So this is, according to guide books, Thailand's most impressive Khmer ruin. The main temple, atop a smallish mountain, is quite nice. Well preserved, nicely signed, big parking lot for your motorbike, etc. There was another temple, whose name escapes me, very near, at the bottom of the hill, that i found more photogenic. Fewer tourists there and a nice moat. To see these places, I stayed in a town called Nang Rong. I asked at my hotel about getting a guide, as recommended by the books, but they seemed to think I was nuts. They said just get a motorbike and go there yourself. The roads are nice and they were right. The temples were easy to find. The motorbike ride was a bit scary, though. There were very fast cars and trucks flying past me on my little motorbike. But I survived, for better or worse.
This is not Phanom Rung, but the other temple
The one whose name I cannot remember
Plus, I lost the book I was using
But it was very nice
And you can see my fascination with ponds/moats/algae
Enough already
Lintel, Phanum Rung
Main entrance
Again
The main temple
The book says this temple was the model for Angkor Wat
Small shrine
How I feel most days
Big sky
Cow
Cow giving me a fashion model head turn
Jungle life
This temple had, for some reason, carvings of crying Gulf Arabs