An unexpected adventure in Khorat

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To say I'm overdue on a blog is a severe understatement. I'm fairly sure its been somewhere in the region of 3 weeks since I last updated anything, and a lot of interesting things have definitely happened! I last left off at Pak Chong & Khao Yai National park where after my Jungle Trek I was faced with some tough decisions; to go further north-east, to see Phi Mai and its Angkhor period temples, or to head back to Bangkok, to get my laundry done. As I had discovered the day I went to the bat cave, the laundry wasn't gonna get done in Pak Chong, so this dilemna persisted, only to be finally resolved through a trusted mediator, Beer Chang. Now I know it sounds like I'm a drinking raving lunatic as every blog I post includes some drinking, but it couldn't be farther from the truth! I only drink when I have to do something important the next day, like travel long distances, or write blogs. So, over some beers & whiskeys too, I met up with some other travellers, and at some point between me ranting about Ayutthaya and me giving a brief Thai phrase lesson, I decide to push on into the unknown and go to Phi Mai.

The next morning came too soon. Dry mouthed & confused, I packed my bag in a haste (my alarm was set for P.M instead of A.M), and made it to the dining area with just enough time to order some chicken and rice to go, and to settle up my tab. From there we took a Songtheaw to the bus station. The bus station was the smallest bus station I'd ever seen, well, actually P.R.'s bus station is fairly small and pathetic as well. I went inside and bought a bus ticket to Khorat, which is about an 1 1/2 hours north east of Pak Chong, and about 1 hour away from Phi Mai. Khorat is a required stop in order to transfer to the bus to Phi Mai. It was still early in the morning, and I intended to make it to Phi Mai by mid afternoon. However, my plans would change by simply striking up a conversation with a Danish family waiting at the bus stop. They had also been at Khao Yai National park, and they had come from Khorat. Now they were heading back to Khorat. For what? Well for the King's Cup of course!

The Kings Cup? That sounds like some sort of Soccer Tournament involving Thailand, Denmark, Poland and Singapore. Well, no, its a fairly ambiguous title, but that's exactly what it was, a "Football Tournament". So, after getting some vague directions from the Danish Family, I decided that I couldn't pass up this opportunity, and made a slight detour for the night to stay in Khorat.

Khorat was fairly different from anywhere I have been. It's one of Thailands largest cities, but its not really on the tourist trail. This left me fending for myself and having to use Thai in most situations. I stayed in the Tokyo Hotel (or was it Mansion...). It actually had everything I had been wanting and needing. It had a nice big bed, it had air-con AND a fan, it had a T.V. with BBC and Thai stations, it had a private bathroom with a hot shower. It had it all! I wasn't the cheapest place I've stayed in, but it wasn't the most expensive either. And, after checking it, I was hit with some even better news (This news was delivered to me in an almost completely Thai conversational exchange). The news? They did Laundry! And it would be ready by the next morning! I'll just add that it was also the cheapest laundry I've ever had done in Thailand, and they recieved a well deserved tip for timing and pricing. Right, so I'm in Khorat....

I start off by getting some food. Local little restraunt, meat and rice, standard. Getting a few stares, but nothing too intense. On the way back to my hotel, I spot a tuk-tuk with a few white dudes in it, and they hop out about 100 meters down the road, pretty close to my hotel. So, at this point, its actually getting close to when this soccer game is going to start, and I'm kinda looking for some direction, or even some compadres. I see them going into a nearby pub and I go in and check it out. Turns out they have been stationed at a nearby military base (that would explain all the Thai soldiers I was seeing) and they were training Thai soldiers (Specifically in crashed Aircraft extraction). They didn't seem all that interested in going to check out the football, but the lady who ran the pub had a number for a tuk-tuk driver who could take me there. He took me there alright, and for about half the price i was originally quoted by another driver. So, after about 15 minutes of driving, I see the stadium, its huge, and we pull up to the curb outside the main gates. I hope out of the tuk-tuk, pay the good man, and as I do who pulls up directly behind me in a tuk-tuk? The Danish family! Coincidence? I think not! So, we make our way to the stadium, and the energy is electric. Thai everything is being sold, from sweatbands to headbands, from t-shirts to facepainting. People are getting into it! I remember before pulling up in the tuk-tuk, wondering if wearing my Thai wristband was such a good idea. In hindsight it obviously wasn't an issue, but I wasn't sure how this mass crowd would react. I show up, only to see that every single vendor is selling them, at like 1/6th the price i originally paid. So I throw mine back on to show some team spirit and buy up an undisclosed amount more for future wearings. After my purchases, Me and the Fam buy some premium tickets and make our way into the stadium. We end up in the wrong section, or something, because we see some danish guys who show us where the other Danes are seated. We follow them and find our way to "our" section. At this point I'm a little confused where my allegiance lies. Is it with the Danish family, and the rest of the section I'm sitting with? With the drunken fat Danish men waving their flags and singing their battle cries, or with the Thais who have been awkwardly mixed in with this group and are sitting directly next to me. There was no clear answer, at least as far as they were concerned (but in secret fact, it was the Thais!).

The game between Poland and Singapore was closing when we first sat down. Singapore was receiving a beating, somewhere in the region of 6-1. As the teams left the pitch, and the preperations for the next match began, the stadium really started to fill up. By the time the teams were being announced it was a full house. And the crowd was frantic, electric, fanatical. I mean, once we hit gametime, every time Thailand even touched the ball the whole stadium was on their feet cheering their throatstrings out. The players were getting announced and people were on their feet. Some random official was giving the most boring speech of his life and the people were on their feet. I'm talking about 20,000+ people losing their minds at anything Thai the entire night! It was awesome! Stadium wide waves, Kazoo's with their "Wooo Woo" every 2 seconds from the kid sitting next to me, at at one point a 300X100 foot Thai flag was passed around the entire stadium! I barely knew what to make of it all. At halftime i went to get some beers and grub. I found myself with a couple of changs and a couple of McCheeseburgers. There was a full on coordinated dance with Ronalnd Mc. & his McLadies which I got some solid footage of. The game finished off with Denmark the victor, with a score of 3-0. It would have been nice to see Thailand score a goal, but I must say, the Danes while only a small group, were happier than ever. It would turn out that this was the final game in the tournament, and that Denmark had won the whole shebang. So from here on out, whenever Thais asked me where I'd been lately, "Oh, I was just in Khorat, watched Denmark vs Thailand...." I'm kinda a big deal.

The journey back to town was a total ordeal, as it seemed that tuk-tuks went to the game, but it seemed less apparent that they went from the stadium back into town. In fact, all I saw was a flood of Thai people hopping into the back of pickup trucks and their own transportation. I couldn't see another farang in sight (mind you, I'm fairly sure there was only somewhere around 200 of us in the entire crowd). So, I paid some motorcycle taxi drivers skewed price, and he drove me back into town. Man, even the ride back into town was entertaining. As we'd pass by the truckloads of fans, I'd throw up the Thai wristband and the back of the truck would lose it!

Back in Khorat I went out for a beer back at the pub, and met a Japanese/Thai couple. Finished off the beer, had some street food (deep fried battered bite sized hot dogs, or was it the bite sized hot dogs wrapped in bacon?), and went back to my hotel for a serious pass out.

The next morning I collected my laundry, packed my bags, and caught a tuk-tuk to the bus station. My destination? Phi Mai.

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