Ramble
Quest - Khmer Warmup (Korat, Phanom Rung).
Nachon Ratchasima (Korat) is one of the largest Thai cities, a long sprawling mess, often quickly passed through by tourists to the area. Actually, outside of the aweful traffic, it's not so bad. Some of the temples are worth a look and the tiny national museum has a few choice pieces.
The area's Khmer temple ruins are quite a distance from town and not at all easy to get to: songthaew to the Number Two bus terminal, long bus (interior decorated with Tweety Bird and Pokeman paintings) ride to Ban Tako, and then negotiations with motorcycle guys there to take you to the ruins. In Korat, I'd stopped at a travel agent to look at a tour of this area because I only knew the name of the primary draw, Phanom Rung, and needed to find out the names of the minor temple sites nearby. The motorcycle guys only offer to take you to Phanom Rung and start with a high price. After haggling, I get one to take me to a few of the other sites as well for a bit less than their asking price for Phanom Rung alone.
Phanom Rung is certainly the Khmer gem of Thailand. Perched high atop an extinct volcano and offering majestic views of the area, Phanom Rung is approached along a long, properly regal promenade, flanked by some of the best preserved naga bridges anywhere. A typically steep climb brings you to the entrance, with a courtyard decorated with lotus pools.
The carvings on the inner temple are notable, particularly the Phra Narai lintel, which gained infamy during the late 1980's when getting it returned from the Art Institute of Chicago became something of a cause celebre for the Thais. Despite the fact that the Art Institute had owned the lintel for many years, they caved in to public pressure and shipped it back to Phanom Rung. The lintel looks far more proper in its original position, but it was certainly better preserved and far more widely seen at the Art Institute. Deciding which museum pieces should go back to their original sites is a touchy issue. The British Museum has refused to give up some of its most high profile pieces, despite intense campaigning on the part of the countries where these pieces originated. I sympathize with both sides of the issue.
Of the other Khmer sites I saw that day, the highlight was certainly Meuang Tam, especially since I had the good fortune to be the only one there at the time. Now, as I write this while looking at Henning's Lonely Planet guidebook, I see that they say that "unless you're attempting an exhaustive tour of Khmer ruins in Thailand you could skip this one." So perhaps I should thank LP for having these lovely temple ruins completely to myself. One of the best features here is that the inner sanctum is surrounded by a beautiful lotus covered moat.