25 February - 14 March 2008

Bizarre scenes

After a hefty climb with the sun burning our backs we're back in familiar and feelgood Thailand. Although Cambodia has some special places and sights, we feel more at home here. Nature is less damaged and the amenities are a bit more comfortable. In between rubber and cashew plantations we cycle through real jungle again, seeing the butterflies and birds that belong here.

In Khun Han we cycle straight to one of the world's most bizarre temples: 'the Forest Temple of a Million Bottles', 'Wat Pa Lan Khuat' in Thai. In the nineties of the last century the abbot dreamt of a temple in heaven made entirely of glass and he longed to copy it. Since that wasn't possible he did the next best thing: he covered nearly every surface of nearly every building, from the prayer hall to the bell tower, toilets, water tower and cremation temple of his current temple with glass bottles. The new chapel at the pond was built with bottles as the main construction material. We have seen hundreds of temples the last months, this surely is the most bizarre.

For the first time in months there quite regularly is a rain shower; the monsoon which officially starts in May is slowly getting underway. The temperature rises, every day another degree is added, and the amount of mosquitoes quadruples. As soon as the twilight starts they swarm about and en masse attack Peter. His body odour, or the smell of his blood, has always attracted zillions of mosquitos, but here it takes a bizarre shape. They like me as well, but when Peter is around they largely ignore me. Even when completely covered in the strongest poison those mean stingers swarm around him in their hundreds when he goes outside. They are mean  and sneaky bitches, because where do they try to get to him? There where he can't see them: neck, feet, elbows. Savage, shameless, shrewd, sneaky bloodsuckers, that's what they are.

In the town of Ubon Ratchathani we take a couple of days of rest. That is to say: we are cycling less, but catch up on our (mostly administrative) work. Six years ago we left our hectic lives in the Netherlands behind on purpose, but are sometimes busy in a bizarre way now. How is this possible, many people ask themselves. Well, it is: I write the diary every day, Peter writes stories for the website on our pocket PC, we translate these stories in English, we keep score of the distances we've cycled in a small notebook, we write down every picture we take in small booklets, select and decrease pictures for the website, answer every single e-mail we receive, clean and maintain our bicycles if necessary, look for drinking water every day and shop for food, repair clothing and panniers, handwash our clothes every three days, in the meantime take care of our financial business, obtain new visa in time and plan the next leg of our trip.
It's a miracle we sometimes actually have some time to go cycling at all.
But we still do and in Ubon we visit another bizarre temple: Wat Ban Na Muang. The emaciated body of the commissioner of this creation, Luang Pu Boon Mi, has been on display since 2001 in the big hall and can be admired, just like his strange creation. The bizarre feast starts at the entrance gate, shaped like a ten metres high three-headed elephant, under which we pass with our bicycles. Mister Boon Li's dream consists of a ceramic encrusted replica of King Rama IX's royal barge, complete with sculpted crew. On top of the boat is a small chapel. At least as beautiful as the boat temple is the rotund golden Buddha, who magically conjures a smile on our faces.

The northeastern part of Thailand is called the Isan. During the wet season rice is grown here in abundance. Now, in February/March, it's the dry season and all fields are barren and yellow. The Thai don't understand why all tourists visit their country in the winter, because in the wet season it's far more beautiful. But they don't understand that most tourists escape the rain and cold of their own countries. We want to return here in the wet season, because we get sufficient heat as it is and the dry fields are not very spectacular indeed.

In Amnat Charoen we are welcomed at the JP Emerald Hotel by owner Jin Darha, who speaks fluent English. She lowers the room rate somewhat for us, arranges for two bottles of icy cold water and lets us access the internet for free on her laptop. She is a fantastic hostess! We advise all western men looking for a bright, sweet and beautiful Thai lady to go to Amnat Charoen. But: she is not to be exported, she wants to stay in her motherland forever!

On our way to Mukdahan we find dozens of butterflies on the road, hit by cars. One is even more beautiful than the other and the least damaged ones get a prominent place in our diary.
Mukdahan lies on the border with Laos, on the mighty Mekong River. Twenty kilometres further south the Phu Pha Thoep National Park is situated, which is strewn with bizarre limestone formations. Millions of centuries of rain, sun, heat and wind eroded the rocks. The difference between the hard and the soft rock resulted in different kinds of wear, creating the most bizarre shapes. Some of the tons weighing rocks balance on a soft stone pedestal of a few dozen square centimetres. 

And: in a week or two, in the far north, bordering Laos as well, we'll get served a similar park, which is supposed to be even more beautiful and bigger. And we've heard about another park, filled with incredible follies thereabouts.

The Isan might be considered a bit boring during the winter months, for bizarre travelers there are sufficient bizarre places to make your fantasy work overtime.