Thailand's most impressive Khmer ruins not quite worth the effort of the journey

---

Day 337: Monday 1st June - Arriving in Nang Rong unwell

Catching the overnight bus from Bangkok to Nang Rong, I broke one of my rules. Usually if a journey is more than 8 hours I will take a night bus and if it is less I will travel during the day. I didn’t realise that the journey to Nang Rong would be so short - 5 hours - which after leaving Bangkok at 11pm, puts my arrival in Nang Rong during the middle of the night. Not my best bit of planning, that’s for sure. The bus journey on one of the government buses is uncomfortable and with the air-con cranked up to the max and the lights coming on at regular intervals, akin to trying to get some sleep in a fridge! I must manage a couple of hours sleep at the maximum, not what I need when I’m feeling unwell in the first place. I had thought last night when I returned to the hostel of checking in again and staying in Bangkok for another night, perhaps I should have done with hindsight.

During one of the rare occasions I am asleep, I manage to miss my stop at Nang Rong and when I awake I am in Buriram, a further hour down the road. The bus driver knew I was getting off at Nang Rong, there must have been less than 10 people on the bus, and I was the only tourist so why couldn’t he have come and woke me up? I ask him this, but he doesn’t speak English and a few shrugs of the shoulder later and I realise I’m not getting anywhere. Apart from the additional cost, which isn’t substantial anyway (less than a pound) this isn’t that big a deal. I will arrive in Nang Rong at 6am rather than 4am, which is a more reasonable hour, and means I won’t have to hang around the bus station for a couple of hours. When I arrive in Nang Rong, I have no idea where my guesthouse is so I end up having to pay 50 Baht (£1) for a guy to drive me there, when it would only have taken me 10-15 minutes to walk it. But, I’m tired and feverish and not in any state to start looking for it.

I find that my guesthouse, Honey Inn, doesn’t meet the description on the internet when I contacted them a few days ago to book a room. I thought I was coming to do a homestay with a couple of teachers who spoke English, sharing meals with them, which really appealed. The reality is somewhat different. I am greeted by the teacher’s son, who is a friendly chap. His father has passed away and his mother is elderly, although still at home. They don’t offer meals anymore. This isn’t a homestay, but more a guesthouse - slightly disappointing. I tell the son that I am unwell and that I’ve decided not to go to Phanom Rung today after all. I tell him that I will hire the motorbike tomorrow and sleep this morning.

It is afternoon when I wake up, still feeling groggy and far from 100% but a little better than when I arrived. I walk down into town to find a restaurant to eat in. I haven’t had a proper meal for 24 hours now, and I’m sure some proper food will help. Finding a place to eat is a challenge though. Nang Rong clearly doesn’t get many tourists and all the places to eat (calling them restaurants would be pushing it!), an ability to speak Thai is necessary. Finally, I find a hotel, where they still don’t speak much English, but at least the menu is in the form of some fairly illegible pictures! Whilst I eat I read a copy of the Bangkok Post which is lying around. The paper is in English and one of the articles on the front page is about another Khmer temple I had considered visiting whilst out in eastern Thailand. Prasat Vihear is on the border between Thailand and Cambodia, and apparently occupies a stunning location. However, the paper reports clashes at a hill near the temple between Thai and Cambodian troops. This confirms the response I got at the guesthouse this morning. They told me that a French girl who had stayed here a few days ago had been and had mentioned you couldn’t get there due to the unrest. Scratch that from the itinerary.

During my walk around Nang Rong, I’ve also realised that if I’m feeling well tomorrow when I wake up, I can’t stay here another night. There is nothing to do, no other tourists, and I’m sure I can manage to visit Phanom Rung during the morning (it is only 20km away) and still be back to get an early afternoon bus back to Bangkok. Let’s hope I’m feeling better after a proper night’s sleep.

Day 338: Tuesday 2nd June - Phanom Rung

Although not 100%, I’m feeling much better. Well enough to visit Phanom Rung if not Nang Rong’s unspectacular eateries. On an empty stomach I head off for Phanom Rung, 26km away on a motorbike which I hire from the guesthouse. It has manual gears and a foot brake as well as a hand brake (all new on a bike for me), but after initially forgetting to take a helmet and then rustily riding it round the block, it’s just like riding a bike (excuse the pun!). I ask at the guesthouse how long it should take to reach Phanom Rung and the reply is ‘around 30 minutes’. That obviously doesn’t account for getting lost, which I do, missing the turning and going 12km past where I should have done. Soon enough I spot that I haven’t seen any of the regular signs for Phanom Rung and retrace my steps, take the turning and an hour after I left Nang Rong, I’ve made it.

Riding a motorbike to Phanom Rung was always going to be half the fun - the motorbike is the most popular form of transport in Southeast Asia and I couldn’t possibly leave this part of the world without ticking that box. Box ticked, seeing Phanom Rung for the first time I’m thinking that the bike ride is maybe going to be all the fun. I soon enough realise the reason, I’ve come in the back entrance to what is reportedly Thailand’s most impressive Khmer ruins. I’m stood looking at the principal tower but I’ve by-passed the striking promenade or processional walkway which leads to the main entrance. Had I walked in from this entrance my first impression would have been different. With the avenue flanked by sandstone pillars and steps leading up to the principal tower, which sits atop an extinct volcano it is impressive. Phanom Rung dates from between the 10th-13th centuries, facing east towards the sacred Angkor Wat.

It takes little more than half an hour to look around, before its back on the bike and back down to Nang Rong. The return journey doesn’t pass without incidence, as I run a red light - accidentally, I didn’t see it, I might hasten to add. Stood next to the red light was a policeman, and stood next to the next set of lights also on red are 3 more policemen on their radios. I’m sure I’m about to get pulled over and be asked to pay a bribe to get out of the situation but my fears don’t materialise. I drop the motorbike off back at the guesthouse - it has been fun riding it on quietish roads - pick my bags up and head for the bus station to catch the next bus to Bangkok and some decent food. My two day jaunt east all for less than an hour at Phanom Rung probably wasn’t worth the effort. Okay I wasn’t well, but 10 hours on a bus, a stay in a town where it is difficult to order decent food and no other tourists all in all wasn’t great.

It takes over 5 hours to reach Bangkok, and I could leave pretty much straightaway to Sukhothai my next destination. Or I could catch the last bus of the evening to Sukhothai at 10:30pm, drop my bags with left luggage and venture into the city, to Patpong. Plan B it is, much more interesting. My Plan B gets off to an inauspicious start when I manage to walk into Chatuchak Park but can’t find an exit out of the damned place. I only have 3 hours as it was 7pm when I left the bus station and I have to be back at 10pm to pick my luggage up, and I’m figuring on it taking an hour to get there. It looks like it is not meant to be when exiting the skytrain in the vicinity of Patpong I take a wrong turning and waste another 20 minutes I didn’t have. At 8:30pm when I’m about to admit defeat I finally find what I’ve been looking for. Patpong is Bangkok’s red light district and I couldn’t leave the city without a peek at what is part of its culture, and what some of Thailand’s 10 million plus tourists come here for (apparently). I walk up one street which is lined on both sides with beautiful girls outside on the streets trying to tempt punters inside. I’m offered various goods and services of a sexual nature, all of which I pass up on and move on to an adjacent street which is clearly the gay equivalent as there are no women on it at all, time for a sharp exit and back to the skytrain and the bus station!

---