To Korat

It was an easy drive from Khon Kaen to Korat –  destination Prasat Phnom Wan – before meeting up with a friend, parking the Pajero, and catching a bus to Bangkok.

Prasat Phnom Wan

We visited Korat’s Unfinished Ancient Prasat – a thousand year old Khmer-period temple on the outskirts of the city.

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Bus to Bangkok

After the initial and usual confusion about arranging anything in Thailand we settled into VIP seats on the coach to Thailand’s primate city. It was a comfortable and stress-free journey to Mo Chit bus terminal in Chatuchak followed by a fairly lengthy taxi ride to our usual hotel in 101 Sukhumvit.

Dinner in Bangkok

Millions of people have dinner in Bangkok every night but for visitors wanting a special treat there are few cities anywhere in the world that can compete with the range, diversity, quality and value of this amazing place.

And to continue the amazement we walked into our selected restaurant and met a friend I hadn’t seen in 15 years. Calculate the odds in a city of 22 million.

Our Non Visit to Maeklong Railway Markets

Exit the hotel in the nippy Mazda CX3 heading south-west to, initially, Hua Hin. What a difference from the Pajero.

The ongoing construction of the Expressway to Samut Sakhon (Route 35/Rama II Road) causes a significant challenge to motoring but it was not nearly so bad as in 2022 during our Road Trip to Hua Hin.

Our destination was Maeklong Railway Market in Samut Songkhram, an Instagram favourite.

We missed the arrival of the 11.30 a.m. train and the next cause for excitement wasn’t until 2.30 p.m. We decided to have lunch at a modern, air conditioned restaurant immediately adjacent to the railway. Its reason for existence was the railway. The all glass walls allowed us to observe this tourist phenomenon close up. People were arriving by coach, by foot and by motorbike to observe this rather mundane sight of market vendors lifting their sun shades to let a train pass. Where were they all gong to fit? There is precious little room for shoppers – forget tourists.

We decided that a two hour wait and then competing with hundreds or more tourists to see a train go by was not high on our agenda and so we left.

The Maeklong Railway Markets provides a mildly unusual occurrence but the hype generated by (probably) social media has turned the place into a zoo.

Clouds of non-discerning tourists descending on a quirky but hardly spectacular occurrence was one we chose to avoid.

To Cha-am Beach

At the huge Route 4/Route 37 interchange we stayed on Route 4 to Cha-am rather than go to Hua Hin. Cha-am is a popular beachside destination for Thais – not so much for Farangs.

Being at the top end of the Gulf of Thailand the beaches are not so pristine and certainly not as white/yellow as further south in, say, Surat Thani. However, they have their own appeal and that appeal is certainly catered for by the vendors who provide a continuous line of beach shelters for nearly five kilometres.

Turn Around

The combination of a Sunday dental appointment coinciding with a Buddhist religious festival long weekend (and what we knew would be  crazy traffic conditions) caused us to curtail our road trip and head back towards Khon Kaen sooner than we intended.

To Petchaburi

Having made the decision to beat the holiday mayhem our turnaround would be pointless unless we got to our accommodation in Bangkok before it started. So we left Cha-am early in the morning.

However, there was still time to ‘play tourist’ and make a visit to the ancient Wat Kamphaeng Laeng.

Wat Kamphaeng Laeng

This is a relatively well-preserved Khmer temple of the Bayon-period located in modern-day Phetchaburi.

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Bus to Korat

Mo Chit Bus Terminal, Chatuchak is the largest bus transportation hub in Bangkok. It serves long-distance bus services to Northern and North East Thailand. And while it can get frenetic in busy times our early departure avoided the crowds. The journey to Nakhon Ratchasima took 3.5 hours.

To Prang Ku Chaiyaphun

After lunch with a friend we headed to Prang Ku Chaiyaphun situated in the middle of the town. This ancient Khmer-period prang was being for prepared for Asahna Bucha Day, one of the most important days on the Buddhist calendar, and local schoolchildren were practising for their part in the ceremony the next day.

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Return to Khon Kaen

On the return to Khon Kaen we detoured to visit a Khmer-period ruin known as Prang Ku Nong Faek in Ban Than District of Chaiyaphun.

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It was then an easy run east on Route 12 to the city.