Khon Kaen to Chum Phae

Sat 13/02/14, 100km

Quick shunt 80 along Highway 12 with earphones in to Chum Phase in order to see the remains of an ancient town in the form of some digs dating back some 2500 to 3000 years. I did make one stop at a vineyard in the hope of sampling Thai wine however, they didn't have any wine just grapes and juice. Hello, why?

Arrived in Chum Phae for lunch time,  grabbed a very nice veg red Thai curry at my hotel (Cheewin Palace) and then set off on the bikes for the digs. These had the potential to be really interesting as they seem to have out the bones and potshards back in situ under covered areas. Alas, all the info was in Thai leaving me guessing. Shame.

Chilled for the afternoon then come early evening had a stroll around town, nice place really. Found the local farang bar (I swear these are the Thai equivalent of Chinese or Indian restaurants in the UK, every small town has one!), forbore from a beer as it wasn't quite six then started heading back.

It was at this point that a dog came up behind me and bit my calve. No warning, didn't even see the thing, just felt the teeth go in. This is less than good. Skin broken, blood. My last rabies jab was 2009 and even with a pre-vaccination I needed immediate treatment. So... back to the hotel, wash wound with soap and water, then apply an alcohol based wipe. Meanwhile have a beer and swear copiously. Next stop, hospital. Damn sight better than a British hospital on a Saturday night I'll say that for nowt. Slight communications problems, particularly over my vaccination history however within the hour I had the bite recleaned with iodine and a shot of rabies vaccine... oh and a tetanus jab.

To be continued. And then some.

Very nom red curry

Thai countryside

Some of the digs