I gain a lot of information from my nights at the lodge near Khao Yai and so decide to stay at Thailand's second biggest city which i will call its old name of Khorat (as i can't spell the new name), and visit the Kmer ruins at Phimai. These are well visited and well restored ruins that are maybe from the 12th Century. So they are restored which is a put-off, however they are still impressive and i have a leisurely couple of hours at the park.
I'm not too impressed by Khorat - it couldn't be more different from Bangkok. I guess it's a lot more 'real' Thai. Because I'm not day dreaming i enter a restaurant that is busy but turns out to be in an American diner style and serves only steaks. I order a fillet steak with chips (my first chips in SE Asia), salad, vegetables and bread rolls at 75 baht. that's about $2 and yup it's the worst steak I've ever had :) In the morning the town redeems itself as i have a fantastic meal at the train station while waiting for my train to Surin. Egg fried noodles with beef and vegetables - 20 baht. At these prices no wonder most city Thais don't have a kitchen.
Surin is a town more my size, i can get around it without a map - even i cant get lost. I've come so i can visit the ruins of Phanom Rung - they sound impressive perched upon the rim of a volcano. It's an awful hotel i end up staying at - see next log entry. Luckily Phanom Rung is quite good and getting there is a bit of an adventure. At one point i have my legs wrapped around a Thai lady on the back of a motorbike...nice imagery :)
