Trekking and caving at Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park

The trip to Pranburi took slightly longer than expected as we made a few detours along the way. On the way towards Pranburi we passed Ratchaburi where we stumbled upon a Chinese ancestral home. We only found it as we noticed some signs in Chinese as we were driving, out of curiosity we drove up to the place and found a large ancestral home/ shrine (?). It looked totally like the ones we will see in movies, we didn't take any pictures as we felt it would be disrespectful. There appeared to be a large cemetery behind the shrine and I imagined it would be really crowded during Qing Ming when Chinese visit graves of their ancestors to pray and pay respects. 

Ratchaburi actually looked like a rather picturesque town, however we already had plans to go Pranburi to visit the Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park so we gave it a miss. We would definitely be back though.

We had chosen to stay at Evason Hua Hin as it was quite near to the national park and the hotel looked really good on the website. It was our first time there and overall I would say it was a rather pleasant experience, other than the receptionist who unwillingly tried to help us book a massage. The hotel grounds are huge, with tennis courts, a kids area, and there are also various activities such as yoga, cooking classes such that you can choose to just stay in the hotel and never leave until you check out. It is a little inaccessible without a car though and of course the restaurants in the hotel are a little expensive.

 lush grounds of Evason Hua Hin

When we were planning the trip, I was intrigued by Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park as it is the first marine national park of Thailand. We have already been to Khao Yai National Park before and while it is lovely, we wanted to explore a new place. The caves in Khao Sam Roi Yot sounded fascinating so we chose this place instead. After a good breakfast at the hotel, we set off for the park and went to the visitor centre. You can pay for your park entrance fee at the centre, or if you made your way directly to the caves, you can also pay at the entrances to the caves. We decided that we would check out Khao Daeng View Point first as it was quite near to the visitor centre. We left the car at the visitor centre and walked over, however you can also easily drive your car to the foot of the hill and park it there. Supposedly it takes about 30 minutes to climb to the top, however as we are relatively unfit and the trail is quite steep, it took us about an hour to get up there. There are signs indicating which way to go but you need to keep your eyes peeled for them. By the time we got up, we were all sweaty and tired but the view was totally worth it. As space at the top was a premium and there were other tourists who also wanted to enjoy the view, we descended after resting for a while and taking a few photos. 

panoramic view from the viewpoint

We then drove to Sam Phraya beach for lunch and to rest after the tiring hike. There is a restaurant there as well as a relatively clean toilet. We ran into some bikers who were doing a charity biking thing who stopped there for lunch, so it was relatively crowded. Luckily for us, we had ordered our food before they arrived so we didn't have to wait a long time. The staff could speak some simple English and with our knowledge of basic Thai, we managed to order our food and had a good rest. 

lovely quiet beach

Originally we had planned to visit the Phraya Nakhon Cave after lunch, but as we were tired and the soles of our shoes had fallen off, we decided to give it a miss and instead head to Hua Hin town for a massage and perhaps explore the night market instead. As that was the highlight of the trip, we were a little disappointed that we couldn't make it. I was actually pretty hyped up over the cave but we didn't have proper shoes to trek. We did drive to Sai Cave to take a look but the trail looked impossible with our broken shoes. Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park is definitely a place I would like to go back, it is less crowded than Khao Yai and the presence of both the mountain and the sea appeals to me. 

The river that got renamed cos of the bridge

It's been a while since our last road trip and Kanachaburi was one of the places we have been wanting to visit since we moved to Bangkok. Y was heading to Bangkok for a short trip and we thought it would be boring if we stayed in Bangkok and did the usual shopping and eating, especially since she was coming back again in December for that. Thus we decided that we will drive up to Kanachanburi, and then head down to Pranburi for Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park and some relaxation.

I must admit that my planning was overly ambitious and tried to pack too many things into one day. There are tours which offer day trips to Kanchanburi but they didn't attempt to drive all the way down to Pranburi at the end of the tour, thus in the end we skipped quite a few places that I wanted to visit in Kanchanburi. 

