... but I knew better.

     After the palace, I grabbed a tuk tuk and headed back to my guesthouse and had dinner on the rooftop restaurant were I started my trip two weeks ago. Deja vu....... But that doesnt't mean I'm going west again as much as I'd like to see Sangkhlaburi again. Find my self thinking about it there every few days. It really left an impression on me.    

 

       
Next stop is buriam on my way to Ubon, and somehow I planned out way to much time at certain places because I'm like a entire week ahead of schedule lol. Not a bad thing.... Just means I get to spend more time elsewhere.

( Also the Sangkhlaburi, Lopburi, and Sukothai picture sections have been updated and contain almost all my pictures of those areas )

       Arrived in Chiang Rai late last night and again had to randomly choose a guesthouse and hope for the best which as it turns out was a great choice yet again. Chat House has an amazingly laid back atmosphere with a nice restaurant attached. There was only one room let however, which just happened to be there biggest. So for the night I had a TV which felt pretty odd especially since the room was same cost I'd been budgeting myself elsewhere. I met a dutch couple during dinner at the restaurant and we worked out a plan for going to the golden triangle in the morning so bright and early the next day I was on a bus heading further north to Chang Sean bringing me to some of the most northern parts of thailand. The golden Triangle is an amazing place. The mekong river splits burma, thailand, and laos at this point and its possible to see the shores of all 3 from a single point. It's quite spectacular, although somewhat dwarfed by the gigantic buddha image marking the spot.

      After spending some time getting aqauinted with the mekong, we decided to hire a longboat to zoom around the river for the day. Along the way we pass a huge building which I'm told is a casino on the burmese side of the river. Just totally surprised me. I guess the military dictators have to gamble because the burmese certainly don't have the money to... lol

      Towards the end of the boat trip, the driver stopped along the shore and as we approached I started to get a little nervous. Although my companions didn't notice, I very well saw we were on the Lao side of the river! Images of lao officials etc crossed my mind. But he assured as it was a "stop" and we got off shore to discover in essence a trap of shops that he probably gets commision for bring customers too. Nothing but lao silk and cartons of marlboro cigarettes for like $5. Left rather quickly and saving my laos for next month...

       Sukothai.... first glimpse the place seems quite nice and the usually very pestering tuk tuk drivers at the bus station are not so pushing here. So I took a short ride to a random guesthouse I read about but hadn't yet seen which could have backfired bigtime. Fortunately it worked out wonderful as GardenHouse GH was very nice. Set back a little into a patch of trees and gardens, it gives off a camping type feel to it. The bungalow I got for 350baht ($10) was rather nice and with A/c which was a welcome change. When the time came to go see the ruins of "old" Sukothai, I actually had to push myself a little to go. I guess I'm a little temple burned out, but this is the last of the ruins for quite some time. Upon getting there on what was a rather expensive ride since I was dumb and didnt take the public bus, I was well back in the mood. The largest buddha statue I've ever seen in stone was here. My estimate places it at maybe 80 feet tall, give or take.

      I arrived late in the day to avoid further damage from the sun until I feel 100% instead of 85% lol. So after 2 hours the sun was going down and it was time to head back. The view was quite nice on the way, a combination of temples and rivers running through them.... 

      I decided to bust out the hard drive and laptop and watch a movie for the first time even though I've had it the whole time. I go to sleep by 9 or 10 and am up by 6am, so havn't had the use for late night movies... Plus the past few nights it would have annoyed the roommates. Well on the move again tomorrow to Chiang Mai since I've been here longer than planned already, it was only supposed to be a few hour day trip. oh well.

 

     So it turns out the sun took more of a toll on me than I thought, and have been sick since that night and hence why the posts have been behind. Was up with fevers and the couple next door loaned me some meds and a day and a half later I'm feeling good enough to get on the move again. With my new found strength I headed for lopburi and split away from the group going solo again. The train ride was short, less than 2 hours, and not knowing whether or not I'd be staying over night I left my bags at the train station storage and went to find what I'd come here for. Monkeys! The entire town is literally swarming with free roaming monkeys that cover every inch of the town and the ancient temples within it.

