Page 6
PHANOM DONG RAK (continued)
FRIDAY 6th:
After breakfast, a second visit to the clinic to get Aom’s toe re-dressed. Very hot today at 39ºC and rising.
One of Aom’s friends, Meow (as in cat) who lives locally called round. Great to see her again, she’s a lovely lady; very pretty too!
Arranged to meet-up with meow later for an afternoon’s outing on the bikes.
Khow Laem temple in the hills on the Cambodia border was the target. Usual very interesting scenery both flora and people. This part of Thailand is a long, long way away from any tourist routes; it is the TRUE Thailand. As a farang, I am stared at continually as I am such an unusual sight around these parts. However, all are extremely friendly and many just want to hear me speak. They absolutely love to practice what little English they have; truly a lovely smiley and friendly race away from the big cities.
Along some pretty rough roads (very little in the way of highway maintenance here and many roads are dirt; asphalt is a rarity) and up to the hilly site where the temple is situated.
It all appeared deserted at first so we parked the bikes and the two girls and I started the trek, near mountain climb, up to the peak. It was a real scramble at times and in the fierce heat I was soaking wet within minutes. It did get a little cooler (maybe 35º) towards the summit.
At the top it was a fantastic view. The trail terminated in a sheer cliff about 200metres or more down to the jungle below. What was at the base of the cliff was Cambodia and the vista we had was all Cambodia. In other words we were standing on the Thai/Cambodia border. No border guards, no fences, nothing as it’s way to isolated and in any case it’d take some climbing gear to descend the cliffs. There are plenty easier places to literally walk into Cambodia and back and I’ve done this inadvertently on more than one occasion without a passport. One occasion when I was confronted by some Cambodian soldiers after wandering down a track into Cambodia I thought… OOOPS! But they were more interested in having their photo taken wit the crazy farang!
We spent 30 minutes or so relaxing and looking at the vista. Meow then discovered she’s dropped her iPhone at some stage; she was very upset as there’s no way she had the money to replace it.
Careful searching was done on the way back down but no sign of the phone. She was nearly in tears.
Back on the bikes, we traveled further up one of the tracks to the temple proper where the boss Monk resides. After parking the bikes, one of the monks was wandering about asking if anyone had lost a phone. He’d found it back near where we’d initially parked the bikes. Needless to say Meow was ecstatic.
We were then admitted into the small temple where the girls and me received various blessings. This entails some very long prayers and chants from the head monk. All three of us were then sprinkled with scented holy water and received good fortune bands which we have to wear around our wrists for a minimum of 3 days. Most keep them on until they drop off after years.
Back home, after evening meal, the sugar cane cropping continued, this time very close to the house. It was a very busy and noisy evening with huge machinery, wagons and the cutting crews hard at work.
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TOP: Aom and me on the road. Meow, as usual in front of us, but here alongside.
SECOND: Just starting the long steep clamber up to the ridge. Needy breathers in the 38ºC heat and high jungle humidity.
THIRD LEFT: Two gorgeous Thai girls. Good friends from their school days.
THIRD RIGHT: Finally at the top. That's Cambodia in the background.
FOURTH LEFT: Enough said!
FOURTH RIGHT: Yours truly on the edge and on the border between Thailand and Cambodia. Behind me is a sheer 30metre cliff face the base of which is Cambodia. No border guards here.
FIFTH: On the way down. That tree in the left pic is gigantic as can be seen by the size of its roots.
SIXTH LEFT: Well I had to pose with the lovely Meow didn't I?
SIXTH RIGHT: This is a wild pineapple plant; the fruit's not yet ripe. Plentiful along the track.
SEVENTH LEFT: Incredibly, this is the jungle border control between Thailand and Cambodia; a few painted branches.
SEVENTH RIGHT: Wild elephant warning road-sign. Wouldn't want to run into one!
BOTTOM LEFT: A typical road through the jungle near Phanomdongrak.
BOTTOM RIGHT: Lots of these roadside shacks selling 'anything at all'. This one's selling fruit.
