We went to visit our brother Bank in Nakhon Ratchasima, better known locally in Thailand as Korat. On the drive there, I realized it had been almost four years since my last visit and about ten years since Bank and I went on our spiritual journey with the late great Luang Phor Koon. That spiritual journey will forever connect me with the land and people of Korat, where a piece of my heart now lives.
Korat is a quiet town rich in history from the ancient days as part of the Khmer Empire. The inner city's population is just a bit over 150k people as the entire province has a bit under 500k people. It's a lovely town to spend a few days eating superb "esarn" food (Eastern Thai food) and visiting some of the most important temples and monks to the Thai people.
The Night Before the Temple
We headed to the mountains next to Sappadu Dam to enjoy the first cool temperature of the rainy season. The resort called "The Resort Angel Hill" was close to the temple we wanted to visit and decided to stop by the village's local market simply called Suppadu market. We haven't seen Bank since our winter vacation together in the Japanese Alps so we were getting mostly exotic food you can eat with brandy. I knew there may be some heavy drinking and he knew that when I drank a lot I would try anything.
We bought the main staple foods for dinner and found a lot of great fruit. Then the exotic dishes started to appear such as pigtails. I didn't even know you could eat a tail. Then we moved on to house crickets which made me think of the two tokays I once raised when I was living in Chonburi 13 years ago. I managed to make it out of Sappadu market without any more complete protein insects.
As we pulled up to the resort, the rain was not being friendly and the wind was swaying the trees back and forth violently. We phoned ahead so the staff was in full rain gear there to pick us up and escort us to our rooms.
The first thing I saw when I walked into the room was the room was built into the mountain, with the original boulders as a part of the room. I'm a naturist so that was impressive to me right away. As we put our bags down, we heard the rain stop and as we walked out of the rooms to see the fresh, wet and green mountainside, we were greeted by double rainbows.
The double rainbows looked magical to my eyes considering the last time I saw a pair was when I was a 10-year-old boy. There was a little bit of sunlight left so the resort staff kindly wiped the areas down and we set up to eat. As the staff was preparing the meal, I wandered around the resort giving myself a tour of the resort's exterior design. There were many levels to the rooms and the design was for the resort to be built into the mountainside. Many of the rooms had differently customized stairs leading to them but the swimming pool and conference room were connected to the main stairs.
We enjoyed dinner overlooking the Sappadu Dam and smelled the freshness of the mountainside after the heavy rains.
My personal favorite exotic dish of the night was the fried house crickets which tasted absolutely amazing from being fried and seasoned with Golden Mountain soy sauce.
The night's crisp & fresh air reminded me of all the wonderful nights I've had in Korat. It was just how I remembered it.
The Passion of a Star
After breakfast, we headed back into the city and made a long stop at Wat Luang Phor Toh. The temple is one of Nakhon Ratchasima's most impressive temples in terms of landscape and architecture. The temple grounds are immaculate and the cafeteria makes meals for visitors every day for free. The temple was built by Thai film star Sorapong Chatri in which he used personal funds to purchase the temple grounds and it's early construction. The rest was from donors from all across Thailand who visited the temple in its early stages. With Sorapong Chatri as the temple's creator, Wat Luang Phor Toh is truly, a temple of the star.
After walking through the welcoming room, I rang the bells on the temple's path. The sound of ringing bells at Thai temples always awakens my spirit. As we walked along the path to the temple's main hall, I was in awe of the architecture of the building we were about to enter. I knew the main statue of Luang Phor Toh was gigantic and by the looks of the high roofs, I was in for a surprise.
As we walked into the building, you could see the massive statue of Luang Phor Toh instantly. Our party grabbed the necessary items to praise Luang Phor Toh's image by donating 60 baht each for the items. After praising him in Pali scriptures, we took the ultra-thin sheets of pure gold and pasted it onto a smaller statue in front of the enormous one.
There were many smaller statues of Luang Phor Toh and other statues as we walked around the main statue.
As we walked back to our vehicles, I took a long minute to admire the landscape and the temple lakes. I was impressed with the number of visitors I saw and will definitely visit this astonishing temple again real soon.
Finishing with a Diesel Truck Meal
All the walking at the temple of the star had built an appetite so we stayed on the main highway towards one of our favorite som tham eateries. There's an "off the beaten path" eatery on the highway that the locals jokingly call "diesel truck grilled pork" because it's next to a large diesel truck repair shop. This eatery is locally known for making a mean som tham Korat dish. We were all pretty hungry so when the food came, we didn't have much to say to each other. The som tham Korat was just like how I remembered it and we ate well beyond our means. It was the perfect meal to end a perfect "esarn" afternoon and the best part was being with the greatest company in the world.
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