Korat or rather Phimai

Bangkok - Ayutthaya - KORAT - Khon Kaen - Phitsanulok

We arrived in Korat - known locally as Nakhon Ratchasima - after a four-hour cramped train ride. As we already knew, there wasn't anything particularly special about this city. Just a few temples and shopping malls.

One shopping mall called Terminal 21 is designed like an airport. When you enter, you take the longest escalator in Thailand. Then, on different floors, you can see various attractions from different countries, including the Eiffel Tower from Paris and Big Ben from London.

But that's not why we came to Korat. Korat has a good train connection, so we stopped there for two days to visit Phimai, which is 58 km away.

Phimai is a small town, but right in its city center is a large historical park.

The beautiful historical park where you can enjoy the tranquility for 100 baht and see the impressive ruins of a once grand temple complex. Everything was well maintained and partly well preserved. Some say it is Thailand's Angkor Wat, as the complex existed before Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It is said that the temple complex in Phimai even served as a model for Angkor Wat. These two complexes were connected by a road in their time.

Everything in the complex is arranged symmetrically and mirrored. It has four entrances, each facing a cardinal direction, and in the center is the main building/temple with a stone Buddha. Large trees and green spaces complete the entire complex.

The best part is that it is a preferred destination for local tourists. Tourists like us rarely get lost in this small town, so we were looked at as if we were from another planet. But at the same time, the locals were very helpful with gestures and limited English skills. Occasionally, someone would join in who knew a few words of English and helped us; otherwise, we had to rely on sign language.

We found our bus there and back, but things got quite silent at the market. They were completely overwhelmed if you wanted something different from what they usually did. For example, one stall had noodles with vegetables and tomato sauce (which we had never seen here before), but they put a spoonful of it in a bag with a lettuce leaf. However, we wanted a full bag of it, and you can't imagine how long it took for them to understand that - and of course, we paid for it. But that was unimaginable for everyone. It was very funny to watch; humans are creatures of habit, and sometimes it's unimaginable to combine things differently, and that's the case all over the world. If there is apple strudel with vanilla sauce, you can't order apple strudel without vanilla sauce :-P!

We already feel very comfortable being on the road again, especially because we can discover places in Thailand that are rarely visited by backpackers. The beautiful thing is that people are excited to see you, like a child with an ice cream, and they constantly give you a smile. We think sometimes they are just so excited themselves that they are a bit embarrassed and have to laugh as a result. =)

Next stop: Khon Kaen, 3.5 hours away from Korat by local train.