18 October 2010…At some time in everyone’s life you have to answer the question – how many 11^th to 13^th century Khmer temples is too many?  Well, on a recent long weekend here in Bangkok Julie and I decided to find the answer to this all important question. 

 

If you are on the hunt for 11^th to 13^th century Khmer temples the only place to go is Isaan which is the general name given to the provinces of north-eastern Thailand that form the borders with Cambodia and Laos.  Many of the people in these provinces are ethnically different to the Thais of Bangkok – they have a Khmer heritage that is reflected in their language, food, costume, architecture and culture.  Not all of these differences are apparent to the first time traveler but we certainly saw it in their temples. 

  

But when it comes to weather and timing we have a history of being pretty bad at it.  This weekend was no exception.  Northern Thailand has been experiencing late season monsoonal rains of epic proportions which have resulted in extensive flooding in most low lying areas.  We spent the three days of our travels under constant grey skies with rain featuring most of the time.  And some of the rain was hard, very hard, making the combination of wet roads, poor visibility and too many Thai drivers very tricky driving conditions. 

But the temples were stunning.  Our first stop was at the Phanom Rung Historical Park at a rare moment when the rain had paused.  Prasart Phanom Rung, was built on the top of an extinct volcano in a rural area south of the town of Buriram.  The layout and design of the temple would become familiar stuff to us over the next couple of days because these Khmer temples all had very similar features.  

Their first feature was long stone stairways over beautiful sections called Naga Bridges which featured multi-headed Naga snakes on each side leading to the main temple complex.  The temple itself was surrounded by a large wall and was very symmetrical 

with the doorways leading to various rooms all exactly lined up in a north/south and east/west direction so you could literally look through 6 or 8 doors all the way to the other side of the temple.  The intricate carvings on the outside and the tall domed building in the middle were very similar to Angkor Wat in Cambodia (with good reason being the same vintage and the same Khmer origins). And the view was beautiful from the top of the hill where the temple was built. 

Eight kilometers away was the impressive Muang Tam Sanctuary but a lot can happen in 8 kilometres, like for instance the rain can start to fall very hard and continue the flooding effect.  But never stalled by a bit of rain, we donned our jackets and umbrellas and literally sloshed our way to and around the Sanctuary.  From what we can gather these complexes were built to provide a sanctuary and religious respite for travelers.  And like the Phanom Rung, many of the bas-reliefs above the doorways represented Hindu gods and Hindu stories.  Another example of cross-over cultures and religions. 

The next day our mission was to reach the Preah Vihear temple on the Cambodian border.  Well, actually it is in Cambodia but can be accessed from Thailand by paying a small visa fee and walking up the hill.  But this famous temple has been the subject of an ongoing political dispute between Thailand and Cambodia for many years.  

The issue of whether the temple was in Thailand or Cambodia was decided by the UN in 1962 (it is in Cambodia) but was only accessible at that time from Thailand.  When Cambodia applied to have it World Heritage listed in 2008 that drew a big spark from Thailand who closed the border and has been protesting the situation ever since.  So we knew we weren’t going to see the temple but we still wanted to visit the adjoining National Park and check out the area. 

Unfortunately the Thai military have thrown up roadblocks all over the place and we couldn’t get to the national park or a nearby waterfall since both were on or very near the border.  

Despite the persistent rain we did manage to find the carefully hidden temples known as Prasat Ta Meuan which are also south of the town of Surin and nestled up against the Cambodian border.  There are actually three temples, each embedded deep in the jungle, the first quite modest, the second bigger and the largest site, called Prasat Ta Meuan Thom, a super example of Khmer architecture from probably the 10^th century (an oldie but a goodie) with the southern steps leading down to the deep jungle and the barbed wire marking the border.  Along the fence were skull and cross bones signs warning people of landmines and undetonated hand grenades. 

On our way back to Bangkok on Sunday we couldn’t resist one more Khmer temple and what a beauty it was.  The Phimai Historical Park is in the town of Phimai, just north of the major city of Nakorn 

Ratchasima (also known as Korat).  Like all the other parks, the temple grounds themselves are centred in a beautiful green expansive park with ancient trees and a peaceful serene feeling to the place.  Prasat Phimai had the same features as the other temples with the lined up doorways, the formidable walls around the complex, the temples themselves in the middle with stone carvings of Hindu gods.  The interesting thing about this temple was that it was right in the middle of the town of Phimai but the high walls kept out the city life and allowed you to enjoy the scene.   

The roads in this area, particularly around Korat, were badly flooded and we repeatedly were caught in thick traffic as cars slowed down to negotiate roads and major highways that had turned into rivers.  We drove through water up to a foot deep across these roads, sometimes with a strong current and on one occasion I could feel our car struggling to maintain its line against the cross flow.  

But worse was the unending flooded fields, tracks, villages and daily lives of the people who live out in these rural communities.  The flooding was obviously much worse than usual and we could see entire villages abandoned due to flooding (and over subsequent days we read in the paper up to 70 people have drowned as a result – it’s a tough life in these remote places). 

We spent our evenings in the towns of Surin and Si Sa Ket.  Neither town was particularly memorable but both provided a good hotel, bars to sit outside and enjoy cocktail hour and restaurants to dig into local Isaan food (not that we figured out the difference but it sounds good).  

Surin is famous for its annual elephant round up which apparently draws the crowds but we had our touch with elephants because while we were enjoying a drink on the footpath of a bar an elephant walked up trying to find someone to pay 20 Baht to feed him sugar cane.  I couldn’t negotiate him down so paid the full 20 Baht and fed the beautiful beast. 

In Si Sa Ket we walked down to the local market to find somewhere to eat.  The rain started (again) and we ducked into a tented outdoor food place in the market.  The barbequed fish and other dishes were great but the rain pelted down for ages and the tent didn’t hold it all out.  We were wet but content. 

As this is still the rainy season the fields were green, the crops were tall and the dams were full.  We were amazed at the number of gum trees throughout the countryside, sometimes planted in rows perhaps as wind breaks but also planted as a plantation in neat rows, acre after acre.  We couldn’t figure out how the Thai’s have learned to commercialise the timber from the eucalyptus when Australians had not.  But it became obvious that these trees were planted on purpose for commercial gain and the trucks filled with long thin trunks from gum trees told us someone was making a baht or two out of it.    

So what is the answer to the question – How many 11^th to 13^th century Khmer temples is too many?  Sadly, we did not find the answer.  What we do know is that the answer lies somewhere beyond the number of temples we saw on this long weekend, despite the rain and the driving distances.  Which means, again very sadly, a future long weekend of exploring more Khmer temples until we finally find the answer.