Our first stop was the Kanchanburi War Cemetery. It is the main cemetery for the prisoners of war captured by the Japanese army and is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The cemetery is open 24 hours and there is no admission fee. I had read a few books about the POWs experience to gain a better understanding of their experience and I think being in the cemetery overwhelmed me. I actually broke down crying even though none of my relatives fought in the war. I know my grandma lived through it but she never spoke about it so I have no idea of the things she went through. As you walk through the cemetery it's very overwhelming to see how young some of them were, 19, 20 etc and of course this continues even today. There were a few people who seem to  be there to visit the graves of relatives as they came bearing flowers. The date of our visit was also pretty close to Remembrance Day so there were also poppies being laid on some graves. 

As we were leaving, there was a group of Thai tourists who came and used the place as a photo opportunity. Sometimes I wonder if the Thais know about their part in World War II, in any case I have no way of finding out. This group didn't seem to know the significance of anything and just took a bunch of photographs and left. 

Our next stop was the Death Railway Museum which was just next to the cemetery. As we were walking into the museum, there was a really really old man walking out. He was so old I wondered if he was one of the surviving POWs. If yes, I cannot imagine how he feels coming back to visit his old comrades as well as going through the museum and all the memories. 

No photos are allowed in the museum which is privately run. The museum is able to help source for information about POWs and of course it provides an overview of what happens during World War II and the construction of the infamous Death Railway. I would say the museum gives a good overview and is pretty objective in the information provided. One of the things I remember clearly is that there was a mock-up of the carriage which the POWs were transported in and I was struck by how claustrophobic it must have been for the POWs who were packed in like sardines. The Japanese Army apparently didn't care how many died as they treated the POWs as dispensable labour.  While the first floor of the museum was dedicated to providing an overview of the war, what the POWs went through etc, the second floor was dedicated to the personal effects of the POWs. Some were recovered from the camp sites while others were donated by their relatives. It was interesting how innovative and creative the POWs were in trying to keep records of what happened to themselves as well as their comrades. If you didn't come with flowers but would like to leave some flowers at the cemetery, you can purchase some poppies at the museum. I'm not sure if they have it year round or only had it since it was near to Remembrance Day.  

After leaving the Death Railway Museum, we headed for the infamous bridge over River Kwai. It is now a tourist spot with many restaurants dotting the surrounding areas and we settled into one of them for lunch. It was actually quite surreal to sit there eating lunch, enjoying the view and at the same time think of all the POWs who died building that railway.

 After lunch, we went onto the bridge to take a look. You can actually take a train to cross the bridge or you can do it like us and just walk on it. There is no worry about a train coming and crushing you since the train moves really slowly and they hoot like crazy as they are approaching. The bridge was been apparently restored after the war by the Japanese (the irony of it all) so it is very safe to walk on. No rickety wooden slabs to walk on, everything is now steel. There was a huge Chinese temple on the other end of the bridge which we did not explore as it was too hot to walk across and back that day.

With that, we ended our Kanchanaburi trip and headed off to Pranburi. While Kanchanburi is perhaps best know for the Death Railway and Bridge over River Kwai, there are a lot more places to explore and we would probably go back again.

Note: I got the information about the river being renamed from seat61

Throwback: Sukhothai - November 2013

We visited Ayutthaya and Saraburi in August 2013 and for some reason visited Sukhothai in November 2013. Two historic cities within the span of 4 months, I'm not entirely sure what we were thinking.  

Ayutthaya and Sukhothai are not anywhere near each other but for anyone interested in visiting ancient temples in Thailand, these would probably rank amongst the top places to visit. However if you are in Asia for a limited period of time and only want to see that many temples, go to Cambodia and visit Angkor Wat, that is really the one and only temple you should see in your lifetime.

While Ayutthaya is about a 2 hour drive out of Bangkok, Sukhothai is considerably further and would take about 7-8 hours realistically speaking. Though Google maps state that it is 5 hours 42 minutes away, I feel 7-8 hours is more likely, depending on how often you stop for a break and the traffic for that day. You can also fly there via Bangkok Airways or take a bus from the Mo Chit bus terminal. We opted to drive since CS likes driving.