SATURDAY 7th:
Usual up and about at dawn (5:30). Work starts around the farm now but it's particularly busy due to the sugar cane harvesting with tractors, JCB loaders and workers busy busy busy. Breakfast around 08:30, which is normal.
Another quick trip to the clinic to get madam's toe re-dressed and it was to meet up with Meow again for another bike trip, this time to a newly built temple called Wat Chaong squat, or site of the squatting Buddha. This is not an ancient site but anew one still under construction. Apparently, it's based on a part of the famous Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
Anyway, we had a good look around the site, banged one of the huge gongs that are at each entrance, took some pics and that was it.
Back to Nhong Rak whilst Meow drifted off to the salon for a hair-do.
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TOP LEFT: On the road. Most roads off the main highways a dirt-roads.
TOP RIGHT: One of the entrances up to the main plateau of the Squat Buddha site.
SECOND LEFT: Squat Buddhas.
SECOND RIGHT: The girls paying their respects to one of the Squat Buddhas.
THIRD LEFT: The huge chair is where the chief monk sits when addressing their faith.
THIRD RIGHT: One of the many Buddha statues. This one's has a translucent green head.
BOTTOM: Panaramic of part of the plateau showing a group of the Squat Buddhas.
SUNDAY 8th:
A non-day. A lovely cool day.... a mere 35ºC in the shade. Nothing much happened. Did a few stints of fishing in the local pons but in spite of numerous tugs and bites nothing was landed. I blame the oversized hook and crap bait (a piece of stinky pork meat).
Aom, Jack & I paid a visit to Jack's Great-Grandparents. Took a bottle of Thai whisky for the old man and then popped round to one of Aom's uncles who lives in the next house.
MONDAY 9th:
Once again, a quiet day, but not a quiet evening. Went out for lunch at a local noodle cafe.
There'd been a developing problem at the house of the well not yielding enough water. Drinking water is by bottled water, but all other water, for washing, showering and laundry is from a bore-hole. This bore-hole is not really deep enough which meant up to 3 or 4 trips a day to go fill up 80 gallon drums, 5 of them, on the back of the tuk-tuk. Anyway, I agreed to pay for a new much deeper bore-hole to be sunk. The drilling team arrived late morning and cracked on with their rattly chug-chugging machinery. It'll take them at least 3 days to achieve the necessary depth. If lots of water is found then the family can consider selling it and make a reasonable profit.
In the evening we were graced by the presence of Kik again. She had come home from Bangkok as her boyfriend, Andy had beetled off back to the US.
Needless to say with Kik around, the evening degenerated into lots of food and alcohol. It was our last night in Nhong Rak (returning in late March) and all sorts were imbibed including Jack Daniels, Thai whiskey and, of course, Chang beer. Heaven knows what time Kik went back home. Kik's house is only 300 meters or so down the road.
TUESDAY 10th:
Spent most of the day slowly getting over a mild hangover in the sweltering heat (38ºC today).
Re-packed 2 smaller cases ready for this evening.
After dinner, we were picked up by Aom's cousin Ohn at around 8pm to get to Pratas town and onto the overnight bus to Pattaya.
Only a 15 minute wait for the bus at Prasat bus station. We tried a different bus company this time; we were told this one with their bright yellow busses were good. They were wrong!! The bus was crap. It was noisy, over cooled, the toilet was disgusting and bloody uncomfortable. Won't be using this service again.
WEDNESDAY 11th:
In the event, after 9 hours on the road, we arrived at Pattaya Central Bus Station at around 06:00 just as dawn was breaking. Within 3 minutes of getting off the bus we were on-board a Baht-bus taxi hammering down Pattaya's Sukhumvit Road, into Pattaya Tai and into the Citin Garden Resort hotel.
I had some concerns that our room wouldn't be ready for so early an arrival. I had visions of dumping our bags and going downtown until at least noon. But, lo-and-behold our room was indeed ready. Quickly unpacked and caught up on a bit of sleep.
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