A short journey to Siamese Kingdom, with a limited annual leave balance left but you still wanna have a holiday! Here we go...
So, after months, I just had time to write on my journey to few cities in Thailand i.e Bangkok, Kanchanaburi and Lopburi in just 4 days and 3 nights.
Day 1
As early as 5.30am, I reached at KLIA2 to board to Dong Mueng, Bangkok. The flight took 2 hours and we arrived at 8.55am local time (Bangkok is 1 hr earlier than KL). Since it was a very rush trip, we chartered a car with driver to bring us to few cities. I have been here for few times and since it is a neighbourhood country, hence, no harm to choose variety of transportation mode every time I came here.
The driver already awaited us at the airport. Our first destination was Lopburi and will overnight at Kanchanaburi. The journey from Bangkok to Lopburi took around 2 hours and from Lopburi to Kanchanaburi took around 3 hours. In total, we will spend our time in the vehicle for 5 hours today. Oh yeah! Alternatively, if you intent to go to Lopburi by train, you can ride it from Hua Lamphong Station to Lopburi Station (around 2.5hrs journey) . From there, you can ride a tuktuk to your desired destiny.
The driver was Muslim and well versed in English hence, easier for us to communicate.
We went into the 7E inside the airport to buy some meals before embarked to Lopburi. There were instant halal meals sold in any of the 7Es in Thailand. Few choices available, so you can buy your lunch or dinner here.
We arrived at Lopburi around 11.30am, heading to the sunflower field. There are few fields in Lopburi but some already closed as they were fully harvested. Lucky to have a few which still opened for visitors.
The sunflowers are only bloom for few months in year namely in the month of November to January. These sunflowers not only attracts the tourists but they actually plant it to get the seeds (kuaci), sunflower butter and sunflower oil which then sold commercially to the locals and exports to other countries. Apart as a food sources, the sunflower also can be used for medical i.e to treat fevers, lung ailments, diarrhea as well as diabetics.
We went to two farms, Jumpee Sunflower Park and the other one i forgot the name. The entrance fees were THB10 and THB20 respectively. We spent around 30 mins in each.
We went to the Muslim stalls nearby the field to have our lunch. Not much menu except for noodle based meals. I ordered kuay tiow soup. Tastes not bad. Pure Thai food.
After the meals, we went to Prang Sam Yod, Lopburi. This monument was built when Lopburi was under the control of the Khmer empire from Angkor. The monument was likely founded in the late 12th or early 13th century during the reign of King Jayavarman VII. This monument was built to serve the Mahayana of Buddism.
Fee entrance THB150. They provided a bamboo stick for each visitor to protect and chase the monkey. Do you think it works? It doesn't, really. The monkey jumped onto my bag while i was snapping pictures, ended up I was shocked and jumped also until they ran away. 😂😂
So, after months, I just had time to write on my journey to few cities in Thailand i.e Bangkok, Kanchanaburi and Lopburi in just 4 days and 3 nights.
Day 1
As early as 5.30am, I reached at KLIA2 to board to Dong Mueng, Bangkok. The flight took 2 hours and we arrived at 8.55am local time (Bangkok is 1 hr earlier than KL). Since it was a very rush trip, we chartered a car with driver to bring us to few cities. I have been here for few times and since it is a neighbourhood country, hence, no harm to choose variety of transportation mode every time I came here.
The driver already awaited us at the airport. Our first destination was Lopburi and will overnight at Kanchanaburi. The journey from Bangkok to Lopburi took around 2 hours and from Lopburi to Kanchanaburi took around 3 hours. In total, we will spend our time in the vehicle for 5 hours today. Oh yeah! Alternatively, if you intent to go to Lopburi by train, you can ride it from Hua Lamphong Station to Lopburi Station (around 2.5hrs journey) . From there, you can ride a tuktuk to your desired destiny.
The driver was Muslim and well versed in English hence, easier for us to communicate.
We went into the 7E inside the airport to buy some meals before embarked to Lopburi. There were instant halal meals sold in any of the 7Es in Thailand. Few choices available, so you can buy your lunch or dinner here.
Fried fish with spicy sauce. Tastes fantastic!
Chicken grilled rice
We arrived at Lopburi around 11.30am, heading to the sunflower field. There are few fields in Lopburi but some already closed as they were fully harvested. Lucky to have a few which still opened for visitors.
The sunflowers are only bloom for few months in year namely in the month of November to January. These sunflowers not only attracts the tourists but they actually plant it to get the seeds (kuaci), sunflower butter and sunflower oil which then sold commercially to the locals and exports to other countries. Apart as a food sources, the sunflower also can be used for medical i.e to treat fevers, lung ailments, diarrhea as well as diabetics.
We went to two farms, Jumpee Sunflower Park and the other one i forgot the name. The entrance fees were THB10 and THB20 respectively. We spent around 30 mins in each.
Sunflower model 😁
The seeds that can be eaten as snack and processed for the oil and alternative to peanut butter
Sellers selling snacks and sunflower products. Sunflower seeds are sold at THB100 for 3
The machine used to harvest sunflower
The field
We went to the Muslim stalls nearby the field to have our lunch. Not much menu except for noodle based meals. I ordered kuay tiow soup. Tastes not bad. Pure Thai food.
After the meals, we went to Prang Sam Yod, Lopburi. This monument was built when Lopburi was under the control of the Khmer empire from Angkor. The monument was likely founded in the late 12th or early 13th century during the reign of King Jayavarman VII. This monument was built to serve the Mahayana of Buddism.
Fee entrance THB150. They provided a bamboo stick for each visitor to protect and chase the monkey. Do you think it works? It doesn't, really. The monkey jumped onto my bag while i was snapping pictures, ended up I was shocked and jumped also until they ran away. 😂😂
The three Khmer holy Phrang which aged 800 years old. The middle are the tallest among the three.
Monkeys are everywhere. Go closer to them and they will jump over you!
After spending time with the monkeys, we make a move. Other than sunflower field, Lopburi also well known as monkey city. The monkeys are spotted everywhere in the city, get fed by local people and sometime can be aggressive by stealing food or anything from passers-by people.
Where were we went next?
We went to Somdet Phra Narai National Museum. The museum was built in year 1666.
Ruins of King Narai's Palace, known as Wang Narai locally. It exhibits prerequisites from prehistoric times 3500 years ago found from archaeological sites around Chao Pharaya River Basin to present as sequence event.
In this compound also, you may see the ruins of King Narai's Palace. King Narai was King of Ayutthaya during the second half of the 17th century.
The Palace was designed by French architects, mix of Thai and European architectural styles. Construction started in 1665 and completed in 1677. The entrance fee combined with the museum is THB150.
It is clean and well maintained. Less monkey here so i can calmly walk and spend my beautiful evening here.. Hehe.
The artifacts exhibited in the museum. Kind of axes used by pre historic people.
Part of the National Museum's building
Artifacts exhibited. Stones and ruins of the temples/monuments
Ruins of the Palace
The Map of Siamese and Malaya Kingdom, once upon a time ago
The Statue of King Narai at the centre of Lopburi Town
Its getting dark and we need to make a move to Kanchanaburi. Our resort located nearby Kwai River and we did not expect to reach late at the resort.
After 3hrs journey, we arrived at the resort at 8pm. We checked in, dropped our luggage and have a rest. I will share about the awesome resort that we stayed for two nights in my next entry..
To be continued
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