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.