This is www.tony-tollitt.com

THAILAND TRAVELS: A Journal   SURIN (cont'd) and CAMBODIA Page 7





       

  • LEFT: My lovely boss on our tiny-engined but trusty bike.

  • RIGHT: Aom's long-time friend, Meow (Meow is actually Thai for cat... really!).

Thursday 26th September 2013:
Afternoon: Met up with Aom's friend Meow (yes, that's 'meow 'as in cat) and along with Aom's younger brother Joe we took the two motorbikes 20 kms to the border ruins of Prasat Ta Khwai.

This is one of a number of the 11th century ruined temples that adorn and even straddle the border between Thailand and Cambodia, as mentioned on PAGE 4.
For many years Thailand and neighbouring Cambodia have been at odds over the location of these ancient Temples. The Cambodia–Thailand border dispute began in June 2008 as the latest round of a century-long dispute between Cambodia and Thailand involving the area surrounding these 11th-century temples.


As with the visit to Ta Muean Thom when I visited the site it was bizarre to see Thai and Cambodian military chatting away with one another, sharing a fag and maybe a joke or two. Equally bizarre to think when the tensions spark off these same soldiers will end up shooting at each other. Crazy.
Prasat Ta Khwai is just 12 km east of Prasat Ta Muen Thom, had not been registered and it stood in an area called an “overlapping zone” that is now claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia.
We got through two border checks; crude as you'll see in the photos. At the first one the girls had their I/D cards retained but seemed not to care about a British farang (Thai for foreigner) and seemed more keen on having their photo taken.
The second border check in Cambodia was a little more strict but not aggressively so. I think this area is so remote to tourism that the evidence of a Brit intrigued them. And above all this I'd left my passport at the farm!
So, I'm in Cambodia with no passport! However, it was clear once we arrived at the ruins that I was NOT going to be allowed any further into the country. The track leading away from the site had a couple of Cambodian soldiers hovering around it; all smiles and very chatty (hadn't a clue what they said, so I just smiled back).
The whole area is surrounded by a no-man's-land jungle; lots of jungle sounds, rustles and thick, dense jungle undergrowth.



       


       


       


       


       

  • TOP LEFT: Aom and old school-friend Meow. Two stunning Thai girls.

  • TOP ROW: Meow on her bike, en route to Prasat Ta Khwai

  • SECOND ROW LEFT: On the road.

  • SECOND ROW RIGHT: This is where they ran out of tarmac. Typical of the roads around this region.

  • THIRD ROW: Remote Thai border check-point. Just a wooden branch painted red and white. But make no mistake they're all armed!

  • FOURTH ROW: Very [photo] friendly! border guards. No passport - no (apparent) problem.

  • BOTTOM ROW: Cambodian border check-point. Far more strict but still not asked for a passport.



Following are pictures of the Prasat Ta Khwai site. There's not a lot to the site; it's not very big, but apparently of some considerable historical importance. It was ceratainly well guarded by both Thai and Cambodian troops. As said, although I got into Cambodia, it was patently clear I was not going to be allowed to venture further.



       


       


       


       

  • TOP ROW: Lead-up to Prasat Ta Khwai ruins. This is still a holy Bhuddist site.

  • SECOND ROW LEFT: Lead-up to the site. Note the green not-yet-ripe bananas on the right.
  • SECOND ROW RIGHT: Yours truly at the site.

  • THIRD ROW LEFT: Prasat Ta Khwai ruins.

  • THIRD ROW RIGHT: Bhudda in the jungle

  • BOTTOM ROW LEFT: That tarmac road just simply and abruptly ends at the white line on the right. Behind the camera is a rock-face!

  • BOTTOM RIGHT: Back down to the road past the green bananas again.

You can almost feel the tension around this border region. There's a lot of sand-bagged huts and a host of razor-wire snaking about the jungle. The Cambodian soldiers did appear to get a bit edgy when I walked anywhere near the track leading away from the site and deeper into Cambodia. There's still evidence of recent hostilities as several trees have been decapitated by shell-fire.



       

  • LEFT: Razor-wire in the jungle. There was masses of the stuff everywhere off the track.

  • RIGHT: One of the trees that had suffered a hit from shell-fire.


Here's a short movie of the Prasat Ta Khwai site:-

Note: The two military guys 18 seconds into the movie are Cambodian soldiers who are guarding the track away fro the site deeper into Cambodia.