Archaeological site, food and a bus trip, Thailand.

On MJ and Hui-chen’s last day in Ubon we had a midmorning start again due to a late night the evening before. I picked MJ up and we ventured to the bus station to check buses that went from Ubon to Khon Kaen.

Now I was pretty dumbfounded that only one company does this route, and they don’t have a VIP bus only what they call 1st or 2nd class. The 1st class takes 5 hours and the 2nd class I didn’t want to ask or know.

Anyway, we made a trip out to a local Archaeological site called Ban Kan Lueang. Again I didn’t even know this site existed and is only a few kilometers from my house.

There is a notice style board that has pictures of the excavation in progress and also has other information on the site.

This sign gives a basic background on the site; it was accidently unearthed by a bulldozer that was starting earthworks for a housing development. It wasn’t actually discovered until 1990 and excavations started in 1992.

There are two pits but only one remains open for visitors to see, the other is hidden away. They found burial jars, which I hadn’t heard of before and MJ explained that they simply folded the body up pretty soon after it had passed as it was flexible into a jar. In the background overview they stated they found 11 of these jars but no remains so I did some research. I read were some scientists believed that after the body decomposed their remains were scooped out. Some burial jars found in Laos had remains inside.

There is some pottery on view in a small Wiharn near the pit. MJ was amazed that the glass case wasn’t locked and you could simply slide it open and touch the pottery on display if you wanted to, of course we didn’t do this but I am sure that some people have.

After visiting the site, which wasn’t spectacular but was interesting to see and read about some of the history in Ubon. Then we needed some food. We stopped at a little restaurant near my house and Noot ordered some delicious looking braised beef.

This is my favourite dish; it’s a Morning Glory plant deep fried with a litter batter with a seafood sauce over it is a real winner.

These dishes are vegetables in oyster sauce and omellete.

We sat and chatted for too long and we ran out of time to visit a little village about 20klms away. It is meant to be the earliest settled village in Ubon and has bronze ware and Thai silk that the villagers still make today to see and buy. This is MJ’s bus.

Here MJ and I are at the bus station. I had a great time with MJ and Hui-chen and really would like to spend a bit more time getting to know them more and also here the great stories MJ had to tell. This has really motivated me to look at Taiwan for a holiday and meet the other great bloggers there and also attend one of the many grill parties that take place.

MJ and Hui-chen are on the bus and off on their trip to Khon Kaen.

Mj and Hui-chen thanks for a great time and it was such a pleasure finally meeting you in person. You are a hell of a lot of fun and also information and I loved the stories you had to share. If your friends in Taiwan are half as generous, entertaining and more importantly just a bloody good bloke as you I am so looking forward to meeting them all.

Hope the rest of your Thailand trip goes smoothly and stay away from knives, especially in your pocket, MJ knows what I am talking about.

Brunty