The following morning, checked out of the Royal Princess with a heavy heart, and headed for one last ruin, at Phimai. Built around the same time as Panom Rung, this was more of a community temple rather than a place for special ceremonies like Panom Rung. It's built on a flat plain so lacks the drama of a hilltop setting, but it makes up for it in the intricate carvings that cover almost all the surfaces of the temple. The carvings are of various Hindu mythological stories, with some later Buddhist imagery, and now I'm going to tell you the story behind each of the carvings...Not!

Downhill from Phnom Rung lies this neglected pile of ruins called Muang Tam. It's only about a fifteen minute walk, although it felt like fifteen hours in the steaminess of an Isaan summer. It probably served as the residence of the Khmer governor among other things. We had the place to ourselves, so it was a fun place to poke around for an hour. Afterwards, we drove into the provincial capital of Khorat for an overnight stay at the Royal Princess Hotel. (Aren't all princesses royal?) Well, this hotel was not a princess, just a standard business hotel, but it did have the key virtue of being the only proper hotel in Khorat. Khorat is a big, busy, featureless city like most Thai provincial capitals. It boomed as the main airbase for the American air force during the Vietnam base. It does have one historical claim to fame, as the home of Khunying Mo. She was the wife of the local governor, who was in Bangkok at the time of an invasion by a Lao army in 1826. This must have surprised everyone since after thousands of years of fighting among the Thais, Cambodians and Burmese, I think this is the one and only time the Lao sprang into action. The Lao captured Khorat, but quickthinking Khunying Mo entertained the invaders, got them drunk, and had them all killed while they were sleeping it off. So our sightseeing consisted of visiting the monument to her then getting some Isaan food at the night market.

A couple of photos from the top of the complex, showing the main temple building which is supposed to be Mt. Meru, where the Hindu gods live. One interesting feature of this temple is there are fifteen doorways (where you see some monks in the photo above) and on Songkran, the Thai new year celebration I talked about hundreds of posts ago so I'm sure you remember, the sun shines straight through the all fifteen doors at sunrise.

First stop after lunch was the Cambodian (or Khmer) temple of Phanom Rung. For those of you who have been to Cambodia's Angkor Wat, the similarities are pretty obvious, and for those of you who haven't, watch this space. It's the most dramatic site in Thailand, with a long processional walkway, climbing up an imposing staircase to the temple complex itself. It was built as a part fort, part Hindu temple, since Cambodia (and Thailand) were originally Hindu before converting to Buddhism about a thousand years ago. It's part fort because it formed part of the military network Cambodia built when it occupied Laos and much of Thailand in the 11th and 12th centuries. When the Thais beat back the Cambodians to their present borders, most traces of Cambodian culture disappeared in Thailand, except this series of ruined temple forts.

36. Isaan, Thailand, July '99

Staying on the domestic front, took a weekend driving trip to Isaan, the name for the Northeast region of Thailand. Thailand has four regions, each quite distinct in terms of history, language, and food. Bangkok, Ayudhaya and everything generally within driving distance from Bangkok is central, and is generally considered proper Thailand. Lanna, the North, which we've already visited earlier in the blog, speaks a different dialect but is still considered completely Thai. Also the women are famous as the most beautiful in Thailand if you're into this sort of thing. Of course, most importantly, it's also where Somchai is from. The South is an "eclectic" region, containing most of Thailand's most famous beach resorts, such as the already discussed Krabi and soon to be discussed Phuket. It also contains all of Thailand's civil war, bombings etc, hence the eclectic label. It's mostly Muslim, and many of the people speak Malay rather than Thai. Lastly, there's Isaan, which is a minefield to talk about. It's indisputably the poorest part of Thailand, as it's densely populated, rice farming is really the only occupation, but it's usually bone dry and a desert in parts, not a good combination. Most of Bangkok's prostitutes (male and female) come from Isaan, and a lot of the region survives on money sent back by Isaan natives working in Bangkok. Their language is very close to Thai, and in fact is basically Lao (obviously the language of neighboring Laos). The whole Laos thing is another minefield, since in Thais consider it just a poor version of Thailand. So Thais from outside Isaan make fun of Laos all the time for being poor and backward (and worse) but they're also poking fun at Isaan indirectly.

With that as a background, we went off to explore the region, which confusingly, as you'll soon see, meant looking at Cambodian temples. But we started the trip off with one thing all Thais agree on: Isaan food is the spiciest! Pictured here is Somchai playing with his whole fish before he eats everything but the bones, and a big bowl of somtam, basically thousands of fiery chilies in a bowl separated by some slivers of sour unripe papaya. It's his favorite dish, and what he misses most in Sydney.