The drive there wasn't really anything to shout about. Highways in Thailand are not the best, but driving there means that once you reach Sukhothai you have your own transport which makes it easier to visit the various temples. Unlike Ayutthaya where the temples are kind of scattered across the cities and you need to visit each one individually, the ones in Sukhothai are all located within the Sukhothai Historical Park, there is only one entrance fee and you can also drive your own car in (this incurs additional charges). Alternatively if you have no car, you can rent a bike and cycle in, either of these options are better than walking as the grounds are quite huge. 

It is actually really popular to go to Sukhothai for Loy Krathong but since we don't like crowds and you need to plan way in advance, we went the week after Loy Krathong. They still had the decorations up but the place was a lot emptier. It was also ridiculously hot but it makes for good photos so I can't complain.

Here are some pictures of the various Wats within the park. It's been so long that I've actually forgotten the names of all of them except Wat Si Chum, oops

 

 

Wat Si Chum

There is an audioguide for rent which explains in some details the larger and more prominent temples. The audioguide gave a pretty good picture of the history of the various temples which we felt was good enough for us as we aren't history buffs.

Outside of Sukhothai Historical Park, there are other wats as well which you may like to visit. These charge a separate fee so you may want to read up and decide which ones you would want to pay. Those are a bit further away so if there is shortage of time, perhaps just spend the day at the park. We visited Wat Si Chum and Wat Phra Phai Luang which are probably the more famous ones. We didn't have that much time and the crazy hot weather put us off from exploring more.

Overall, I prefer Sukhothai to Ayutthaya as most of the wats are concentrated within a certain area making it easier to explore. It may not be particularly accessible but the temples are impressive and in much better condition than Ayutthaya. 

Throwback: Ayutthaya and Saraburi - August 2013

It's been so long since we've even looked at this site that I'm surprised it hasn't died off already. In any case, we'll try to put in a little more effort in updating. Since we haven't been anywhere in a while, let's do a throwback to 2013 where we visited Ayutthaya and Saraburi. My original plan was to talk about Ayutthaya and Sukhothai in the same post since they are the ancient civilisations of Thailand but the post would be too long and unwieldy, so this post will just be about Ayutthaya and Saraburi instead. All photos are taken with my iPhone so let's not expect any National Geographic quality pictures here. 

Ayutthaya is less than 2 hours drive out of Bangkok, so it's easy to do a day trip there and back from Bangkok. There is also a train from Hua Lamphong station but it supposedly takes longer than the stated time so I would say driving is a better option unless you really like trains. There are also minivans that depart from Victory Monument to Ayutthaya and I think those run rather frequently. 

We drove there so it was easy for us to visit the various temples at Ayutthaya. You could walk around but having a bicycle or motorbike would make it a lot faster. Within Ayutthaya, there are charges for individual temples, so you should do some research as to which temples you want to visit. I actually can't remember the names of the temples we went to except for what I can Google but I think we only visited 3 or 4 that day as it was really hot the day we went. Since our main purpose to Ayutthaya was to visit the temples we had to be appropriately dressed (i.e. no sleeveless tops, no miniskirts/ shorts for ladies) as a form of respect. While some of the temples are no longer in use, they are still religious sites, so the dress code still applies. 

We visited Wat Phra Mahathat, which is famous for the tree which has grown around the Buddha's head. This is a popular tourist spot so there are tour buses full of tourists who come here. Most tourists come and take a photo of this and leave for the next temple but the temple grounds itself has more to see than this tree, so take your time to walk around and explore.

Wat Phra Mahathat

 I actually cannot remember where this was taken, oops

 same for this, not sure which temple

We also visited Wat Lokaya Sutha which has a large reclining Buddha. It is apparently 37 metres and 8 metres high, yes it was so long I couldn't fit it into my iPhone frame so the picture below is what you get instead. 

reclining Buddha at Wat Lokaya Sutha 

Since it was a really hot day, we didn't really feel like temple hopping much so we decided to go to Saraburi instead to visit the vineyards and waterfall to cool down. 

