Exploring Surin

Friday, July 16, 2010--Surin

Determined to get out even if it was hot and humid, I left the room around 9:45.  I walked to downtown Surin where I arrived by bus.  I didn't find much worth seeing.  I checked out 3 shops near the bus station that sell silk products that are produced in the area.  Mainly, they sold women's dresses.  I walked through Chinatown which again had nothing worth seeing.  They do have a huge market which someone who has never seen an Asian market might enjoy exploring.  It looked dark and depressing to me, so I just passed on by.  I did find a nice statue of elephants as I took a different road back toward the hotel.  I took photos.  

I was back in the neighborhood by 11:30 and it was very hot.  I stopped at the same place across the street and had an early lunch.  The lady had taken the leftover yellow curry, thinned it, added chicken, leaves, Thai eggplant, and a round berry-like vegetable that is popular in Thai food to make a new dish.  She served it over noodles.  It wasn't quite as spicy as the puree had been last night, but it was delicious.

I intended to go back out in the evening, but that was when the rains finally arrived for the day.  I just stayed inside on the computer and reading from my book.  I had some snacks in the room which I ate for dinner.


Saturday, July 17, 2010--Surin

It was cloudy this morning, so it didn't seem so bad to be outside.  I decided to explore the south side of town with plans to go to the National Museum in Surin.  I left about 10:30 and was gone for almost 4 hours today.  The clouds were what made it easy to be out--that, and the fact that the rain never came today.

I planned a route that would take me out one road and bring me back on another.  The road I took out was lined with sports facilities--a large gymnasium, several football fields, etc.  It also passed along the side of a forest park on the south side of town.

I was surprised at how far it was to the National Museum after I turned onto the main highway heading that way.  My city map has been quite accurate so far.  But it is obviously out of scale on the edges.  What looked like it should have been a 15-minute walk was actually 3 km (almost 2 miles).  The walk there from my hotel took me 1 1/2 hours.  With the nice cloud cover, however, I didn't mind it.  In fact, I was glad to be able to get the exercise. 

The National Museum had sounded nice in the brochure I got at the tourist office, and it proved to be as nice as it sounded.  I was impressed.  All exhibits were well posted in English as well as Thai.  And they were quality exhibits covering the history of the area, the different types of soils/building materials from the area, the different ethnic groups living in the area (clothing, traditions, and housing), the famous elephant festival held here each year, etc.

My route coming back into town brought me to a traffic circle and a lake with temples to the elephants of the area and a statue of a local leader and statues of elephants.  It also took me by a small park where men were playing board games and gem dealers had set up tables to try to sell their baubles.

I returned to eat across the street.  Again, however, it was a version of the yellow curry.  I ate it, but I am getting tired of it and will go elsewhere tomorrow.  It was nice and spicy today, however.

It was a bit awkward for me when I returned to my room at 14:45.  The fat, elderly European who is renting the room next to me was calling the Danish owner to take a photo for him.  He was wearing only his underwear which was worn and early.  And he was encouraging his young Thai girlfriend to come out on the porch to have their photo taken together.  She was wearing only a bath towel wrapped around her and was obviously embarrassed, especially when she saw that I had picked up my key and was walking across the way also.  I looked out the window a few minutes later and noticed there were 4 large (640 ml), empty beer bottles in a trash can on his front porch, so I guess he had been drinking most of the afternoon up to the point when he decided the photo of them would be a good idea.

The rains never came today.  It got a bit dark, and there was the feel of moisture in the air (light moisture that could be felt on the skin but never showed on the streets and sidewalks).  I never went back out, however.  I was tired from the outing before, and I didn't have anywhere nearby that I wanted to go.