THAILAND- Phetchaburi [เพชรบุรี].

Khao Wang Hill panorama

Most drivers bypass the city of Phetchaburi on their way from Bangkok to Hua Hin. Yet, everybody will notice the tall hill displaying a few stupas on its top. 

View downhill

I had wondered many times about this hilltop and the city lying below. I was under the impression that it would be a sleepy town with not much to offer. But each time I drove past, I kept thinking it would be a good idea to see a bit more of Phetchaburi.

Well, I recently did this! Twice even! 

First of all, I found out that it is not just a town, but already a large community, having a huge shopping mall and all the modern amenities.

Phetchaburi is the capital of a Thai province bearing the same name as the town. A small river flows through this historic community. The coast of the Gulf of Thailand is only about 20km away.

On a first occasion, Thai friends took me for lunch to a charming Thai restaurant downtown. It was a lovely stilt house made of wood, above the riverbank, and over a hundred years of age. Of course, the food was also delicious and exquisitely prepared. 

Phetchaburi is one of Thailand's oldest cities! It was a regional capital of the Khmer Empire in the

Old riverbank house

13^thcentury. During the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya periods, it served as a commercial hub for the maritime routes to the East as well as to the West.

But in the early 19^thcentury, it became King Mongkut (Rama IV) favorite residence. He built a palace on top of Khao Wang Hill and several other stupas. From one of the palace towers, King Mongkut carried on his astronomical observations. There is an incline that takes passengers to the top of the hill. Sadly enough, the usual Thai discrimination against foreigners applies on the ticket price! It is cooler on the hilltop, where there is a colony of monkeys. It takes a while to explore all the stupas and visit the former monastery at the far end of the hill that offers a strange mix of Thai and Western architecture.

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The town below is crossed by the Phetchaburi River. In the Thai language, Phet means 'diamond', because it is said that a long time ago the river was part of a diamond-trade.

There is also a summer palace, Phra Ram Ratchaniwet, which is now inside a military compound. To access this palace, you must leave an ID at the military post at the entrance. The mansion was designed by a German architect and displays a definite German style.

Downtown, there is a group of several monasteries that are worth a visit. One particular temple has some remarkable wall paintings.

All in all, Phetchaburi is definitively quite an interesting place to visit away from the usual tourist hotspots.

Christian Sorand

The main entrance to the summer palace

 

Inner yard

Staircase cherub

 

Outside garden

Hilltop forest

Red chedi in the monastery

White chedi

Thai temple pavillion

THAILAND – LOPBURI [ลพบุรี] : Monkeys, Khmer temples and a former royal palace.

Prang Sam Yot & its monkeys

The historical city of Lopburi is at about 150km north of Bangkok. It is the capital of a Thai province and is crossed by a river. Both the river and the province bear the same name as the city. 

The town itself is rather big and is reported having more than 750,000 inhabitants. But apart from a large avenue punctuated by monumental roundabouts, the modern city has not much to offer.

Sitting Buddha at Prang Sam Yot

Nevertheless, there is a historic section, near the downtown railway station, that is worth seeing. But as monkeys are part of the old Indian legend of King Rama and Hanuman, the monkey god, expect to see herds of macaques in this area! It may look exotic at first sight, but it soon turns to be a real nightmare! Besides the noise they make, the dirt they bring, they soon become a nuisance as they can easily turn aggressive. You wonder how the shopkeepers in the area can cope with this simian crowd! 

Needless to say though that they are the main town entertainment! After all, this is a touristic curiosity that brings fame to the otherwise sleepy town.

Lopburi is over a thousand years old. It used to be a regional capital of the Khmer Empire. The best reminder of the Khmers is a site called Prang Sam Yot (12^thcentury), which has been nicknamed 'the Monkey Temple'. Guess why? In Thai, the name speaks for itself as it means 'the three (sam) spires (prang) mounts (yot)'. In the Khmer architecture, a prang[ปรางค์] is tall rounded spire richly carved. If you are familiar with Angkor Wat, then you know what this is.

In the centre of the nearby roundabout, there is a Thai shrine (San Phra Khan) that attracts local worshippers...as well as a few daring monkeys, which are quickly chased away.

The rest of this downtown section is rather commercial and offers no specific interest, apart from a

Inner gate at King Narai's Palace

few vestiges here and there.

The main interest in the town is the former residence of a 17^thcentury Thai King in the same area as the railway station. Phra Narai (1656-1688) enjoyed the mild climate of the region so much that he decided to have his second residence built here. This happened at the time of the Ayutthaya Kingdom when Siam was opening up onto the World. So, King Narai requested the help of French architects for the building of his royal residence, Phra Narai Ratcha Niwet. This refers back to an interesting episode of Thai history with King Louis XIV of France. Lopburi became the second capital of the Siamese Kingdom. In 1685, King Narai greeted the French embassy at the Lopburi Palace.

The royal residence welcomes visitors. Open gardens, courtyards and buildings turned into museums make it a great place to visit to know more about this period of Thai history.

Christian Sorand

Lopburi (Wikitravel)

Phra Prang Sam Yot (Renown Travel)

King Narai's Palace (Renown Palace)

A brief history of King Narai's Palace:

A small museum recalls the historic moment when the French delegation paid a visit to King Narai.

Painting

 

A print commemoration of the vent

This treaty cam after a second visit

The story of a Greek influencer at King Narai's Court.

