5 December 2016. Day in Aranyaprathet

So, I decided to stay and have a look at Aranyaprathet rather than rushing off first thing in the morning. The walk into town takes about 40 minutes and one is soon off the main road. The route I took went through some playing fields where a football tournament was taking place

and then through the pleasant enough Kanchanaphisek park and some smallholdings.

This brought me to the main road that runs to the border. Once crossed, one is in the town itself. To be honest, it is not a great destination, though pleasant enough to walk around. The market is extensive and clean but there is a distinct lack of places where one might wish to hang out for a coffee or beer, I thought.

Quite reasonably, everything is in Thai and so I was pretty much stumped. Fairly obviously, if one wants to get off the tourist trail, some language acquisition is essential. I carried on across the river

to the local Wat, which is notable for its gold bling!

So, I made my way back to the hotel. On the way, I noticed the scant regard for pedestrians by the road sign installers as well as some very esoteric government offices.