Thailand day 2: Phanom Rung

Monday, December 17th

I arrived in Buriram at 6:15am and not surprisingly didn't sleep well on the overnight train. In Buriram, I got a tuk-tuk to the bus station and caught a bus to Ban Ta Pek. There I hired a motorcycle-taxi to take me to Phanom Rung and Prasat Meuang. He took me to the latter first.

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Both are about 1000 year old Hindu ruins and both very impressive. What was both surprising and enjoyable was that Phanom Rung wasn't very crowded and Prasat Meuang was completely empty! I had the run of the place to myself.

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The two ruins are only 7km apart and between the two, I spent about 3 hours. After that, my motorcycle-taxi took me back to Ban Ta Pek where I got a lift in a pickup truck to nearby Nang Rong. There I took a bus for 3 hours to Pak Chong and a taxi to my hostel for the next two nights. The hostel was my least favorite of the trip. Everywhere I stayed I had my own room (I'm a bit too old to share dorm rooms with 8 other people). This place was just a bit too run down and grimy for my tastes. And just as a bonus, a Dutch couple next door argued at top volume between midnight and 3am denying me yet another good night of sleep.