Thailand: Phnom Rung and Muang Tam

Today we were up and out of the hotel and on our way to visit two Khmer temples. Our first stop was at a small village where they made all sorts of objects out of pottery. This part of Thailand is famous for their pottery, and when you saw all the various shapes and designs of pots, statues, tiles, lamps, etc., you can see why.

We got to see the whole process: how they dig up the clay, how they process it, how they store it, how they throw it and shape it, and then how they bake it.

Our next stop was the first temple of the day: Phnom Rung. On the way, my guide kept telling me about how they used "rava locks" in the construction of the temple. I had no idea what I rava lock was, so I asked, and my guide said, you know, rava lock; it's a lock made of rava. Still clueless as to what he was talking about and pretty sure I wasn't going to get a better description, I just let it drop. Of course, all became clear to me when we arrived at the temple, and I saw that the pathways to the temple were made of lava rocks...

The temple was located at the top of an extinct volcano. And it was fantastic! All of the carvings and details that remained after over a thousand years of exposure to the elements. It was amazing!

After a complete exploration of the site, we walked back down the hill to a local restaurant for lunch. I ordered chicken fried rice. I got a plate of fried rice, and an entire roasted chicken. It was delicious, but way too much to eat. Thankfully I had made a friend along the way (a scruffy, underfed, nursing mama dog) who joined me for lunch. She ate more of the chicken than I did, but she needed it more than I did...

After lunch, we went to the second sit of the day, Muang Tam which was another temple not far from the first, but at the bottom of the mountain in the valley. It was very well reconstructed and again the detail and carvings were amazing. When I first arrived, I was the boy one at the site, so I hauled ass to take all sorts of pictures before more people showed up. After the flurry of picture taking, I then took the time to walk around and really have a good look at everything. It was so gorgeous!

After that we drove the little over an hour to the hotel for the night! I had a nice swim in the pool, read, caught up on the internet, and before I knew it, it was time for dinner! Tomorrow we are crossing the border into Laos, and I can't wait!