Phetchabun and back

Time for another road trip; prompted again by she who must be obeyed finding a photo of something on the wide wide world of web and asking “shall we go there?” I always answer “yes”, and then she finds out that the location is in Croatia which is a little far and we forget about it. But this time it was a temple in Phetchabun, so off we went.

Eschewing cross-country shenanigans, we drove to Bangkok, took route 9, then route 1, before heading due north on the 21. What a fine road. Dual carriage-way, light traffic and a central reservation awash with colourful flowers and trimmed bushes. Nothing like kilometres of trimmed bushes to lift your mood. Finally we arrived at route 12 which will be a massively impressive mega-lane motorway through the mountains when it is completed sometime in the next century; but for now it is a single track nightmare which had to be carefully negotiated before we arrived at our hotel.

Very pleasant; apparently styled on an English country cottage; but with more statues than even the most pretentious Englishman would tolerate.

And then off for a late afternoon visit to the temple, Wat Pha Sorn Kaew; a collection of statues, buildings, mosaics and gardens scattered across 29 rai of hillside.

It was every bit as impressive as the photo she who must be obeyed had shown me; and it was clean, and there was no commercialism (other than twenty baht for the car park) and I loved it. So much so that we went back for a couple of hours the following morning when there were fewer people (but strangely a higher car park charge, 30 baht). The photos of the last couple of blog posts were taken at the temple, and I will do a separate post dedicated to this amazing place.

But meantime, having walked around for a couple of hours on the second day, it was time for our daily excursion, a drive around a loop through some national parks. The first part of the journey was a trip up the side of a mountain. “The road is amazing” advised my wife, “like the roads they have on Top Gear!”. And indeed it was; kilometres of snaking tarmac; this is just a small section:

Unfortunately, unlike the cars on Top Gear, mine is fitted with VADIM™ (Voice Activated Driver Input Modifier). This results in regular squeaks, sharp intakes of breath and occasional screaming from the passenger seat, calibrated on the assumption I am driving a Toyota truck with bald tyres, zero brakes and suspension from the stone age, rather than a fine example of German engineering with much-praised vehicle dynamics and handling. As a result, it took a lot longer to reach the top than it should have done.

After a brief stop where we emptied a shop of strawberries, we headed into the Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park where I was charged 200 baht farang price for the privilege of negotiating many kilometres of jungle-lined road. The only wildlife we saw was a dog near the entrance which she who must be obeyed proclaimed to be a “jungle dog”, an identification which may have been a little optimistic given that it was wearing a collar. Naturally I annoyed her for the rest of the trip by pointing out jungle dogs in every town we passed through.

Free of the park, we stumbled upon one the many geological formations which are rather over-promoted in Thailand. This “attraction” turned out to be some rocks sticking out over a valley which were not worthy of a photo. There were some flowers around though so it was not a complete waste of time.

Before we left I had a quick psis in the toitle and then it was off to the next location.

Down the road we found a car park and a path to Lan Hin Pun. I was somewhat concerned that we had to wear ridiculous hats to qualify for the visit:

I was also concerned that I would have to walk a couple of kilometres in completely unsuitable sandals over dodgy rocks; but off we went. On the way we passed assorted rocks which had all been labelled so you knew they were important:

Finally we arrived at Lan Hin Pun which was just a rock with acne:

Still, it was pleasant to stand upon this oddity of nature and enjoy the afternoon breeze, the tranquility and the views; or it would have been had we not been joined by more people with strange headgear:

Back to the car with dirty feet, and time to drive down the other side of the mountain, with VADIM™ now on “agricultural machinery with engine problems” setting. Back to hotel, washed feet, ate, slept very well.

Yesterday we awoke and briefly discussed heading off somewhere else for a day or so; but as usual we were missing the cat and so headed home. Given that we encountered different traffic issues on each leg of the journey, I was surprised to find that the 548 kilometres had taken six hours and sixteen minutes in both directions.

In spite of the occasional VADIM™ issues, the car proved again what a great machine it is for cruising around Thailand. She who must be obeyed was the usual entertaining company, and the E-M1 with the 12-40mm and 40-150mm gave me all the photos I wanted to take.

Where next? Judging by the latest exciting photo my wife has found; Croatia.

Comments 🔗

2015-02-11 | Chang Noi says

Seems your travels are short-cut for the same reason as ours (that is why I take the motorbike and leave our cat in the care of my wife). Nice to see the line-up of Buddha images … I was there a few years back and it did look like http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L1WsR8jnlvs/UB8mVg92CXI/AAAAAAAAFpI/Mp2gY-c5ZqE/s1600/P8030513.jpg.

Did drive back via route 12 thru Nam Nao and enjoyed “Nam Nao racing circuit” in the mountains?

Was that not “Lan Hin Teak” … field of broken rocks?

P.s. Next time have a lunch at Ubolrat lake

2015-02-11 | subroto mukerji says

Very entertaining travelogue with excellent photographs thrown in for good measure…thanks !

2015-02-11 | Spike says

It may have been Lan Hin Teak; but the rocky outcrop is called Lan Hin Pun and it seems to feature on the road signs. Thanks for the photo; they are still building it.

2015-02-11 | Spike says

Most welcome.

2015-02-11 | Richard H says

By the look of it, the temple wouldn’t be completely out of place in Barcelona ;-) Was the architect a Gaudi fan?

2015-02-12 | Chang Noi says

Indeed, I call it the Gaudi temple …. not far from this “temple” (actually a meditation center) is another temple (near Nakhon Thai) that looks to be a Gaudi temple.

2015-02-12 | ChristianPFC says

Thank you for sharing, Wat Pha Sorn Kaew and Phu Hin Rong Kla have been on my list of places to go for a long time. Did you see any signs of public transport?

My trips are limited by accessibility by public transport and amount of clothes I can carry (backpack, not more than 10 kg), I travel usually 3 to 5 nights.

“another temple (near Nakhon Thai) that looks to be a Gaudi temple.” Thanks for the hint, found it: https://www.google.co.th/maps/@17.0338195,100.9156767,17z

2015-02-12 | Chang Noi says

I was referring to the “Sammakki Tham” Religious Centre what is along the road going to Phu Hin Rong Khla National Park (from the other side). It is build by old guy that are now a monks but use to be “communist” resistance fighters during the 1960’s and 1970’s when Phu Hin Rong Khla was the so called HQ of the Communist Party Thailand. The Thai army just bombed the sh&** out of them and it is said that it is the reason why there is not much wildlife anymore in that area. Of course there is public transport, but I am almost sure not into Phu Hin Rong Khla or Phu Thap Boek. But there are local songtheauws that go there as there are 2 villages.

2015-02-13 | Andrew says

I guess you weren’t aware that Feb 6th ( or whenever you went ) was International Stupid Hat Day