In October 2015, the Dishonourable Edward Pastanga and I set off on a road trip to Esaan for the sole purpose of visiting ancient Khmer sites (Phanom Rung, a.o.) and an old friend of mine who lives in Prasat, Surin. Ray and his Thai wife Na were pleased to see us and supplied us with loads of food and beer, always welcome, of course. The Thai-Cambodian border wasn't far from their house, and Ray took us on a tour to relatively unknown Khmer temples. The highlight of our visit

In the beginning, people started building dwellings left and right, a haphazard affair without much planning. Then, after countless years, things slowly became more organized, and a kind of structure started appearing. Houses, buildings, shops, etc., clustered together, at first connected through unpaved paths, then slowly changed into paved roads. After a certain number of inhabitants had been reached, something happened… The semi-organized structure had reached a critical p