A view at the premises today:

The Throne Hall

Statue of King Narai

A description of the Throne Hall

A view at the royal residence and its gardens:

The museum building

Garden inner wall

A view at one of the gardens

Garden pool

An old colonial building used as the administrative site

A few other shots of Lopburi Town:

Downtown city view

Monkeys in town

At the Monkey Temple

Other Khmer prangs in town

Khmer ruins near the station

Restored carved sculpture

Khmer head at the museum

About the Lopburi Province

A Buddhist Temple Spire near the Lopburi River

THAILAND – Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park [เขาสามร้อยยอด]

Freshwater marshland

Sam Roi Yot is a grandiose marine park located on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand between Hua Hin and Prachuap Khiri Khan.

Sam Roi Yot Natl. Park

It is made of mountains and swamps with stunning landscapes. In fact, its Thai name means 'the mountains' [khao] with three hundred [sam roi] peaks'.

Some of the coastal areas have used some of the swamps for commercial purpose to develop the shrimp industry. The park authorities have often complained about this activity but it seems that no preventive measures have been taken at this stage. 

A very scenic road crosses the park from North to South. But unfortunately, it is not possible to stop either to take a picture or to watch the wildlife, as it is a country road with no safe parking sites against the ongoing traffic. Perhaps, this ought to be an option to be developed by the park authorities in the future.

The park headquarters stand at the southern entrance. They provide a map and the rangers are

In the mangrove

available to give any useful information on the park. There is also a display explaining the flora and the local wildlife. There used to be Asian rhinos here but they have now become extinct. The park provides a halt for all the migrating birds, some seasons are better than others to watch birds that are usually not seen in the park. 

→ A full day entrance costs 150THB/per adult.

The mangrove boardwalk at the headquarters is a nice introduction to the area. If you are silent enough with a bit of patience, you can watch some very colorful birds there.

At about 1.5km north of the HQ, a few boat operators offer tours on the Khao Daeng Canal. Just near the canal landing, there is a vast open area between the hills with temples and shrines. 

On Laem Sala Beach

A bit further away, a small road leads to the coast at Laem Sala Beach. This is a quaint and scenic bay with a sand beach but unfortunately not too pleasant for a swim as it is very muddy underneath the feet. The beach is lined with casuarinas and a few coconut trees. The facilities include a local restaurant also providing drinks.

This park is also famous for its caves and for a unique attraction called Phraya Nakhon Cave, where you can see a royal pavilion inside one of the two huge sinkholes. I had gone there previously, so I did not go back this time particularly because the sky was partly overcast. Th idea is to get to the cave at a time when the sunlight illuminates the pavilion commemorating the historic visit of King Monghuk (King Rama IV of Siam) with a team of French scientists, who came to watch a total eclipse in the 19^thcentury. It is not easy to get there. First, you must hire a boat at a beach to get to another secluded beach, where you must comply with the park rangers before pursuing on foot to the cave. The trail is steep and about almost half a kilometre long uphill at about 130m above the sea level. 

Lizard

Swamp view

Thung Sam Roi Yot boardwalk

One of the greatest attraction of the park remains the Thung Sam Roi Yot Freshwater Marsh. But since it is located inland on the other side of the mountain range, you must drive a long way to get there. However, this is worth the effort. This is the largest freshwater marsh in the country. There are millions of giant lotus and the view over the mountains is dramatic. You may read that the existing boardwalk is now closed but in reality, a good portion of it is still walkable, and this is pure enchantment!

Christian Sorand

Useful websites:

Thai National Park website

Travelfish.org

                                                          Wikipedia

Freshwater marsh: boardwalk view

                                                                                            Lotus

THAILAND – Nam Tok Huai Yang National Park

Park entrance

There are so many national parks in this country that some are totally unknown and rarely visited by foreign tourists.

Access map to the park

This is the case of Nam Tok Huai Yang National Park. It is part of the Tennasserim Range that runs across the Malay Peninsula. Therefore, it stands at the border with Myanmar, at about 36km south of the town of Prachuab Khiri Khan.

It is off the main road that links the northern part of the country to the South. The country road that leads to the park entrance is a dead end, which accounts why so few visitors come to this park. As a matter of fact, the entrance fee to the park is a mere THB100/per adult and just a little more if you drive a car.

The first impression is that you have come to a beautifully tended park: this is where the park headquarters and all the facilities are. Apparently, the park is well organized for campers and it seems that junior camping is a regular activity. But when I was there, despite it was during the rainy wet season, I was the only foreign visitor with only a few other locals.

This is a typical mountain rain forest with streams and waterfalls. The park main attraction remains

Butterfly

the Huai Yang seven-tiered waterfall. The hiking trail is well marked and in excellent condition. Besides the tropical flora, the number of exotic butterflies fluttering around is absolutely amazing. There are squirrels and you can see or hear a great number of colorful birds. There are a few pools on the way uphill, where bathing is possible but then you can see scores of Masheer Barbs, which are a native fish species.

I did not see any other animals when I was there, although the park has a population of tigers, leopards, porcupines barking deer, sun bears, hornbills, reptiles and a colony of gray langur monkeys a rare Indian subcontinent primate.

There exists another trail going to a viewpoint but it is quite stiff and long to go up and get a view of the countryside.

Christian Sorand

Spectacular roots

Forest tropical tree

Spiny palms

A lower part of the forest

Natural pool

Waterfall

Mountain view from the trail

Strange setting: a forest shrine revealing animist ceremonies

Waterfall upper view

Another animist practice

Forest plant

A glimpse on the mountain forest

Viewpoint