The vineyards were open but sadly there were no grapes, I think it was the wrong season to visit. And proving that I cannot blog for a living I do not remember which vineyard we visited. There are quite a few around the Muak Lek district and they are all situated quite close to each other so if you don't see one you like you can just move onto the next one. We bought a bottle of lychee wine but since we are not wine connoisseurs I can't tell you if the quality was any good. We did rather enjoy it though so that's what counts. 

After the vineyards we went to Namtok Chet Sao Noi National Park to visit the waterfall. You can swim in the waterfall but we just took a short break to enjoy the scenery and had a small picnic.  There were lots of Thai families and teenagers there enjoying the cool breeze, making it quite an enjoyable place to just relax. 

there are supposed to be 7 levels for the waterfall

All in all it was a rather enjoyable day out. If you are looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, do consider going to Ayutthaya and Saraburi for some temples and greenery. 

Gazing upon the Sunflowers

December is typically the "winter" month in Thailand and this year, though the weather is cool, it wasn't as cool as last year. In any case, December is also apparently the month when sunflowers fields can be found around Saraburi and Lopburi area and we thought it would be nice to make a day trip.

We set off early on Sunday morning thinking that the roads would be empty but our mistake was that we chose the LAST weekend before New Year's to go visit the sunflower fields. I think everyone and their grandmother was going back to their hometowns so the highways were filled with cars, trucks, vans, buses etc. Driving out of Bangkok was relatively easy, however once we reached the highway, we were stuck and moving at a snail's pace. It was almost as bad as our drive through Poland and we kind of regretted our decision. It was so bad CS started looking up videos on Youtube to play while we crawled on the highway (he's quite obsessed with Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith lately). 

Anyway if you are interested, these are the instructions I copied from the internet on how to get there (sorry, can't remember the site now) but we made some diversions. The route from the internet is below though 

Take highway 1 and then turn into highway 2 at Saraburi. Go straight until you reach Muak Lek and turn into road 2089 which leads to Wang Muang. From there, take road 3017 to reach Pasa Jolid Dam, from there you can take road 3196 to get to Ayutthaya and then road 32 to get back to Bangkok. 

We followed the instructions and found one sunflower field shortly after turning into road 2089 (I think). We had to pay 10baht each to enter the sunflower field, honestly the field was pretty big BUT the sunflowers were rather small. I had expected to see some really nice big sunflowers so it was a little disappointing. I was pretty glad to get out of the traffic jam though, and to walk around a bit. 

We then drove a little further up and found another sunflower field but this was smaller so we didn't pay to go in. There was a nice old man selling kites just outside so we bought a kite from him and flew the kite for a while. It was pretty windy that day and the weather was great so we had quite a bit of fun for a while.

After that, we decided that we may still be stuck in traffic so we took a detour and went to Pak Chong to visit one of CS customers who had a restaurant there. The food was alright but the view from the restaurant was gorgeous and since the weather was cool, it was really great to sit outdoors and enjoy the cool breeze. 

After that we thought we would drive back towards Saraburi to look at the sunflowers but driving out of Pak Chong, we noticed sunflowers! Turns out it was a corn farm which also grew sunflowers, probably to cash in on the sunflowers craze during December. The farm is Suwan Farm, it was quite sunny when we were there so most of the Thai families were sitting in the shade, snacking and relaxing. We ventured into the sunflower field where we had the fields more or less to ourselves, with the exception of one Thai couple who came with a photography crew. The view is lovely and since a picture says a thousand words, here goes

gorgeous flowers with mountains in the background

not quite Van Gough but good enough for us 

We then took a drive to the Pasak Jolasid Dam, there was a viewing tower of some sorts and we paid 20baht each to go up. The tower was rather short but because it was the highest building in that area we got quite a good view of the surroundings. Unlike the Eiffel Tower there is no cheaper option if you climbed the stairs, haha... In any case it was a good way to get a sense of the surroundings. 

view of the dam

There was this structure near the dam which reminded me of Har Paw Villa, but this was the only structure that looked vaguely scary. The place had mainly Thai families just enjoying a simple day out, enjoying the view and flying kites, and since the weather was quite cool it was all rather relaxing. 

i actually have no idea what this is supposed to be, 

So if you ever come to Bangkok during end November/ December and would like to get out of the city, go visit the sunflowers fields! There's also a Jim Thompson farm which I would like to visit, will update then.