     This was seriously too much fun. Walking the streets there were monkeys crawling on power lines, on tops of buildings, crossing the streets, and best of all 100's on the temple ruins. One the them took my water bottle right from me and drank the entire thing. :-) 

     Tried feeding them which wasn't a good idea. It started a war between them over food and I'm quite certain it almost got me biten.... Oops. Theres' not much else to see in Lopburi but there doesn't need to be. The monkeys are all this place needs. Having seen what there is to see here, I took the mid afternoon train north and then a bus finally ending in Sukothai for my final set of temple ruins in Thailand. Off to see some temples in the morning......

      Left for Ayutthaya this morning with me new crew of 4. An Austrailan guy I met in Sangkhlaburi and 2 girls from Poland. We all booked are bus tickets and got ready for 8 hours of combined bus travel in the nice hot weather. A mix of chatting, sleeping, and eating we arrived about 8 and a half hours later in Ayutthaya. I had extremely high hopes for the ruins here, but before I got to them something else caught my eye... a super tuk tuk! My new favorite mode of transport! ( I'll get a picture of the regular one when im back in bangkok )

      Riding around it took as quite a long time to find two rooms to share because all the guesthouses were surprisingly full. After dropping off our bags we set out for a long day of temple ruins. They did not in any way disappoint. Simply amazing. After hundreds of years the ruins for the most part are very well preserved. Some of the monuments are one hundred feet tall or more. Remnants of Cambodias once great Khmer empire.

      All these temples really were just terrific. Each of the six temple complexs had its own unique style, and many of them we had all to ourselves. Most people only see the two main one and skip the less known. Fine by me. Spending almost six hours out in the sun took a huge toll on me though, so after dinner on the street market I headed home before the others and crashed for the night. I had the intent on heading for Lopburi in the morning.... but that was going to get delayed a bit.

       Deciding to head west from Kanchanaburi, I caught a 8:30am bus rom the main bus station yesterday morning to Sangkhlaburi. Hearing and reading so many stories about this very off the beaten track place, my hopes were very high. While waiting for the bus to take off, I met a woman from Poland in her 30's and we started chatting away. She was traveling for 9 months and interestingly the first 4 of them roughly matched my plans. Both of us mentioning we were spending just over budget the past few days we decided to share a room in Sangkhlaburi. Soon after I started watching the scenery. The first of the 5 hours I was going to be spending on this very hot fan only bus were uneventful outside the window. After that, the views really start picking up as the bus dives deeper into the mountains with roads were the guardrail is the cliff edge. Winding ever so slowly up the steep inclines of these mountainous roads, the reality of just how out of the way the place must be. Turn after turn is met with spectacular scenery unequaled by anything I'd ever seen. Lush mountains flanking vast rivers and lakes go on for more than the eyes can see.

After 4 hours of a very rough bus ride and some sights I stared at long enough to burn them into my memory as to never forget, I get my first glimpse of Sangkhlaburi. A most amazing gold temple peering its way out from the forest canopy behind a floating village along the riverside. If there are any heavenly beings of any kind, they reign here.

Arriving in the town which consisted of little less than street side vendors, a small bank and a few eating places. I started walking with my new Polish friend down the long road that parallels the river to find a guesthouse with a nice view. Stopping at a ew and being less than pleased, we finally arrived at P. Guesthouse. This place is breathtaking, and for a bargain. The cheapest simple fan room with a view was 250 baht ( $7) and since we were splitting the room for the next two days it was that for 2 nights. The place looks like a 5 star luxury resort but has some of the cheapest rooms around.

Upon entering the room, I was equally impressed. Just when I thought I new what to expect for 250 baht, I had the rug ripped from below my feet. The room was mint. 1o times better that what I paid more for in bangkok, which is too be expected a little but..... this was something else. Cobblestone walls and floor, wood planked ceiling, 2 comfortable beds..... it goes on.

After taking in the amazing view, I went down to the docks and leaped into the cool water to escape the 90 something heat.

Up to the guesthouse restaurant for dinner with a group I met down at the water and my new roommate, we all filled up on cheap food and after an hour so o chit chat called it a night. The morning has alot in store, including a boat that we hired to take 4 of us around the maze of rivers for a couple hours. So exciting!