50 something on her travels

We are here now for three nights. There isn't lots to do here, so we aren't rushing around. Also George has now got man flu, so as I write this blog entry, he's asleep in bed snoring.  So that means one thing - I get it next.  There are some very pretty temples in the city centre. A bit of a walk away from our accommodation, so we'll certainly got our 10k steps in a day.  First off we visited Wat Nong Waeng is a nine story high stupa which we climbed up. I believe it's less than thirty years old.  We also visited Wat That Phra Aram Luang on our first evening and the following day, to get some different perspectives of the temples. 

Yesterday we caught the bus up north to the next stop at Khon Kaen. It was a three hour ride in a cramped coach.  We arrived at the bus station thirty minutes early and were slightly miffed why the ticket assistant insisted on us sitting down in the coach. He was very animated about this urgency. But he knew full well if we didn't claim our seats we'd be standing. And in the end it was rammed, with people standing, or sitting on plastic chairs!  Even though it was packed, that didn't stop the hawkers boarding the bus to sell their food at bus stops. I nearly got smacked in the face by a handful of marinated meat objects on sticks.  We were glad to get off the bus, as more piled on for the final part of the journey, a further three hours north.  We are staying in the city centre, around the corner from the bars and nightclubs. Thankfully we aren't vibrating during the night.  We are staying again in a lovely little hotel costing £23 a night.  I t...

Korat city is fairly low key. We visited on a Sunday and there was hardly anyone around.  There is a moat and gates around the city, which are similar to that of Chiang Mai. But the whole place is less hectic.  We visited Wat Phrayap which has a random crystal like cave! 

We decided on my first day in Isan to take a local bus to Phimai Historical Park, which is about an hour from Korat.  We had fun looking for the bus stop, but eventually a fellow Thai traveller confirmed we were in the right spot.  The bus fare was £3 in total and I can confirm the bus never broke down.  Even though it definitely needed a new clutch.  The lovely thing about travelling around Isan is that it isn't heaving with tourists. So no issues having everyone in your photos.  Phimai is Thailand's largest Khmer ruin, a crucial link to Angkor in Cambodia.  We thought we were clever to get there, but didn't realise the last bus went back at 12.30pm. After endlessly walking around the town looking for food, and me refusing a chicken feet soup, we wandered back to the bus stop. With no timetable, a helpful local told us the last bus was ten minutes late. And sure enough it arrived shortly after. Ge...

We are now travelling through Isan, which is North East Thailand that borders Laos. It is considered to be the least touristy area of the country, and a great opportunity to experience the real Thailand. It is also the poorest part of the country, and the first time I've seen homeless Thai people sleeping on the streets.  I think I mentioned before that we'd forgotten to get an International Driving Permit before leaving the UK. This would have allowed us to hire a car to visit areas not reached by bus or train.  But all is not lost. Instead we are taking public transport to stop at some of the cities and towns, which we may return to in the future.  First stop for three nights was Nakhon Ratchasima, or Korat for short.  These cities, like many around the world, are not the prettiest if places. However I managed to find a nice little hotel hidden in a local neighbourhood, away from the madness of the city. It was around £20 per night.  It...

This morning we left Bangkok bus terminal (one of the many), to head up North East Thailand.  This is an area we've not explored before, and hope it will take us a little off the tourist track. We paid about £8 each for the four hour coach trip out of the city.  As we left the city the coach pulled over outside McDonalds.  The coach assistant hopped out, and five minutes was back with a tray.  Each of us got a bottle of water and a McChicken sandwich.  No extra charge - great included service!  But if you're a vegetarian, vegan or have any other special dietary requirements - it will just be water for you. About 1 hour into the journey the coach starting playing up.  We kept stopping on the hard shoulder and we could see the driver scratching his head.  Eventually we limped off the motorway and properly broke down.  Luckily we only had to wait 30 minutes for the later coach to stop and pick us all up!   As an aside I noticed on certain b...