Thailand - Pi Mai

Monday, June 27'th

We get up late, pack our gear and check out of the MAESAI GUEST HOUSE, it has been a fantastic time here. The tranquility really get to you in a soothing way, the slow pace of life is good for your soul. We take it easy, it is a holiday after all. A place to return to later in life, I hope it won't change too much.

We walk into the the center of MAE SAI and drop our things at the booking office. Get our bus-tickets for KHORAT (A contraction of NAKHON RATCHASIMA) and spend the hour

The bus arrive and we get into our seats at the back of the bus, our home for the next 15 hours. It is first class, a Stewardess serving beverages and Hongkong martial-arts movies, dubbed from Chinese to Thai, is showed all evening.

At 9PM there are lunch, included in the fare. We step off the bus and get our noodle-soup, not the best we have tasted. And then our bus drive off. "What now?" I think. Are we stranded here without money, passport, everything? Suchera explain that the driver is probably re-fueling the bus at a gas

Back on track, we try to get some sleep but it is hard. The volume of the TV is turned up high and there is a constant stir among the passengers, getting on and off the bus at different towns along the route. We are going all the way, to the end of the line and around 2AM we all doze off. I sleep on and off, for minutes or hours at a time, I don't know. I remember seeing the faint glow of the morning sun in the horizon, and then we are there, KHORAT.

Tuesday, June 28'th

6AM. We tumble off the bus and look for a taxi to take us to our stay for the Tuesday/Wednesday night. Suchera have grown up here so she know the best and cheapest place. We check in and agree to get few hours of sleep before exploring the area. The problem is that we do not arrange who is in charge of waking the others.

It is a bit past noon before we get up, we are all fresh but we had six hours of sleep instead of two. We rush to the center square and grab a bite

The drivers estimate of when to be at the different sites is a bit off his control. Apparently the roads are worse than he expected, but around 2PM we are at the PNOM RUNG complex. The landscape is flat as a pancake in this part of Thailand, a fertile slope with only one hill, the PNOM RUNG.

The temple is typical for this area, the style is not like the other temples we have seen, it is Khmer. Back in time, this area and Cambodia

The air is crisp and you can see for miles at the temple-plateau on top of the hill. Rain-clouds are passing in the distance, across the plain below. We spend an hour here at PNOM RUNG before we drive on.

On the way to Phimai the road is bad and the weather gets overcast, a thunderstorm is gathering. But it is only a spatter when we get to the temple

The principal sanctuary is a tower (Prasat) surrounded by four porches with an anti-chamber leading into each porch. On the terraces of the pyramidal roof, which is supported by Garudas, guardian figures, are interspersed with Nagas. Again ANGKOR WAT come into mind, this is imposing in size and age.

Of special interest is a carved stone door-lintel depicting a divine figure, dressed in an elephant skin worn upside down, who dances on a pair of prostrate figures. On either side of this figure are rows of seated Buddha

We decide to return to the city, but Shehab do not agree. It was part of our plan to see some remarkable rare trees in this area. But it is too dark now and it is raining too much to go there, but Shehab insist. Sune is blamed for the hole thing, because we overslept in the morning and didn't get to see the stupid trees, an argument was forming. There was a frigid distance between the two for a couple of days.

That evening we eat at one of the places Suchera remember from when she lived in KHORAT, afterwards we go to a club with live music, mainly Thai popmusic. We sit next to a group of Japanese men, probably in KHORAT on a business trip. The Japanese are rather drunk and begin to get affectionate toward Shehab. Suddenly Suchera and I are alone at our table and the Japanese have found a new 'victim', yes you guessed it, me. Shehab and Sune giggle at the bar while I with some difficulty also see my chance to leave the scene.

We park ourselves at a new table at the other end of the club, the Soccer World Cub is on and we get to see the second half, on TV, of the quarter-final

Wednesday, June 29'th

We leave KHORAT, the ride is like going on a brand new German Autobahn. The road is made of concrete, this is to prevent damage of the road in case of a massive flood caused by rain in the Monsoon season. We are back in Bangkok in the afternoon.