Nang Rong, Thailand

We grab the 3pm bus from Khon Kaen down Thailands eastern side to the Buriram district, arriving at Nang Rong circa 7pm. There was a lot of bartering with a tuk-tuk driver about how much we should or shouldn't pay to get to the guest house. I've since seen this slightly bitter comment on wikitravel!

"The tuk tuk and motorbike drivers that hang around the bus station are close to impossible to get a reasonable price out of. Fortunately, Nang Rong is small and if you know where you're going you can walk. Even more fortunately, in the bus station there are several boards that give information about the town and the region, one of these boards has a plan of the town with accommodation marked. Take that you money-grabbing, farang-hating taxi shysters"

There's not many accommodation options in Nang Rong; we go to a curious little place called P.California. There is only a more expensive air-con room (350 Baht) available for the first night. There's a pleasant lack of a guest house feel, more like you're staying in someone's house. I say curious because the reception is a dark little room with a desk on the balcony, there's also what looks like an unused reception desk at the bottom of the stairs to the air con rooms. At the top of the stairs is a small area with a fridge and a decorative table with some ornaments. There was also an outside bar, near the entrance. My favourite things though were the pictures! I meant to ask the informative owner if they were painted by him or someone he knew, but I forgot.

The Phanom Rung temple resembles mount Kailasa, the heavenly home of Hindu god Shiva, whom the temple is dedicated to. It's built on an extinct volcano jutting out of Buriram. It's typically Khmer and closely resembles (and closely ties to) Angkor. The only way to see this part of the world is via motorbike so we hire two from the guest house. Mine was a Thai-made "Tiger"125cc; I fell in love with this bike. It made a great noise, possibly because the exhaust was holy. Anna was initially given a Honda 150cc automatic but the bike was too heavy for and the owner swapped it for a Honda 125cc. The 35km journey across the plains is fantastic; great roads and plenty of waving at villagers along the way. Once you hit the volcano the road sharply steepens, becomes smoother and windier with race-style chequered kerbs forcing me into top-gear mode; dropping down to third gear the engine rasped beautifully! Anna took it a little steadier as this was only her second time on a motorbike.

Phanom Rung

It's not what you think it is

Singha - Nice ass!

My beautifully raspy Tiger

Full-throttle

Still on top of the ex-volcano we ducked into a low thatched hut selling noodles, much to the surprise of the friendly owners who were dozing next to the TV. I had one of the most delicious (and spicy) pork noodle soups of anywhere in Thailand. The owners kindly gave us some free lychee as desert. Heading back down the racetrack there's a quick photo-stop at a viewing platform and possible past scene of murder then back to the plains. At this point it starts to rain, but we're prepared, with lumo-green and lumo-pink plastic cover-alls! By the time we reach the Prasat Hin Mueng Tam Khmer ruins (via a crashed spaceship) the rain is coming down in torrents - even our power-macs were struggling to cope.

Jolly good noodles

Hunkie and his new lycee hair

Murder... she wrote

Cruising back into town we ride around numerous streets looking for the 7eleven, which we'd seen a million times before! Eventually, through a process of street elimination (Nang Rong works on a grid system) we find it, pillaging all manner of unhealthy snacks and beer for the evening ahead. With no tourism there's a noticeable lack of anywhere to eat; people just eat in their homes.

Last sunset in Nang Rong