2 years, 9 months and 1 week

According to our ticker right at the bottom of this blog, it's been that amount of time since our major big adventure. We are still alive and kicking, just that well we procrastinated and neglected this blog for the longest time ever. 

We actually got back to Singapore in September 2011 and bummed around for a period of approximately 4 months, doing things like sitting in on the parliamentary sessions in Singapore, volunteering at Cat Welfare Society and basically trying to figure out what we wanted to do in our lives since everything was kind of an anti-climax after the trip. 

After bumming around for the longest time ever, CS got a job and before you knew it, we were packing our lives up in Singapore and made the move to....... Bangkok! When he got news of the job offer and told me about the possible move, it was really a no-brainer to say yes. We have been wanting to get out of Singapore wayyyy before our major big adventure but work-wise it never happened. So this opportunity was really great, and since I wasn't working, I had no job to think about and we said yes within a week (?) I think. Since he had to start work almost immediately, it was left to me to pack up the house and take care of all the necessary arrangements like finding tenants, figuring out how to bring Kit Cat over and various other items. Thanks to the kindness of friends, I also had a place to stay in after our apartment was rented out and before I made the move with Kit Cat.  

Moving Kit Cat over itself was an adventure and I did an article for Cat Welfare Society which is re-published here.

When people heard we were relocating to Bangkok, one of the first few questions we were asked is "So what will you do with kit cat?" Our immediate answer was always "We'll take him with us of course."

Kit Cat has been a part of our family ever since we adopted him 5 years ago from the cat shelter. He is a part of our family, and there was never any doubt that we would bring him with us wherever we might go. When we found out that my husband would be posted to Bangkok, we began researching on how to bring Kit Cat with us.

The natural starting point was the AVA website. It takes a while to navigate but with enough patience you will find the information needed. They also recommend that you go down to their office to speak with the staff directly and we found this to be a better option than calling the hotline. Don't swing by during their lunch hours (1-2pm).

The first documentation you will need is the export permit. You can complete this online and just print them out. The export permit is only valid for 30 days and you must bring your cat out of Singapore within those 30 days.

Next, depending on which country you are bringing your cat into, you either need a government health certificate or endorsement of a health certificate by an official veterinarian. You will need to bring your cat to your regular vet to get a health certificate. Check on the specific requirements that the country you are going to because each country differs - Thailand for example, requires the cat to be free of rabies. Vaccinations should generally be up to date and the cat in good health. You need to bring the certificate from your vet to AVA within 7 days for AVA to endorse or for processing the government health certificate. The AVA government health certificate as well as their endorsement of the health certificate is only valid for 7 days so do plan your departure date properly! You can print the government health certificate yourself or self-collect.

With Singapore sorted, it was on to the Thai requirements – an import permit specifically. The information was readily available online and though my husband's company handled the documents, we learnt that there are companies that can assist with such things in Singapore as well.

After all the paperwork, we needed to decide on an airline. Most airlines require pets to be in the cargo hold. This was not an option for us because Kit Cat is easily stressed and we wanted him to be with us while travelling. Luckily, Thai Airways allows pets in the cabin provided the weight of the pet and carrier does not exceed 10kg and the carrier fits the dimensions. We booked the tickets and informed Thai Airways that the pet needed to be with us. We only needed to inform them of Kit Cat's microchip and provide his health certificate number.

We arrived early at the airport and had to produce the health certificate and export license but had no other trouble clearing immigration. We covered his carrier with a towel to help calm him, but for a cat that hates car rides, he was remarkably calm and happy on the flight. We brought him through Bangkok customs and the Animal Quarantine sections, produced our documentation, paid the last fees and then it was off to our new home! We have retained all our receipts and documentation for future reference and to prove Kit Cat was brought in legitimately.

Here he is with the Bangkok Post to prove that he's really in Thailand and not in Singapore!

So yeah, our family is reunited once again and we'll try to update this more often, which will include backdated trip entries as well as our adventures in Thailand!