Eastern Thailand

SPECIFIC PLACES:

• Khao Yai National Park. I based myself in Pak Chong and stayed at the Phubade (say Pooh-bed) Hotel, which is your basic Chinese Hotel. There is nothing special in Pak Chong that I could find. During the off season, there are very tour groups doing trips to the park, so no matter where you stay or who you call, you'll probably end up going with Wildlife Tours. I contacted Green Leaf tours, just down the street from the Phubade Hotel, who are very kind and friendly, and they were working with Wildlife because there were so few tourists. The best aspect of going with a tour group is that they provide very effective "leech socks" to protect you from these bloodsucking varmits! We didn't see much wildlife, some pig-tailed macaque and gibbon monkeys, hornbills, some deer, a rather large scorpions, and of course the above mentioned squiggly leeches. A bit expensive at 850B but an easy and quick way to get a look at this very large park.

• Phimai. Phimai was extremely hot when I was there in July, and this detracted from any kind of sightseeing. I stayed at the Phimai Hotel, which is right next to the bus station, and found it clean, bright and adequate. The Phimai National Museum was OK, but I was not that impressed, though others seemed to like it a lot. I also was not overly impressed with Prasat Hin Phimai itself. It's small and you've pretty much seen it in 20 minutes or so. I personally wouldn't recommend making a special trip just to see it, but it's fine as a day trip if you're in the area, ie Korat.

• Prasat Phanom Rung & Prasat Meuang Tam. I based myself in Buriram and stayed at the Thai Hotel. Contrary to what the latest LP guide says, I didn't see any sign that the place "doubled as a brothel," and think it's a decent budget hotel. I've stayed in the large 400B air-con room with no windows, which is mercifully quiet, and the regular 320B air-con room, which is probably a better value if you don't mind a squat toilet. Getting to the temples: I took the local bus to Nang Rong, and then another local bus to the Phanom Rung turn off. At this point you may as well hire a motobike driver to take you to the 2 temples, as it's the easiest and most convenient method, and it only cost me a very reasonable 160B or so. It was brutally hot the day I visited the temples, and I'd suggest getting there as earIy as possible, as I feel the heat lessoned my ability to appreciate the ruins. I was actually more impressed with Prasat Meuang Tam than with Phanom Rung, which is a beautiful temple constucted in a graceful geometric pattern. I especially liked the "L" shaped ponds surrounded the temple. Phanom Rung is larger, and gets more tourists. Both are beautifully well preserved examples of Khmer-style temples. I highly recommend these two temples if ruins are your interest.

  Buriram itself is just a typical eastern Thai city. Busy, noisy, dusty. There's a nice night market on Thanon Ramburi street. There's quite a few ex-pats in the area both working and retired. You might find them at the Bamboo Bar or the Bed and Book Hotel/cafe. There's some nightlife here too, if you wish, in the way of discos and bars.

• Preah Vihear (Kampuchea). I based myself in Kantharalak, at the Palace Hotel. They have upmarket rooms in the main building, and some less expensive room in the older section out back. It's about 300B for a fan room and 350B for air-con. Expect a squat toilet or a western toilet with a manual mandi-type flush system. The people are very friendly. Ask for Porntip, the owners daughter. She's an English teacher so naturally speaks excellent English and will help you in any way she can. She might even convince you to come to her classes to teach English for a day!

  Yes everybody, I can confirm that Preah Vihear is definitely accessible fromThailand, and would indeed recommend coming to it from this side. The only downside is that you have to pay 200B on both the Thai and Kampuchean side for a total of 400B. You might try showing some sort of student ID on the Thai side and getting a 100B discount. I was with some people who drove there by car, but another traveler reported that you can hire a moto driver for about 350B for the round trip from the Kantharalak bus station. This isn't bad as it's about 30K from Kantharalak to the temple. Another person suggested taking the local saengtaew to the last village, and then hitchhking from there. If you go early in the morning you might find that there is still clouds and mist hugging the mountain top. This of course makes it a lot cooler, but prevents you from seeing the spectacular views from the top of the surrounding countryside. If you go later when the clouds lift, you'll get the views, but it'll be deadly hot. Take your choice. Unlike the tidy Thai side temples, once you enter into Khampuchea everything is dirtier and more chaotic. Khmer street urchins (see photo above) will attach themselves to you and will stick to you like glue trying to sell you postcards and Khmer currency. You might try to get rid of them by pointing to other falangs or tour groups. Also, unlike their Thai counterparts, there are vendors inside the ruins themselves, which may not be aesthetically pleasing, but makes sense financially. Ironically, all the dirt and litter and vendors and street urchins seemed to add to the overall atmosphere. The ruins themselves are not as impressive as I had imagined, as so much still needs to be reconstructed. Be sure and visit the small Buddhist Shrine in the main temple. For 10B you can buy incense, a candle, and a lily flower as offerings. Make a wish - you never know! When I visited there were a lot more Thai tourists than foreigners, many in large tour groups. The ruins are long and include some excellent lintels. Coming from the Thai side it's a whole experience as you are temporarily dropped into a much poorer country for a few hours. Well worth the time and effort.

  You can't wander far from the narrow temple parameter, as the entire area surrounding the temple is cordoned off due to the presence of land mines. I'm not kidding, it's pretty scary. Some international organization has set up a camp and they are working daily to de-mine the area, but no doubt it'll take years.

Comments? E-mail me at [email protected].

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