Thailand - here and (through the back door) gone

We slowly approach what we assume will be the (artistic) highlight of our stay in Southeast Asia: the temples around Angkor in Cambodia, built by the Khmer from the 9th to the 13th century. Some Khmer temples from that time can also be found here in Thailand, in the Isaan province, where many people still speak Khmer alongside Thai. These last few days have reconciled us with Thailand.

First, there are still few tourists in Isaan. That means Thailand is still like the stereotype: not too busy, green and rural, with sociable and friendly people. Good life.

Secondly, the food here is interesting and authentic. Yes, everyone here knows the beautiful word 'spicy' (even if they don't understand any English otherwise) and warn about the spiciness of the dishes or inquire about the tolerance of the long-nosed guests. However, if you indicate, like we do, that you like to eat spicy food, you will be mercilessly tortured with chilies until tears flow: in papaya and mango salad, pork ragout with mint, sauce for fish... And they have particularly good insects here. In addition to the usual fried locusts (or crickets?) and worms (we don't really like the latter), there are also large fried beetles (good) and even better: wasps with chili, onions, and lemongrass.

Thirdly, we had especially nice accommodations here: in Phimai, with a river right in front of the simple bungalow, where we could swim like at the beloved Gänsehäufel, and in Nang Rong, with David as the perfect host, a US expat who not only rented us his beautiful garden house but also gave us a lively crash course in the intricacies of everyday Thai life - and thus made it even clearer that Thailand is not our country.

And finally, the best temples in all of Thailand can be found here. From Angkor, a major road led north to Phimai, where we saw our first really good prang (that's what the Khmer call the temple towers) and also the first great relief plates above the gates, which are so typical of Khmer architecture. In Phnom Rung, a little further south, there is a breathtaking and breath-taking complex on a hill, and Muang Tam is small but atmospheric with its water basins lined with stone snakes. In the deep province then as now, we visited a small temple, one of our minor sights, which had the best lintel ever. By the way, it is confirmed here in Isaan that the neo-Khmer buildings in Ayutthaya are just rubbish (see the last blog post).

We would suggest to all future travelers to include the local Khmer temples as an extended excursion from Angkor (we are doing the opposite and leaving Thailand through the back door, heading towards Cambodia by land), but to skip the rest of Thailand. So, Toni (#Chiang Mai) was almost right, but only almost.