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Published: September 4th 2006
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Prasat Prah Vihear
looking down the corridors Day 1
From Champasak we crossed the river and headed back up to Pakse where we jumped on a bus to the border town of Chong Mek crammed into yet another Laos bus with 40 others and a continual denial by the ticket man that we could fit more onto the truck. Ricko meanwhile was crushing some poor little Laos girl between him and the cabin as we went over yet another bump in the road. Then it was a relatively uneventful crossing back into Thailand with Mark (NZ) in tow.
Once on the Thai side we were back into similar buses albeit with shining chrome, ceiling fans and 4 other passengers aboard - Ah... Thailand transport!
Arriving in Warin (south Ubon) we meandered through the streets in search of our guesthouse which was pretty quaint if not a little run down, but cheap and cheerful at 100B a night. Went out to the markets, internet, dinner and then turned in early before a big day the next day.
Day 2
After getting up reasonably late (8am) we had a tasty breakfast next door and tried to ring our banks when wait for it... we misplaced yet another
Back to Thailand
Ricko crossing the Laos Thai border at Chong Mek VISA card (we shouldn't be given such responsibility) somewhere between the breakfast table and the phone booth. This was our last and it was now down to a solitary Commonwealth card with a massive crack about 3/4 of the way through it. Lucky Monty's bringing our new cards over, right Mont?
After heaps more calls to banks we jumped a bus to Kantharalak to the south arriving a few hours later.
Checked into a hotel, scouted out a motorbike to hire for the next day (bloody near impossible) but managed to persuade one of the moto drivers to lend us his for a paltry 500B 😉 for the next day. Met an old bloke called Tom in what seemed like Kantharalak's answer to Pattaya a seedy old restaurant where every Western Man had an 18 y.o Thai girl in tow (or else stories to tell). It was rather amusing though and we had a pretty damn good meal to boot.
Fell asleep watching premier league replays on our cable TV (what a strange luxury after Laos).
Day 3
Next day we were up early (6am) to meet our motorbike man and we were off to Prat
Back to Thailand
Nunny at the cliffs on the way up to the Prah Vihear Temple Preah Vehear?? the temple on the border of Cambodia and Thailand. Despite being a fairly expensive exercise (paying about 4 different sets of fees to even get there) The ruins were pretty good and the view was even better, perched atop a massive cliff overlooking the extensive plains of Cambodia on three sides and Thailand on the other.
It had some cool war relics including a massive anti-aircraft gun that was pointed directly at Thailand (despite being about 500m from the border??) and some bunkers and trenches dug into the hillside all with menacing Mines Beware signs nearby. Hmm wont be going to close to those then.
Unbeknownst to us though the main attraction was indeed Nunny and Ricko. Having arrived in the morning there were very few people there but soon enough the tour buses and school groups started rolling in. Soon we were surrounded by 16-18 year olds all wanting to meet the strange falangs from Australia, while the teacher would point the video camera at us and say "blahblah blahblah Australia blah blah", before offering us the mic where we'd say Hi we're from Australia, before it was back to him for his ongoing commentry.
Prasat Prah Vihear
Only a few steps to the top... The girls and boys we're great too, all smiles for Nunny and Ricko who took the time out to help them all practise their English and we were the features in about 20 photos at various different points on the way back down through the temples - apparently to be featured on their school website. WOW now we know what it feels like to be famous!
After a steep descent in the hot sun we were back on the bike and in search of a waterfall to cool us down - despite a lack of swimwear. Stopping about 10km down the road we took a patchy dirt/gravel road down to the local watering hole (in both senses of the word) where it was not uncommon to see the Thai 'ýouth' downing shots of locally made brandy or beers and acting the fool on the slippery rocks. While Nunny befriended some young ladyboys, Ricko dipped his head in the water and we were outta there. Back up to the top of the path where we were offered some food and some shots of brandy ('One only, I have to drivë') by some local boys.
Sitting with them Ricko
Prasat Prah Vihear
The mountaintop Khmer spa retreat was passed the guitar and asked to sing while being gazed adoringly at by some girls who joined the throng 😉 didn't they realise he was out of tune?. Meanwhile Nunny enquired where one of the boys had got his extensive range of tattoos? He promptly drew a box with some vertical bars (due to a shortfall in translation) and Nunny was pretty quick on the uptake. Prison?? Yes he grinned. Ah, end of that topic. Is that the time? We'd better be getting our motorbike back. Lots of cheery farewells - and nunny even scored a hat.
Back into town we returned the bike and got our first pedicab out to the bus station. Andrew was temporarily left in charge of the machine while the driver went to find his mate for Michelle. Then the race was on. I figure Nunny won due to the weight differential, ie. I was carrying everything in my pack... 😉
Hopped the bus to Sisaket and Then another to Surin after yet another good day of adventure.
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Soph pee
non-member comment
so stunning
pooey, Richards, You are having the adventure of a lifetime. Prasat Prah looks so beautiful. a must in my next visit...