Wednesday, August 09, 2006

XXV - A provincial Thai Experience.

Buriram is like the Thai equivalent of Palmerston North. I had this pull to go there for some reason. On the map it was the closest centre to the khmer ruins of Phnom Rung but this wasn't particularly why I chose it, there was just a strong pull to go there and not the nearby larger centre of Khorat which I actually had a map for.

The train ride up from Bangkok was rather pleasant. A couple of beers as the train wound its way up a mountain range with the occasional Buddha statue poking out through the trees. Upon scaling the mountains the top plateau was just more of the same rice paddy landscape all over SE Asia.

I got to Buriram and roamed the streets for about 10 mins in search of a cheap hotel. My shizer guidebook said there was but didnt deem it necessary to give locations. I met this thai fulla who gave me a hand. He dubbed me on the back of his bicycle to a restaurant in a slightly farang area. There isn't really any form of tourist area in Buriram, no back packers go there. There is around 500 farang living in the area though on retirement visas. I talked to this English guy Peter and managed to sus out a motorbike and Wanita at the restaurant let me stay at her place. This is a nice place in a middle class neighbourhood that used to be owned by her 'boss' a Farang who died recently. Aek the dude I met first came over and we had some beers, then cruised around to his house and met his wife, mother in law, sister inlaw and young baby who live in a two bedroom flat next to a Wat. We drank beers and sat in the car listening to Scorpions.

The next day I cruised out to see the ruins of Phnom rung. Aek tagged along on the back and we visited Wanitas family in a small village near the ruins. Phnom Rung is set on top of a hill in a nice park with shady trees about. We checked out some other ruins in the area too and a bird resort. I stayed at Aeks place the next 2 nights and night we got on the p1ss big time over a tasty meal and some of the locals came around to say gidday.

Aek designs gardens, interiors and swimming pools so on Monday he took me on his rounds looking at a pool that was being built and another house being built. All over the place he would point out these houses, farang here, farang there and it would always be some massive house. Lots of european guys come over here for their retirement and get Thai wives or partners. I suppose they come over so they can live like kings on their retirement savings. We went to the university and a local government admin office. We went to visit a monk too.

The last night we had a tasty feast of Vietnamese, Thai and western food.

Getting to Nong Khai by bus wasn't straight forward but was no problem. I had to change buses at Khon Kaen and then again at Udon Thani. Easy enough, people show you where to go at each bus station. I was never aware of which town I was passing through the whole way as there was no english script anywhere except brand names I went to a restaurant in Ubon Thani. The woman there spoke no english but she understood my heavily accented thai and served up some delicious pad thai.

Dragon fruit is tasty. Its pink and sort of looks like and artichoke (I think) but inside its white and not unlike kiwifruit.

I am now in Nong Khai on the mighty Mekong River. There is a nice view from the restaurant at my guesthouse across the Mekong at Laos, where I shall be tomorrow. If all goes to plan. Got a really nice guesthouse called Mekong Guesthouse and its cheap. Its actually a really expenisve place but they have a dorm with TV and warm shower! As I'm the only person staying in the dorm its not really an inconvenience.

Getting medication in Thailand is really easy. Dr Aaron prescribes himself anti-malarial medication. Goes to chinese run chemist and buys it. No expensive beaurocrat in the middle.

No comments: