North and west of the capital, the unwieldy urban mass of Greater Bangkok peters out into the vast, well-watered central plains, a region that for centuries has grown the bulk of the nation’s food and been a tantalizing temptation for neighbouring power-mongers. The most densely populated region of Thailand, with sizeable towns sprinkled among patchworks of paddy, orchards and sugar-cane fields, the plains are fundamental to Thailand’s agricultural economy. Its rivers are the key to this area’s fecundity, especially the Nan and the Ping, whose waters irrigate the northern plains before merging to form the Chao Phraya, which meanders slowly south through Bangkok and out into the Gulf of Thailand. Further west, the Mae Klong River sustains the many market gardens and fills the canals that dominate the hinterlands of the estuary at Samut Songkhram, a centre for the few remaining floating markets in the country.
Sited at the confluence of the Kwai Yai and Kwai Noi rivers, the town of Kanchanaburi has long attracted visitors to the notorious Bridge over the River Kwai and is now well established as a tourist hub, with everything from floating raft-house accommodation to waterside boutique hotels. Few tourists venture much further upriver, except as passengers on the remaining stretch of the Death Railway – the most tangible wartime reminder of all – but the remote little hilltop town of Sangkhlaburi holds enough understated allure to make the extra kilometres worthwhile.
On the plains north of Bangkok, the historic heartland of the country, the major sites are the ruined ancient cities, most of which are conserved as historical parks, covering the spectrum of Thailand’s art and architecture. Closest to Bangkok, Ayutthaya served as the country’s capital for the four hundred years prior to the 1782 foundation of Bangkok, and its ruins evoke an era of courtly sophistication. A short hop to the north, the remnants of Lopburi hark back to an earlier time, when the predominantly Hindu Khmers held sway over this region.
A separate nucleus of sites in the northern neck of the plains centres on Sukhothai, birthplace of the Thai kingdom in the thirteenth century. The buildings and sculpture produced during the Sukhothai era are the acme of Thai art, and the restored ruins of the country’s first official capital are the best place to appreciate them, though two satellite cities – Si Satchanalai and Kamphaeng Phet – make good alternatives if you don’t like crowds, and the city of Phitsanulok also serves as a good base for exploring the area. West of Sukhothai, on the Burmese border, the town of Mae Sot makes a refreshing change from ancient history and is the departure point for the rivers and waterfalls of Umphang, a remote border region that’s becoming increasingly popular for trekking and rafting.
Chiang Mai makes an obvious next stop after exploring the sights north of Bangkok, chiefly because the Northern Rail Line makes connections painless. Or you could branch east into Isaan, by train or bus. It’s also possible to fly out of Sukhothai, Phitsanulok and Mae Sot.
Even if you’re just passing through, you can’t miss the star attraction of NAKHON PATHOM: the enormous stupa Phra Pathom Chedi dominates the skyline of this otherwise unexceptional provincial capital, 56km west of Bangkok. Probably Thailand’s oldest town, Nakhon Pathom (derived from the Pali for “First City”) is thought to be the point at which Buddhism first entered the region now known as Thailand, more than two thousand years ago. Then the capital of a sizeable Mon kingdom, it was important enough to rate a visit from two missionaries dispatched by King Ashoka of India, one of Buddhism’s great early evangelists.
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DEATH RAILWAY, KANCHANABURI
Highlights
Kanchanaburi and the River Kwai Stay in a raft house, take a scenic train ride along the Death Railway and visit some moving World War II memorials.
Erawan Waterfall Seven breathtakingly beautiful crystal pools in a jungle setting.
Sangkhlaburi Search for sunken temples at this peaceful lakeside town near the Burmese border.
Ayutthaya Atmospheric ruined temples, three fine museums and laidback guesthouses in the broad, grassy spaces of the former capital.
Wat Phra Phutthabat A vibrant introduction to Thai religion at the Temple of the Buddha’s Footprint.
Sergeant Major Thawee Folklore Museum, Phitsanulok Housed in a series of wooden pavilions, this is one of the country’s best ethnology museums, offering a fascinating insight into rural life.
Sukhothai The nation’s first capital is packed with elegant thirteenth-century ruins and inviting guesthouses.
Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary A remote border region with spectacular waterfalls, river-rafting and Karen villages.
HIGHLIGHTS ARE MARKED ON THE MAP
The Phra Pathom Chedi is easily visited as a day-trip from Bangkok or while travelling from the capital west to Kanchanaburi or south to Phetchaburi, Surat Thani and Malaysia, with plenty of overnight trains on the latter route passing through in the evening. As such, there’s no earthly reason to overnight in Nakhon Pathom – which is reflected in the town’s poor choice of hotels. Everything described below is within walking distance of the railway station.
400m south of the train station • Daily 5am–8pm • B60
Although the Buddha never actually came to Thailand, legend held that he rested in Nakhon Pathom after wandering the country, and the original Phra Pathom Chedi may have been erected to represent this. The first structure resembled Ashoka’s great stupa at Sanchi in India, with its inverted bowl shape and spire that topped 39m. Local chronicles, however, tell how the chedi was built in the sixth century as an act of atonement by the foundling Phraya Pan who murdered the tyrant Mon king before realizing that he was his father. Statues of both father and son stand inside the viharns of the present chedi.
Whatever its true origins, the first chedi fell into disrepair and was later rebuilt with a prang during the Khmer period, between the eighth and twelfth centuries. Abandoned to the jungle once more, it was rediscovered by the future Rama IV in 1853 who, mindful that all Buddhist monuments are sacred however dilapidated, set about encasing the old prang in the enormous new 120m-high plunger-shaped chedi, making it one of the tallest stupas in the world. Its distinctive cladding of shimmering golden-brown tiles was completed several decades later.
The present-day chedi is much revered and holds its own week-long Phra Pathom Chedi fair, around the time of Loy Krathong in mid-November, which attracts musicians, fortune-tellers and of course plenty of food stalls.
Approaching the chedi from the main (northern) staircase, you’re greeted by the 8m-high Sukhothai-style Buddha image known as Phra Ruang Rojanarit, which contains some of Rama VI’s ashes and stands in front of the north viharn. There’s a viharn at each of the cardinal points and they all have an inner and an outer chamber containing tableaux of the life of the Buddha.
Proceeding clockwise around the chedi, as is the custom at all Buddhist monuments, you can weave between the outer promenade and the inner cloister via ornate doors that punctuate the dividing wall. The outer promenade is ringed by Buddha images employing a wide variety of mudras, or hand gestures, each of which has a specific meaning for Buddhists, and most of them are explained on plaques beside them. Throughout the rest of the country, most Buddha images portray one of just five or six common mudras, making this collection rather unique. The promenade is also dotted with trees, many of which have religious significance, such as the bodhi tree (ficus religiosa), under one of which the Buddha was meditating when he achieved enlightenment.
In the east viharn, look out for a mural showing a diagrammatic cross-section of the chedi with the encased original at its core. Further round, the south viharn staircase, about halfway up, is flanked by a three-dimensional replica of the original chedi topped by a Khmer prang (east side) and a model of the venerated chedi at Nakhon Si Thammarat (west side). The west viharn houses two reclining Buddhas: a sturdy, 9m-long figure in the outer chamber and a more delicate portrayal in the inner one.
Phra Pathom Chedi National Museum
Just east from the bottom of the chedi’s south staircase • Wed–Sun 9am–4pm • B100
Within the chedi compound are a couple of similarly named museums. The newer, more formal setup, the Phra Pathom Chedi National Museum, displays a good collection of Dvaravati-era (sixth to eleventh centuries) artefacts excavated nearby, including Wheels of Law (dharmachakra) – an emblem introduced by Theravada Buddhists before naturalistic images were permitted – and Buddha statuary with the U-shaped robe and thick facial features characteristic of Dvaravati sculpture. Together, the exhibits tell the story of how external influences, particularly those from India, shaped local beliefs.
Halfway up the steps near the east viharn • Wed–Sun 9am–noon & 1–4pm • Free
The Phra Pathom Chedi Museum is a magpie’s nest of a collection, offering a broader, more domestic introduction to Nakhon Pathom’s history than the National Museum. More a curiosity shop than a museum, the small room and entranceway are filled with Buddhist amulets, seashells, gold and silver needles, Chinese ceramics, Thai musical instruments and ancient statues – enough for a short but satisfying browse.
A 10min walk west of the chedi along Thanon Rajdamnoen (or a B30 ride on a motorbike taxi) • Daily 9am–4pm (ticket office closes at 3.30pm) • B50 • 
palaces.thai.net
Before ascending to the throne in 1910, Rama VI made several pilgrimages to the Phra Pathom Chedi, eventually choosing this 335-acre plot west of the pagoda as the location for a convenient new country retreat. The resulting complex of elegant wooden buildings, known as Sanam Chandra Palace, was designed to blend Western and Eastern styles, and a handful of its main buildings are now open to the public. Its principal structure, the Jalimangalasana Residence, evokes a miniature Bavarian castle, complete with turrets and red-tiled roof; the Marirajrattabalang Residence is a more oriental-style pavilion, built of teak and painted a deep rose colour inside and out; and the Thub Kwan Residence is an unadorned traditional Thai-style house of polished, unpainted golden teak. They each contain royal artefacts and memorabilia and, as such, visitors should take care to dress appropriately.
Just outside Sanam Chandra Palace’s southern perimeter, behind the Thub Kwan Residence on Thanon Rajamanka Nai • Mon–Fri 9am–4pm • Free • art-centre.su.ac.th • If coming from the chedi, expect to pay around B30 for a motorbike taxi
If you’re interested in modern Thai art, it’s well worth seeing what’s on at the Sanamchandra Art Gallery. A purpose-built art centre set among outlying Sanam Chandra villas, it’s one of the exhibition spaces for Bangkok’s premier art school, Silpakorn University, whose satellite campus is just across the road. Their annual student show, held here every September and October, is usually very interesting.
Arrival and departureNakhon Pathom
By train To get to the chedi compound’s northern gate from the train station, walk south for 200m down Thanon Rotfai, across the khlong and past the covered market.
Destinations Bangkok Hualamphong (12 daily; 1hr 35min); Bangkok Thonburi (5 daily; 1hr 10min); Chumphon (11 daily; 5hr 40min–8hr 30min); Hua Hin (13 daily; 2hr–3hr 40min); Kanchanaburi (2 daily; 1hr 30min); Nakhon Si Thammarat (2 daily; 13–15hr); Nam Tok (2 daily; 3hr 30min); Padang Besar (for trains to Malaysia; 1 daily; 16hr 15min); Phetchaburi (13 daily; 1hr 20min–2hr 30min); Surat Thani (10 daily; 8hr–11hr 30min); Trang (2 daily; 12hr 30min–13hr 30min).
By bus There are buses and a/c minibuses to Nakhon Pathom from Bangkok’s Southern Bus Terminal, and buses from Damnoen Saduak and Kanchanaburi. On arrival, buses drop passengers either in front of the police station across Thanon Kwaa Phra from the chedi’s southern entrance, or beside the khlong, 100m from the northern gate towards the train station. Buses heading for Kanchanaburi and Damnoen Saduak collect passengers outside the police station across from the chedi’s southern gate. Buses bound for Bangkok pick up from Thanon Phaya Pan on the north bank of the khlong near the train station.
Destinations Bangkok (every 30min; 40min–1hr 20min); Damnoen Saduak (roughly hourly; 1hr); Kanchanaburi (every 20min; 1hr 45min–2hr).
Eating
Hot-food stalls can be found just outside the chedi compound’s southern wall, near the museum and are the obvious place to eat during the day (roughly 8am–5pm). There are lots of options, from noodle soup to grilled chicken and rice dishes (mostly B30–60).
Fairy Tale West side of Thanon Rotfai at no. 307, just south of the train station 
081 913 8033. Almost hidden behind the food stalls that line the street, this cosy a/c café-bakery serves yummy crêpes, waffles and even French fries. It’s an ideal spot to while away time waiting for a train. Mon–Sat 10.30am–7pm.
Lung Loy Pa Lan North side of Highway 4: to get there from the southwest corner of the chedi compound, head west on Thanon Rajvithee, then immediately south on winding Thanon Bhudtharucksa for just over 1km 034 255767. Nakhon Pathom’s best local restaurant is very popular with pilgrims visiting the chedi. Top choices are whole snakehead fish, salted and grilled on bamboo sticks (B300), as well as very good grilled river prawns, but there are also more affordable regional specialities such as very spicy kaeng pa (jungle curry) with catfish (B80). Daily 10am–10pm.
To get an idea of what shopping in Bangkok used to be like before all the canals were tarmacked over, many people take an early-morning trip to the century-old floating market at DAMNOEN SADUAK. Sixty kilometres south of Nakhon Pathom and just over a hundred kilometres from Bangkok, it’s just about accessible on a day-trip from the capital with a very early start. Vineyards and orchards here back onto a labyrinth of narrow canals, and every morning local market gardeners ply these waterways in paddleboats full of fresh fruit, vegetables and tourist-tempting soft drinks and souvenirs. Most dress in the blue denim jacket and high-topped straw hat traditionally favoured by Thai farmers, so it all looks very picturesque; however, the setup is clearly geared to tourists rather than locals, so the place lacks an authentic aura. For a more engaging experience, consider going instead to the floating markets at Amphawa, 10km south of Damnoen Saduak, or at Tha Kha, 10km to the east of Damnoen Saduak.
Daily roughly 6–11am
The target for most tour groups is Talat Khlong Ton Kem, 2km west of Damnoen Saduak’s tiny town centre at the intersection of Khlong Damnoen Saduak and Khlong Thong Lang. Many of the wooden houses here have been converted into warehouse-style souvenir shops and tourist restaurants, diverting trade away from the khlong vendors and into the hands of large commercial enterprises. Nonetheless, a semblance of traditional water trade continues, and the two bridges between Ton Kem and Talat Khlong Hia Kui (a little further south down Khlong Thong Lang) make decent vantage points.
Touts invariably congregate at the Ton Kem pier to hassle you into taking a rowing boat trip around the khlong network; this is worth considering and far preferable to being propelled between markets at top speed in one of the noisy longtail boats, which cost far more to charter. For a less hectic and more sensitive look at the markets, explore via the walkways beside the canals.
Visiting the floating markets
For many visitors to Thailand, an essential item on their itinerary is a trip to a floating market (talat nam), to witness scenes of vendors selling fruit, flowers, vegetables and noodle dishes from sampans on the canals that were once the principal means of travelling around the country. Unfortunately, such bucolic scenes are from a bygone era, and while it’s still possible to visit a floating market, many visitors regret the experience, feeling they’ve been led into a tourist trap, which is often exactly the case.
Most day tours from Bangkok head for Damnoen Saduak, where visitors are whisked around in noisy longtail boats, which pause for souvenir hawkers to make their pitch in between staged photos of smiling vendors dressed in traditional outfits with neatly arranged boatloads of produce. Such day-trips also include visits to dubious animal shows or handicraft workshops in an attempt to extract more tourist dollars.
In recent years, Thais have started heading for Amphawa at weekends, which has a more authentic atmosphere than Damnoen Saduak, though the least commercialized floating market is at Tha Kha on weekends. While most boat trips in these places focus on the markets, it’s also possible to venture out onto the canals after dark to watch the fireflies twinkling romantically in their favourite lamphu trees like delicate strings of fairylights (best in the rainy season).
One problem of visits to this area is that most markets, with the exception of Amphawa, are at their best at the crack of dawn, but since they are around 100km from Bangkok, it takes at least a couple of hours for tour groups to get there. If you’re keen to see them in the early hours, it’s worth staying overnight in Damnoen Saduak, Amphawa or even Samut Songkhram and making arrangements for an early morning start; Tha Kha market is about 10km from each of these places.
While they cover less distance than the longtail boats, rowing boats make for a much more relaxing experience, and generally offer a one-hour-thirty-minute ride for around B300–400; they are available for hire from Ton Kem pier in Damnoen Saduak and at Tha Kha. Don’t forget to take a hat or umbrella and plenty of sunscreen. There are no longer any rowing boats at Amphawa, where longtail boats charge B500/hr, or B600 for a roughly hour-long trip to see the fireflies.
Arrival and DepartureDamnoen Saduak
By bus
From/to Bangkok Damnoen Saduak is 109km from Bangkok, so to reach the market in good time you have to catch one of the earliest buses or a/c minibuses from the capital’s Southern Bus Terminal (roughly every 30min from 5.30am; 1hr 30min–2hr). Alternatively, you can join one of the day-trips from Bangkok, which generally give you two hours at the market, then stop at a handicraft village and/or animal show before dropping you back in the capital.
From Kanchanaburi Take a Ratchaburi-bound bus as far as Bang Phe (every 20min from 5.10am; 1hr 30min), then change for the 30min journey to Damnoen Saduak.
From Phetchaburi and beyond To get to Damnoen Saduak from Phetchaburi or points further south, catch any Bangkok-bound bus and change at Samut Songkhram.
Getting into town Damnoen Saduak’s bus terminal is just north of Thanarat Bridge and Khlong Damnoen Saduak, on the main Nakhon Pathom–Samut Songkhram road, Highway 325. Frequent yellow songthaews cover the 2km to Ton Kem.
Accommodation
Maikaew Damnoen Resort 333 Moo 9 032 245120–1, maikaew.com. Just a few steps east of the floating market, this relaxing resort has a variety of smart, comfortable rooms, bungalows and traditional-style teak houses, a canalside restaurant that uses vegetables from their hydroponic farm, two saltwater swimming pools, a kids’ pool and a Jacuzzi. They also have complimentary bicycles and offer a range of boat trips in the area (see website for details), so it makes a good springboard for exploration of the nearby canals. Breakfast included. Prices rise a little at weekends. B1650
Rarely visited by foreign tourists and yet within easy reach of Bangkok, the tiny estuarine province of Samut Songkhram is nourished by the Mae Klong River as it meanders through on the last leg of its route to the Gulf. Fishing is an important industry round here, and big wooden boats are still built in riverside yards near the estuary; further inland, fruit is the main source of income, particularly pomelos, lychees, guavas and coconuts. But for visitors it is the network of three hundred canals woven around the river, and the traditional way of life the waterways still support, that makes a stay of a few days appealing. As well as some of the most interesting floating markets in Thailand – notably at Amphawa and Tha Kha – there are chances to witness traditional cottage industries such as palm-sugar production and bencharong ceramic-painting, plus more than a hundred historic temples to admire, a number of them dating back to the reign of Rama II, who was born in the province. The other famous sons of the region are Eng and Chang, the “original” Siamese twins, who grew up in the province.
The provincial capital – officially called SAMUT SONGKHRAM but usually referred to by locals as Mae Klong, after the river that cuts through it – is a useful base for trips to the floating markets at Amphawa and Tha Kha. It’s a pleasant enough market town, which, despite its proximity to Bangkok, remains relatively unaffected by Western influences. However, there’s little reason to linger here during the day as all the local sights are out of town, mainly in Amphawa district a few kilometres upriver.
To savour a real Thai seaside atmosphere, make the 10km trip to Don Hoi Lot at the mouth of the Mae Klong estuary (regular songthaews run there from the bus station), from where you can gaze out across the murky waters of the Gulf of Thailand from the shade of casuarina trees. Thais flock here in droves to gobble up hoi lot, or razor clams, which are harvested in their sackloads at low tide and typically served sun-dried and grilled on a stick or in a spicy stir-fry, hoi lot pat cha. You can order them – and lots of other cheap seafood – in any restaurant here, or buy them from street stalls, rent a mat and enjoy a picnic Thai-style.
the slow train to samut songkhram
The most enjoyable way of travelling to Samut Songkhram is by train from Bangkok – a scenic, albeit convoluted journey that involves changing lines and catching a boat across the river in Samut Sakhon and could take up to three hours. It’s a very unusual route, being single track and for much of the way squeezed in between homes, palms and mangroves, and, most memorably, between market stalls, so that at both the Samut Sakhon and Samut Songkhram termini the train really does chug to a standstill amid the trays of seafood.
Trains to Samut Sakhon (1hr) leave approximately hourly from Bangkok’s Wongwian Yai Station in southern Thonburi (which is within walking distance of Wongwian Yai Skytrain station). The train pulls up right inside the wet market at Samut Sakhon (also known as Mahachai after the main local canal), a busy fishing port near the mouth of the Maenam Tha Chin. From the station, work your way through the market and take a ferry across the river to get the connecting train from Ban Laem on the opposite, west bank.
There are only four trains a day in each direction between Ban Laem and Samut Songkhram at the end of the line (called “Mae Klong” on railway timetables; 1hr), a journey through marshes, lagoons, prawn farms, salt flats and mangrove and palm growth. Once again, at Samut Songkhram, the station is literally enveloped by the town-centre market, with traders gathering up their goods and awnings from the trackside for the arrival and departure of the service.
Eng and Chang, the Siamese twins
Eng (In) and Chang (Chan), the “original” Siamese twins, were born in Samut Songkhram in 1811, when Thailand was known as Siam. The boys’ bodies were joined from breastbone to navel by a short fleshy ligament, but they shared no vital organs and eventually managed to stretch their connecting tissue so that they could stand almost side by side instead of permanently facing each other.
In 1824 the boys were spotted by entrepreneurial Scottish trader Robert Hunter, who returned five years later with an American sea merchant, Captain Abel Coffin, to convince the twins’ mother to let them take her sons on a world tour. Hunter and Coffin anticipated a lucrative career as producer-managers of an exotic freak show, and were not disappointed. They launched the twins in Boston, advertising them as “the Monster” and charging the public 50 cents to watch the boys demonstrate how they walked and ran. Though shabbily treated and poorly paid, the twins soon developed a more theatrical show, enthralling their audiences with acrobatics and feats of strength, and earning the soubriquet “the eighth wonder of the world”. At the age of 21, having split from their exploitative managers, the twins became self-employed, but continued to tour with other companies across the world. Wherever they went, they would always be given a thorough examination by local medics, partly to counter accusations of fakery, but also because this was the first time the world and its doctors had been introduced to conjoined twins. Such was the twins’ international celebrity that the term “Siamese twins” has been used ever since. Chang and Eng also sought advice from these doctors on surgical separation – an issue they returned to repeatedly right until their deaths but never acted upon, despite plenty of gruesome suggestions.
By 1840 the twins had become quite wealthy and decided to settle down. They were granted American citizenship, assumed the family name Bunker, and became slave-owning plantation farmers in North Carolina. Three years later they married two local sisters, Addie and Sally Yates, and between them went on to father 21 children. The families lived in separate houses and the twins shuttled between the two, keeping to a strict timetable of three days in each household; for an intriguing imagined account of this bizarre state of affairs, read Darin Strauss’s novel Chang and Eng. Chang and Eng had quite different personalities, and relations between the two couples soured, leading to the division of their assets, with Chang’s family getting most of the land, and Eng’s most of the slaves. To support their dependants, the twins were obliged to take their show back on the road several times, on occasion working with the infamous showman P. T. Barnum. Their final tour was born out of financial desperation following the 1861–65 Civil War, which had wiped out most of the twins’ riches and led to the liberation of all their slaves.
In 1874, Chang succumbed to bronchitis and died; Eng, who might have survived on his own if an operation had been performed immediately, died a few hours later, possibly of shock. They were 62. The twins are buried in White Plains in North Carolina, but there’s a statue of them near their birthplace in Samut Songkhram, on an untended plot of land surrounded by local government buildings just south of Route 3092, aka Thanon Ekachai, about 4km northeast of town.
Arrival and InformationSamut Songkhram town
By train
Samut Songkhram’s train station is in the middle of town, on the eastern side of the Mae Klong River, with four trains a day making the 1hr trip from and to Ban Laem, where you can connect with trains from/to Bangkok.
By Bus from bangkok
The journey to Samut Songkhram by bus or a/c minibus from Bangkok’s Southern Bus Terminal (every 20min in both directions; 1hr 30min) is fast, but the views are mostly dominated by urban sprawl. Samut Songkhram’s bus station is south of the market, across from the Siam Commercial Bank off Thanon Ratchayadruksa.
Connections to Amphawa and Damnoen Saduak
By songthaew or a/c minibus Songthaews to Amphawa (approximately every 30min; 15min) and a/c minibuses to Amphawa and Damnoen Saduak, via Highway 325, leave from the bus station.
By taxi-boat Taxi-boats operate from the Mae Klong River pier, 50m west of the train station and market in the town centre. The journey upstream to Amphawa should take 20–30min.
Services
Banks and ATMs Currency exchange and ATMs are available at the branches of the main banks around the edge of Samut Songkhram market.
Accommodation and eating
For accommodation, choose between staying in the town itself and a growing number of well-equipped resorts tucked away in the countryside. The food stalls near the pier, in the centre of town, make a pleasant spot for a cheap seafood lunch – for dessert, head to the market, near the train station, where you can buy fresh bananas, rambutans and watermelon slices. In the evening, food stalls along Thanon Si Jumpa just north of the railway station offer a wide variety of options.
Asita Eco Resort Beside a small canal about 4km southwest of the train station and just north of Highway 35 (Thanon Rama II) 034 767333, asitaresort.com. Choose between a Thai house and thatched villa at this small, luxurious resort, which is crafted from eco-friendly materials. There’s a good-sized pool, a spa and bicycles for rent, plus a variety of tours on offer. Considerable discounts for weekday stays. Breakfast included. B5000
Baan Tai Had Resort On the west bank of the Mae Klong River, a couple of kilometres northwest of town 034 767220–4, baantaihad.com. Good-value resort, 15min by taxi-boat from Samut Songkhram’s pier (alternatively, take the ferry across the river, then a 10min ride on a motorbike taxi). With its stylish, comfortable rooms and bungalows set around an attractive garden, swimming pool and restaurant, Baan Tai Had makes a good base, not least because of its local tour programmes. Also offers kayak rental. B1600
The Legend Maeklong 1285 Thanon Pathummalai 034 701121 thelegendmaeklong.com. Located 100m north of the ferry landing on the western edge of the river, this classy place in a pretty garden offers rooms in two Thai-style wooden houses and a shuttered colonial building that dates back to the early 1900s. There’s also a waterside restaurant with excellent river views. Breakfast included. B1270
The district town of AMPHAWA is smaller and more atmospheric than Samut Songkhram, retaining original charm alongside modern development. Its old neighbourhoods hug the banks of the Mae Klong River and the Khlong Amphawa tributary, the wooden homes and shops facing the water and accessed either by boat or on foot along one of the waterfront walkways. The tradition of holding a floating market on the canal near Wat Amphawan has been revived for weekending Bangkokians and tourists, with traders setting up at around 9am (11am on Fri) and staying out until around 9pm every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Amphawa’s main street, Thanon Prachaset, runs west for about a kilometre from a T-junction with Highway 325 (the road from Damnoen Saduak to Samut Songkhram), before hitting the floating market at Khlong Amphawa (about 200m north of its confluence with the Mae Klong River), then Wat Amphawan and the Rama II Memorial Park.
5min walk west of Amphawa market and khlong • Park and Museum daily 8.30am–5pm • B30
Rama II was born in Amphawa (his mother’s home town) in 1767 and is honoured with a memorial park and temple erected on the site of his probable birthplace, beside the Mae Klong River on the western edge of Amphawa town.
Rama II, or Phra Buddhalertla Naphalai as he is known in Thai, is remembered as a cultured king who wrote poems and plays, and the museum at the heart of the Rama II Memorial Park displays lots of rather esoteric kingly memorabilia in traditional Thai-style houses, including a big collection of nineteenth-century musical instruments and a gallery of khon masks used in traditional theatre.
On the eastern edge of the park, Wat Amphawan is graced with a statue of the king and decorated with murals that depict scenes from his life, including a behind-the-altar panorama of nineteenth-century Bangkok, with Ratanakosin Island’s Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Sanam Luang still recognizable to modern eyes.
Shutterstock
DAMNOEN SADUAK FLOATING MARKET
On the west bank of Khlong Amphawa, a 5min walk north of Amphawa market • amphawanurak.com • Mon–Thurs 8.30am–4pm; Fri–Sun 8.30am–9pm • Free
The Amphawa Chaipattananurak centre was established to conserve the cultural heritage of the town, and is divided into five areas, each of which provides interesting information about the traditional lifestyle of the region. The Community Exhibition Room reflects the way of life of local communities, the Agricultural Demonstration Farm features many of the local fruit trees, and the Nakhawarang Cultural Ground is used for performances of traditional music, puppet shows and cooking demonstrations. There are also community shops selling local products and souvenirs, and an atmospheric coffee shop and tea house beside the canal with a retro interior.
Pinsuwan bencharong showroom and workshop
About 1km (15min walk) east of Amphawa Chaipattananurak, just west of H325 (look for the P Ben sign in front of a compound of traditional houses) • 034 751322 • Showroom daily 8am–noon & 1–5pm, workshop Mon–Sat 8am–noon & 1–5pm • Free
The Pinsuwan bencharong workshop specializes in reproductions of famous antique bencharong ceramics, the exquisite five-coloured pottery that used to be the tableware of choice for the Thai aristocracy and is now a prized collectors’ item. Here you can watch the manufacturing process in action (though the workshop is closed on Sundays), and then buy items off the shelf or even order your own glittering, custom-made bowls, which can be delivered to your hotel or shipped back home.
A few hundred metres east of Pinsuwan, across H325, or a 5min boat ride from Amphawa market along Khlong Amphawa
The canalside Wat Chulamani was until the late 1980s the domain of the locally famous abbot Luang Pho Nuang, a man believed by many to possess special powers, and followers still come to the temple to pay respects to his body, which is preserved in a glass-sided coffin in the main viharn. The breathtakingly detailed decor inside the viharn is testament to the devotion he inspired: the intricate black-and-gold lacquered artwork that covers every surface took years and cost millions of baht to complete. Across the temple compound, the bot’s modern, pastel-toned murals tell the story of the Buddha’s life, beginning inside the door on the right with a scene showing the young Buddha emerging from a tent (his birth) and being able to walk on lilypads straight away. The death of the Buddha and his entry into Nirvana are depicted on the wall behind the altar.
Arrival and departureAMPHAWA
From/to Bangkok A/c minibuses (at least hourly; 2hr; 085 385 9393) run to Amphawa, via Samut Songkhram, from Bangkok’s Old Southern Bus Terminal (Sathaanii Sai Tai Kao, aka Pinklao), before continuing to Damnoen Saduak. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, you can pick up some of these services at Bang Wa Skytrain station (Exit 4). There’s no bus station in tiny Amphawa, but you’ll find the a/c minibus offices on the high street just east of Khlong Amphawa in the town centre.
From/to Samut Songkhram Frequent songthaews from the market in Samut Songkhram (approximately every 30min; 15min) arrive at Amphawa’s high street just east of Khlong Amphawa.
Getting around and information
By boat The most appealing way to explore the area is by boat.
By bicycle Some resorts, such as Baan Amphawa Resort & Spa and Amphawa Na Non (see below), rent out bicycles.
Tourist office TAT have a new office on the east side of H325, just south of the T-junction with Thanon Prachaset (daily 8.30am–4.30pm; 034 752847–8)
Accommodation and eating
Amphawa Na Non 96 Thanon Prachaset 034 752111, amphawananon.com. This stylish place sits on Amphawa’s main street just a minute’s walk east of the floating market. It caters mostly to Thais but staff speak good English and the big, bright, balconied rooms offer every comfort. Breakfast included. Higher rates on Fri & Sat nights. B2550
Baan Amphawa Resort & Spa 22 Thanon Bangkapom Kaewfah, off Highway 325 about 2km south of the T-junction with Thanon Prachaset 081 705 1317, baanamphawa.com. A large, business-friendly resort hotel on the Mae Klong River, with attractive rooms in a series of traditional-style wooden buildings as well as more contemporary villas. There are two swimming pools, a spa, and a good riverfront restaurant. Breakfast included. B3800
Chaba Baan Cham Resort Just across Khlong Amphawa from Amphawa Chaipattananurak 081 984 1000, chababaancham.com. Twelve appealing contemporary rooms with French windows and lots of varnished wood, equipped with a/c, hot showers, TVs and fridges. Breakfast included. Slightly higher rates on Fri & Sat nights. B1500
Jao Sam Ran On the bank of the Mae Klong River, about 100m east of Khlong Amphawa, near the police station (the English sign says “Chal Sam Rhand”) 034 751811. On a shady terrace overlooking the broad river, this restaurant specializes in fresh seafood, including lots of mackerel dishes and very good grey mullet in a three-flavoured sauce (B160), and hosts live music in the evening. Mon–Thurs 3–11pm, Fri–Sun 3pm–midnight.
Ban Tha Kha, 10km northeast of Amphawa and 10km north of Samut Songkhram • Sat, Sun & public holidays roughly 7am–noon • By boat, it can be reached in about 30min from Amphawa; by car, it’s signposted to the east of H325 between Damnoen Saduak and Amphawa
Unlike at the over-touristed market at nearby Damnoen Saduak, the floating market in the village of Tha Kha is still largely the province of local residents. It’s possible to get here by boat from Amphawa, though most visitors come by road and begin their boat tour here. Market gardeners paddle up here in their small wooden sampans, or motor along in their noisy longtails, the boats piled high either with whatever’s in season, be it pomelos or betel nuts, rambutans or okra, or with perennially popular snacks like hot noodle soup and freshly cooked satay. Their main customers are canalside residents and other traders, so the atmosphere is still pleasingly, but not artificially, traditional. As with the other markets in the area, boatmen also offer evening rides to watch the fireflies. The Tha Kha market attracts Thai tourist groups and occasional adventurous foreigners. It’s best to pre-arrange a trip the day before through your accommodation in the area; expect to pay around B1000 for a half-day tour.
Set at the confluence of two rivers, the Kwai Noi and the Kwai Yai, the provincial capital of KANCHANABURI makes the perfect getaway from Bangkok, 140km away. With its rich wartime history, plentiful supply of traveller-oriented accommodation and countless possibilities for easy forays into the surrounding countryside, there are plenty of reasons to linger here, and many visitors end up staying longer than planned. The big appeal is the river: that it’s the famous River Kwai (pronounced “khwae” as in “quell” rather than “kwai” as in “quite”) is a bonus, but the more immediate attractions are the guesthouses and restaurants that overlook the waterway, many of them offering fine views of the jagged limestone peaks beyond.
The heart of Kanchanaburi’s ever-expanding travellers’ scene dominates the southern end of Thanon Maenam Kwai (also spelt Kwae) and is within easy reach of the train station, but the real town centre is some distance away, running north from the bus station up the town’s main drag, Thanon Saeng Chuto. Between this road and the river you’ll find most of the town’s war sights, with the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai marking the northern limit. Every day, tour groups and day-trippers descend on the Bridge, a symbol of Japanese atrocities in the region that’s now insensitively commercialized – the town’s main war museums and cemeteries are actually much more moving. Overlooking the huge Don Rak Kanchanaburi war cemetery, the Thailand–Burma Railway Centre provides shockingly instructive accounts of a period not publicly documented outside this region. The JEATH War Museum at the southeast end of town is also worth a visit, though you’re strongly advised to avoid the crass World War II Museum by the Bridge (which also misleadingly labels itself as the “JEATH War Museum”).
The Chungkai war cemetery and a handful of moderately interesting temples – including cave temples at Wat Tham Khao Poon and Wat Ban Tham, the hilltop twins of Wat Tham Sua and Wat Tham Khao Noi – provide the focus for pleasurable trips west of the town centre.
It’s worth noting that Kanchanaburi gets packed during its annual son et lumière River Kwai Bridge Festival, held over ten nights from the end of November to commemorate the first Allied bombing of the Bridge on November 28, 1944, so book accommodation well ahead if you’re planning a visit then.
Opposite the train station, next to the Don Rak Kanchanaburi War Cemetery on Thanon Jaokannun • Daily 9am–5pm • B140 • tbrconline.com
The modern Thailand–Burma Railway Centre is by far the best place to start any tour of Kanchanaburi’s World War II memorials. It was founded to provide an informed context and research centre for the thousands who visit the POW graves every week. The result is a comprehensive and sophisticated history of the entire Thailand–Burma Railway line, with plenty of original artefacts, illustrations and scale models, and particularly strong sections on the planning and construction of the railway, and on the subsequent operation, destruction and decommissioning of the line. There is more of a focus on the line itself here than at the more emotive Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum, but the human stories are well documented too, notably via some extraordinary original photographs and video footage shot by Japanese engineers, as well as through unique interviews with surviving Asian labourers on the railway.
Admission includes a free tea or coffee in the upstairs café, and the shop inside the entrance stocks some interesting books on the railway. If you want to learn more about the area’s World War II history, guides can be hired for half- and full-day tours.
Kanchanaburi War Cemetery (Don Rak)
Opposite the train station on Thanon Saeng Chuto • Free
One Allied POW died for each railway sleeper laid on the Thailand–Burma Railway, or so the story goes, and many of them are buried in Kanchanaburi’s two war cemeteries, Don Rak Kanchanaburi War Cemetery and Chungkai Cemetery. Of all the region’s war sights, the cemeteries are the only places to have remained untouched by commercial enterprise. Don Rak is the bigger of the two, with 6982 POW graves laid out in straight lines amid immaculate lawns and flowering shrubs, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It was established after the war, on a plot adjacent to the town’s Chinese cemetery, as the final resting place for the remains that had been hurriedly interred at dozens of makeshift POW-camp gravesites all the way up the line. Many of the identical stone memorial slabs in Don Rak state simply, “A man who died for his country”; others, inscribed with names, dates and regiments, indicate that the overwhelming majority of the dead were under 25 years old. A commemorative service is held here, and at Hellfire Pass, every year on April 25, Anzac Day.
The Bridge over the River Kwai
Just west of the River Kwai Bridge Train Station • The public songthaews along Thanon Saeng Chuto pass close by or it’s a 15–20min walk north of the main Thanon Maenam Kwai guesthouse area
For most people, the plain steel arches of the Bridge over the River Kwai come as a disappointment: as a war memorial it lacks both the emotive punch of the museums and the perceptible drama of spots further up the line, and as a bridge it looks nothing out of the ordinary – certainly not as awesomely hard to construct as it appears in David Lean’s famous 1957 film, Bridge on the River Kwai (which was in fact shot in Sri Lanka). But it is the link with the multi-Oscar-winning film, of course, that draws tour buses by the dozen, and makes the Bridge approach seethe with trinket-sellers and touts. For all the commercialization of the place, however, you can’t really come to the Kwai and not see it.
The Death Railway
Shortly after entering World War II in December 1941, with the Straits of Malacca still mined and patrolled by the Allies, Japan began looking for an alternative supply route to connect its newly acquired territories that stretched from Singapore to the Myanmar-India border, with the eventual aim of being able to invade India from the northeast. In spite of the almost impenetrable terrain, the River Kwai basin was chosen as the route for a new Thailand–Burma Railway, the aim being to join the existing terminals of Nong Pladuk in Thailand (51km southeast of Kanchanaburi near Ban Pong, on Thailand’s Southern Railway Line) and Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar – a total distance of 415km. British engineers had investigated the possibility of constructing such a railway before the war and had estimated it would take six years to build.
Over 60,000 British, Australian, Dutch and American POWs were shipped up from captured Southeast Asian territories to work on the link, their numbers augmented by as many as 250,000 conscripted Asian labourers. Work began at both ends in October 1942. Three million cubic metres of rock were shifted and 14km of bridges built with little else but picks and shovels, dynamite and pulleys. By the time the line was completed, just a year later, it had more than earned its nickname, the Death Railway: 12,400 POWs and an estimated 90,000 Asian labourers died while working on it.
The appalling conditions and Japanese brutality were the consequences of the samurai code: Japanese soldiers abhorred the disgrace of imprisonment – to them, ritual suicide was the only honourable option open to a prisoner – and therefore considered that Allied POWs had forfeited any rights as human beings. Food rations were meagre for men forced into backbreaking eighteen-hour shifts, often followed by night-long marches to the next camp. Many suffered from beriberi, many more died of dysentery-induced starvation, but the biggest killers were cholera and malaria, particularly during the monsoon. It is said that one man died for every sleeper laid on the track.
The two lines finally met at Konkoita, just south of present-day Sangkhlaburi, in October 1943. But as if to underscore its tragic futility, the Thailand–Myanmar link saw less than two years of active service: after the Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945, the railway came under the jurisdiction of the British who, thinking it would be used to supply Karen separatists in Myanmar, tore up 4km of track at Three Pagodas Pass, thereby cutting the Thailand–Myanmar link forever. When the Thais finally gained control of the rest of the railway, they destroyed the track all the way down to Nam Tok, apparently because it was uneconomic. Recently, however, an Australian–Thai group of volunteers and former POWs has salvaged sections of track near the fearsome stretch of line known as Hellfire Pass, creating a memorial walk at the pass and founding an excellent museum at the site. There have been a number of books written about the Death Railway, including The Bridge over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle and The Railway Man by Eric Lomax, both of which were made into successful films, and the 2014 Booker Prize-winning Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan. The Thailand–Burma Railway Centre stocks a selection of such books, as do the town’s bookshops.
The fording of the Kwai Yai at the point just north of Kanchanaburi known as Tha Makkham was one of the first major obstacles in the construction of the Thailand–Burma Railway. Sections of a steel bridge were brought up from Java and reassembled by POWs using only pulleys and derricks. A temporary wooden bridge was built alongside it, taking its first train in February 1943; three months later the steel bridge was finished. Both bridges were severely damaged by Allied bombers (rather than commando-saboteurs as in the film) in 1944 and 1945, but the steel bridge was repaired after the war and is still in use today. The best way to see the bridge is by walking gingerly across it, or taking the train right over it: the Kanchanaburi–Nam Tok service crosses it three times a day in each direction, stopping briefly at the River Kwai Bridge station on the east bank of the river.
Between Rattanakarn Bridge and the City Gate
The historical significance of the stretch of Thanon Pak Phraek that runs north from Kanchanaburi’s only remaining city gate has led the TAT to place information boards outside many of the old buildings, explaining their origin and use over the years. Most of these houses were built just outside the city walls in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century by Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants and reflect a variety of architectural styles. While some of the properties along the street are nothing more than run-down shophouses, others have been carefully restored and boast elaborate balconies with balustrades. Sadly, the tangle of electric cables along the street makes them less photogenic than they would otherwise be.
The more interesting buildings include the former Sumitrakarn Hotel, the first hotel in Kanchanaburi, which was built in 1937 and finally closed its doors to the public in 1979; it now functions as a shop selling household goods. Others worth a close look are Sitthisang house, built in 1920, renovated in 2009 and recently opened as a charming coffee shop; and Boonyiam Jiaranai house, which has some elaborate stucco arches on the upstairs balcony.
Beside the Mae Klong River on Thanon Pak Phraek, at the southern end of town • Daily 8am–5pm • B50
Founded by the abbot of adjacent Wat Chaichumphon in 1977 and housed partly in reconstructed Allied POW huts of attap (thatched palm), the unashamedly low-tech JEATH War Museum was the town’s first public repository for the photographs and memories of the POWs who worked on the Death Railway. The name JEATH is an acronym of six of the countries involved in the railway: Japan, England, Australia, America, Thailand and Holland. The museum has since been surpassed by the slicker and more informative exhibitions at the Thailand–Burma Railway Centre and the Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum and is now of most interest for its small collection of wartime photographs and for its archive of newspaper articles about and letters from former POWs who have revisited the River Kwai.
On the west bank of the Kwai Noi, 2km from Rattanakarn Bridge, along Route 3228 • Usually included in boat trips from the bridge
Scrupulously well-trimmed Chungkai Cemetery occupies a fairly tranquil roadside spot on the west bank of the Kwai Noi, at the site of a former POW camp. Some 1750 POWs are buried here; most of the gravestone inscriptions include a name and regimental insignia, and some with epitaphs such as “One corner of the world which is forever England”. However, a number of the graves remain unnamed – at the upcountry camps, bodies were thrown onto mass funeral pyres, making identification impossible. The cemetery makes a pleasant cycle ride from Rattanakarn Bridge – much of the land in this area is sugar-cane country, for which Kanchanaburi has earned the title “sugar capital of Thailand”.
On the west bank of the Kwai Noi, 2km west along Route 3228 from Chungkai Cemetery and then Route 3305 (turn left at the railway line) • Daily dawn–dusk • B30 • Usually included in boat trips from the bridge
At the top of Route 3305’s only hill, the cave temple Wat Tham Khao Poon stands on the former site of a POW camp. The attraction here is a nine-chambered cave connected by a labyrinth of dank stalactite-filled passages, where almost every ledge and knob of rock is filled with religious icons, the most important being the Reclining Buddha in the main chamber. Once out of the cave system, you can walk through a bamboo “museum” with some blurry pictures from World War II. If you arrived by road, follow the sealed road through the temple compound for 150m to reach a good vantage point over the Kwai Noi, just above the train tracks, presided over by an outsized, pot-bellied golden Buddha statue; if arriving by boat, you enter the wat compound via the cliff-side steps here.
12km south of town on the south bank of the Mae Klong River • Head south down Thanon Saeng Chuto for about 5km, turn right onto Thanon Mae Klong (Route 3429) to cross the Mae Klong River, then turn left along the south bank of the river; alternatively, it can be reached by boat in around 30min from the centre
Because of the limestone landscape, caves are found right around Kanchanaburi and many of them have been sanctified as shrines. Wat Ban Tham is one such place, and is intriguing enough to make the 12km trip from the town centre worthwhile. Travelling south down the Mae Klong to get to the temple is especially pleasant by longtail or kayak, but can also be done by road.
Wat Ban Tham was founded around six hundred years ago but its fame rests on the seventeenth-century love story that was supposedly played out in a cave on this site. A young woman called Nang Bua Klee was forced to choose between duty to her criminal father and love for the local hero by whom she had fallen pregnant; her father eventually persuaded Bua Klee to poison her sweetheart’s food, but the soldier learned of the plot and killed both Bua Klee and their unborn son, whose souls are now said to be trapped in the cave at Wat Ban Tham. The cave is approached via an ostentatious Chinese-style dragon’s mouth staircase, whose upper levels relate the legend in a gallery of brightly painted modern murals on the right-hand walls. Inside the cave, a woman-shaped stone has been painted in the image of the dead mother and is a popular object of worship for women trying to conceive: hopeful devotees bring pretty dresses and shoes for the image, which are hung in wardrobes to the side of the shrine, as well as toys for her son.
Wat Tham Sua and Wat Tham Khao Noi
17km south of the town centre • From Wat Ban Tham, follow the river road east for 5km and you’ll see the hilltop complex on the south side of the road. If coming direct from town, the quickest route is to head south along Thanon Saeng Chuto, which becomes Highway 323, and cross the river via the signed Mae Klong Dam, then follow signs to the right; otherwise, take any local bus as far as Tha Muang, 12km south along Highway 323, then change to a motorbike taxi to the temples (about B50) • Cable car at Wat Tham Sua Mon–Fri 7.30am–4.30pm, Sat & Sun 7am–5.30pm • B20
If you’re in the mood for more temples, the modern hilltop wats of Tham Sua and Tham Khao Noi both afford expansive views over the Mae Klong River valley and out to the mountains beyond. Designed by a Thai architect at the end of the twentieth century, Wat Tham Sua was conceived in typical grandiose style and boasts a very short funicular railway. It centres on a massive seated Buddha, sheltering under a strange half-chedi, his huge palm facing forward to show the Wheel of Law inscribed across it like one of Christ’s stigmata. The neighbouring Chinese-designed Wat Tham Khao Noi was built at the same time and is a fabulously gaudy, seven-tiered Chinese pagoda, within which a laughing Buddha competes for attention with a host of gesturing and grimacing statues and painted characters. Neighbourly relations are now obviously a little frosty: Wat Tham Seua has built an eight-storey tower that partly obstructs the pagoda’s view; and, though they share the same hilltop, a wall and barbed wire now separates the two temples, so that you’re obliged to descend the slope and ascend again to get from one to the other.
Arrival and departureKanchanaburi
By train
The main Kanchanaburi train station (not to be confused with the River Kwai Bridge station) is just off Thanon Saeng Chuto, about 2km north of the town centre. It’s within walking distance of some of the Thanon Maenam Kwai accommodation, or a tuk-tuk ride will cost around B50.
Services to Kanchanaburi Trains are the most scenic way to get to Kanchanaburi, but there are only two daily from Bangkok’s Thonburi station via Nakhon Pathom (7.50am and 1.55pm), both of which are slow, all-third class (no a/c), ordinary trains and continue along the “Death Railway” to Nam Tok. If coming from Phetchaburi, Hua Hin, Chumphon and points further south, take the train to Nong Pla Duk Junction, just east of Ban Pong (or Nakhon Pathom) and then change to a Kanchanaburi-bound train.
Moving on To get to northern Thailand, it’s possible to take a minibus to Ayutthaya, where you can pick up the Northern Rail Line. For southern Thailand, take a train to Nong Pla Duk Junction east of Ban Pong (or Nakhon Pathom) and change to a night train headed for Chumphon, Surat Thani or beyond.
Reservations and tickets Reservations for any rail journey in Thailand can be made at Kanchanaburi train station, though seats for the train ride to Bangkok are not reservable.
Destinations Bangkok Thonburi (2 daily; 2hr 35min); Nakhon Pathom (2 daily; 1hr 25min); Nam Tok (3 daily; 2hr); Nong Pla Duk Junction (2 daily; 1hr).
By Bus
Kanchanaburi’s bus station is at the southern edge of the town centre, a good 2km from most accommodation. Tuk-tuks wait here and will run you into the main Thanon Maenam Kwai accommodation area for around B80, or you could catch a public songthaew up Thanon Saeng Chuto and walk.
Services to Kanchanaburi The buses and a/c minibuses from Bangkok’s Southern Bus Terminal and Northern Mo Chit terminal are generally faster than the train. From Ayutthaya (connecting with trains from Chiang Mai), or points further north, you’ll have to return to Bangkok, use a tourist a/c minibus service or change buses at Suphanburi, about 90km north of Kanchanaburi. Coming from Phetchaburi and Hua Hin, there’s now a government-licensed a/c minibus service.
Moving on Government buses and a/c minibuses run from the bus station to Bangkok’s Northern Mo Chit bus terminal, the Southern Bus Terminal, and to all destinations listed below. The first-class ticket office and departure point is beside the main road on the edge of the bus station, while the office for all other services is in the middle of the depot.
Destinations Bangkok (Northern Mo Chit terminal; roughly hourly; 3hr); Bangkok (Southern Bus Terminal; every 20min; 2hr 30min); Chiang Mai (3 daily; 11hr); Erawan National Park (every 50min; 1hr 30min); Hua Hin (every 60–90min; 3hr 30min); Kamphaeng Phet (3 daily; 6hr); Lampang (3 daily; 9hr); Nam Tok (every 30min; 1hr 30min); Nong Khai (1 daily; 11hr); Pattaya (3 daily; 6hr); Phetchaburi (every 60–90min; 2hr 30min); Phu Nam Ron (4 daily; 1hr 30min); Rayong (3 daily; 7hr 30min); Sai Yok (every 30min; 2hr 30min); Sangkhlaburi (every 30min; 3–5hr); Suphanburi (every 20min; 2hr 30min); Thong Pha Phum (every 30min; 3hr 30min); Three Pagodas Pass (2 daily; 7hr 30min).
By tourist a/c minibus
Guesthouses and travel agents can book you on a/c minibuses for Ayutthaya, Suvarnabhumi Airport and Thanon Khao San in Bangkok, which will usually pick you up at your guesthouse at a designated time.
Crossing the Myanmar border at Phu Nam Ron
If you have a visa for Myanmar, you can enter the country via the international border crossing at Phu Nam Ron (daily 6am–8pm), 70km west of Kanchanaburi and 200km from Bangkok. Four a/c minibuses run here daily from Kanchanaburi’s bus station, taking about 1hr 30min. Until recently, the crossing was mostly used for renewing Thai visas; however, it is possible to get from Htee Khee on the Myanmar side of the border to Dawei on the coast. The Thai government are planning to pave the 160km road to the coast (where they’re building a deep-water port for access to the Bay of Bengal) – contact Kanchanaburi’s tourist office or J Travel, on the corner of Thanon Pak Phraek and Thanon Lak Muang (034 513455), for the latest information on transport.
getting around
With songthaews plying the main route between the bus station and the Bridge, and boatmen waiting to ferry you along the waterways, it’s easy to get to and from Kanchanaburi’s main sights.
By tuk-tuk A tuk-tuk for a medium-length journey, for example from the railway station to the Bridge, will cost B80.
By songthaew Orange public songthaews run along Thanon Saeng Chuto, originating from outside the Focus Optic optician’s, three blocks north of the bus station, and travelling north via the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery (Don Rak), Thai–Burma Railway Centre, train station and access road to the Bridge (#2; roughly every 20min until 7pm; 15min to the Bridge turn-off; B10).
By motorbike Many outlets, such as Mek and Mee (081 757 1194) on Thanon Maenam Kwai, rent out motorbikes for around B200 per day.
By longtail boat Boats wait beside the Bridge for trips to riverside sights. A typical tour of the JEATH War Museum, Chungkai Cemetery and Wat Tham Khao Poon will cost B1000 and last 1hr 30min–2hr, though shorter, 30min jaunts on the water are also possible for B600.
By bicycle Guesthouses and tour agencies rent out bicycles for B50 a day – ideal for exploring the main town sights and the quiet rural backroads.
By kayak A green and sedate way of exploring the area is on a kayak tour. Try River Kwai Canoe Travel Services, 11 Thanon Maenam Kwai (086 168 5995, facebook.com/riverkwaicanoetravel), who charge from B400/person for 2hr, or Safarine, who charge from B350 for 1hr 30min.
Information
Tourist information The TAT office (daily 8.30am–4.30pm; 034 511200 or 034 512500, 
tatkan@tat.or.th) is just south of the bus station on Thanon Saeng Chuto and keeps up-to-date bus and train timetables. They can also provide a decent map of the town and province, and let you look at a booklet on Pak Phraek Cultural Road in their office (no copies are available).
Accommodation
Many people choose to make the most of the inspiring scenery by staying on or near the river, in a raft house, a guesthouse or a hotel, and the options are constantly increasing as the town’s building boom continues. The most popular area is the southern end of Thanon Maenam Kwai, which is the backpackers’ hub, crammed with sometimes-noisy bars, restaurants and tour agents; most guesthouses are at the riverside end of the small sois running off this thoroughfare, though few rooms actually have river views. For those that have views (which naturally have higher rates), the idyll can be disturbed by roaring longtail engines and jet-skis during the day, so you might want to book in for just one night until you’ve experienced the decibel levels for yourself. Bring mosquito repellent too, as many huts float among lotus swamps. There is also raft-house accommodation further upstream at Nam Tok and near Tham Lawa.
Kanchanaburi
Apple’s Retreat On the west side of the river, 600m from Thanon Maenam Kwai 034 512017, applenoikanchanaburi.com; map.Apple’s Retreat sits in a green and tranquil spot, with a lovely Kwai-side restaurant, Blue Rice, and terrace on the opposite side of the road by the river. The rather plain a/c rooms with platform beds and en-suite hot showers are in a two-storey building, enjoying views across farmland to the hills beyond, and there’s a peaceful garden. Breakfast included. B990
Bluestar Guesthouse 241 Thanon Maenam Kwai 034 512161, bluestar-guesthouse.com; map. Popular, clued-up guesthouse in a quiet, leafy garden that runs down to the riverside, with a wide range of good-value accommodation including very cheap, basic fan bungalows with en-suite cold showers, smarter fan rooms with hot water and a choice of a/c bungalows and rooms, some with good views of the river. Fan B300, a/c B450
Good Times Resort 265/5–7 Thanon Maenam Kwai 090 143 4925, good-times-resort.com; map. This is one of the most attractive resorts in town, with a prime location by the river just north of the Sudjai Bridge. Just about all of the 36 spacious rooms have a balcony, some with a view of the small swimming pool, but only one with river view. It’s a good base for families as some rooms are connecting. Rates include a filling breakfast. B1250
The Journey House Just off Thanon Maenam Kwai, about 3km northwest of the Bridge 092 260 9903, thejourneyhousethailand.com; map. Set in a large white villa with a pretty lily pond and swimming pool in the tranquil garden, this welcoming boutique hotel provides spacious rooms that are stylishly decorated with dark teak furniture. B2610
Nita Raft House Thanon Pak Phraek 034 514521, nita_rafthouse@yahoo.com; map. Away from the Thanon Maenam Kwai fray, a friendly, laidback, old-school guesthouse, whose simple floating rooms, some en-suite with river views, are among the cheapest in town; the very cheapest share bathrooms and face inland. Also does great food. B200
Sabai@Kan 317/4 Thanon Maenam Kwai 092 997 4000, www.sabaiatkan.com; map. This relaxing boutique hotel is located towards the northern end of Thanon Maenam Kwai, handy for the River Kwai Bridge railway station, and while there are no river views, all rooms have wall-to-wall windows that overlook a pleasant prospect of a swimming pool and shady garden. Rooms are spacious and well-equipped, with thick king-size mattresses on the beds. A decent buffet breakfast is included in the rate and staff are very efficient and helpful. B1400
Tamarind Guest House 29/1 Thanon Maenam Kwai 034 518790, tamarind_guesthouse@yahoo.co.th; map. Smaller rooms than in some of the other riverside guesthouses, but the place is very clean throughout and managed by considerate, friendly staff. Sleep in the two-storey house, or down by the waterfront in one of the rafthouse rooms (all en-suite with hot showers), which have river views and share a breezy, orchid-strewn terrace. No restaurant. Fan B350, a/c B550
Tara Raft 15/1 Soi Rongheaboy 092 829 9419, tararoom.com; map. In a pretty location on a quiet stretch of the river just south of the Maenam Kwai hub, this place has probably the nicest raft-house rooms in town (B900): colourfully decorated, they come with king-size beds, a/c, hot showers, safes, fridges, big TVs and lovely outlooks from tiny terraces. The cheapest rooms are back on land with no view, but have the same facilities. They also run Tara Bed and Breakfast (fan from B250, a/c from B350) at 99–101 Thanon Maenam Kwai. B600
U Inchantree 443 Thanon Maenam Kwai 034 521584, ukanchanaburi.com; map. Spectacularly located on a bend in the Kwai Yai River, a 5min walk north of the Bridge (get off at the River Kwai Bridge station if arriving by train), this luxurious, 50-room retreat has charming staff and what must be Kanchanaburi’s most style-conscious rooms. Standard rooms aren’t huge, but the powerful rain showers and snuggly white duvets more than compensate. Outside, facilities include a waterfront pool, a peaceful glass-fronted library and an attractive restaurant by the river. All-day breakfast included; discounts available for early booking and for midweek stays. B3180
VN 44 Soi Rongheaboy 034 514082, vnguesthouse.net; map. A quiet, pretty place just south of the Maenam Kwai hub, with good food and decent raft-house rooms: they’re large and come with terraces, en-suite hot showers and either fan or a/c. The cheapest rooms are in a concrete building but all have hot-water bathrooms. Fan B375, a/c B500
Out of town
Oriental Kwai 194/5 Moo 1, Ladya (off Route 3199) 061 673 0670, orientalkwai.com; map. In a lovely, quiet spot beside the Kwai Yai, 15km north of town, this Dutch–Thai-run little hotel offers thoughtfully designed cottages in a lush tropical garden with a pool and gym, and gracious service. Cottages are a/c, have DVD players (with a big library of films to choose from) and are tastefully decorated in modern Asian accents; some are wheelchair accessible. The owners will give you plenty of ideas for exploring the area, including boat rides to the Bridge and route maps for tours by bicycle or motorbike (both available for rent). Free pick-ups from town on arrival. Breakfast included. B2800
X2 River Kwai Southwest of town off Route 3228, about 10km beyond Chungkai Cemetery 034 552124, x2resorts.com/resorts/river-kwai; map. The idea – a resort built mostly of shipping containers on the banks of the River Kwai Noi – may not sound promising, but the execution is stunningly and ingeniously modern, with bold architectural features and elements of industrial chic and Japanese style. Most of the rooms float on the placid waters, with riverside balconies and chill-out rooftops, while some give directly onto the infinity-edged pool. There are bicycles to explore the neighbourhood, kayaks and jet-skis for the river. B4560
Eating
Most of Kanchanaburi’s guesthouses and raft houses have restaurants, and there’s a cluster of floating restaurants beside the Bridge, serving good if rather pricey seafood to accompany the river views. A cheaper place to enjoy genuine local food is at the ever-reliable night market, which sets up alongside Thanon Saeng Chuto on the edge of the bus station. There are also a few food stalls at the night bazaar, which operates in front of the train station (Mon, Tues & Thurs–Sun 6–10pm), and at Thanon Lak Muang’s “walking street” market on Saturday evenings from about 6pm.
Ban Sitthisang Thanon Pak Phraek; map. This attractively renovated, hundred-year-old mansion, with ornate wooden lintels and sepia-toned décor, serves good espresso coffees, speciality teas, cakes and ice cream. Daily 8am–6pm.
Bell’s Pizzeria 24/5 Thanon Maenam Kwai 081 010 6614; map. Lively, Swiss-run place with pavement tables that’s justly popular for its great pizzas (from B170). Also offers pastas, salads and a handful of Thai dishes. Daily 4–11pm or later.
Blue Rice Apple’s Retreat Guesthouse, 153/4 Moo 4, Tamakam (cross the Sudjai Bridge then turn north) 034 512017, applenoikanchanaburi.com; map. In a lovely riverside guesthouse restaurant, reliably tasty food prepared to traditional Thai recipes. The short menu (B100–250) includes coconut- and cashew-laced matsaman curries – both meat and vegetarian varieties – as well as outstanding yellow curries. Every dish is prepared to order, so service can be slow. Also offers cookery classes. Daily noon–2pm & 6–9.30pm.
Jit Jat 89 Thanon Maenam Kwai; map. This simple thatched hut turns out classic Thai dishes such as chicken with cashew nuts (B70) and northeastern salads at very reasonable prices, and cheap beers too. Daily 10am–11pm.
Keeree Tara 431/1 Thanon Maenam Kwai, about 100m north of the Bridge 034 513855, keereetara.com; map. Beyond the grandiose fountain at the entrance, scenic terraces slope down to a floating platform, all with fine views of the Bridge. Fortunately, the style is matched by the substance, on a diverse, creative menu: the laap muu thawt (deep-fried spicy pork salad; B150) and the kaeng khua muu yang khamin khao (roast pork and white turmeric curry) are both very good, and there’s plenty of river fish and prawns. Daily 10.30am–9.45pm.
Mangosteen 13 Thanon Maenam Kwai 081 793 5814, mangosteencafe.net; map. This cheery and congenial shophouse café has books to browse or buy, as well as a few games and books for kids. Its imaginative, wide-ranging menu includes good Thai stir-fries, salads, set meals and Burmese chicken curry (B120), as well as desserts and all manner of Western offerings, from budget breakfasts to jacket potatoes. Wash it down with one of their shakes, smoothies or imported beers. Daily 10.30am–10pm.
On’s Thai Issan Vegetarian 268/1 Thanon Maenam Kwai 087 364 2264, onsthaiissan.com; map. There’s a lively buzz around this simple streetside place, which only serves vegetarian dishes such as seaweed soup and phat thai (B70 a dish). The buzz comes from On’s students who learn how to make their favourite dishes during the day. Daily 10am–9pm.
Schluck 20/1 Thanon Maenam Kwai 081 355 9477; map. Cosy a/c restaurant serving salads, pizzas and steaks (from B160) as well as Thai food, but what really makes it stand out are the mouthwatering, home-made cakes such as vanilla choux buns and lemon meringue tart. Tues–Sun 4–10pm.
Drinking
Nightlife in Kanchanaburi is relatively low-key, though there’s a string of hostess bars at the southern end of Thanon Maenam Kwai, offering loud music and cheapish beer, with sports on TV as an added attraction. Further north up the strip are several simple bars without hostesses, and some classy venues that attract a mostly Thai crowd.
Gravité The Nine Guesthouse, Thanon Maenam Kwai; map. Cool, friendly little café-bar serving drip coffee – their own blend is very good, but you can also try Ethiopian and Guatemalan beans – as well as homemade cakes and Thai craft beers. Daily 9am–9pm.
One More Bar 44/3 Thanon Maenam Kwai 084 801 3933; map. A lively, sociable place to head to after dark, not least because it has a refreshing no-bar-girls policy. Staff are friendly, and there’s a range of Thai and Western food complemented by a wide selection of beers, spirits and cocktails and live sports on TV. Daily 8am–12.30/1am.
Shopping
River Kwai Bookshop 293 Thanon Maenam 034 511676; map. There are several secondhand bookshops on Thanon Maenam Kwai, but this is the best stocked, and staff are friendly and helpful. Mon, Tues & Thurs–Sun 12.30am–9pm.
Directory
Airline tickets Domestic and international tickets can be bought from Good Times Travel, 63/1 Thanon Maenam Kwai (034 915484, good-times-travel.com).
Banks and ATMs There are several banks with money-changing facilities and ATMs on Thanon Saeng Chuto, immediately to the north of the Thanon U Thong junction, and around the Bridge.
Cookery classes Most famously at Blue Rice (see page 195): shop at the morning market, pick herbs and vegetables from their organic garden and learn how to cook the basic Thai dishes at professional cooking stations (daily 9.30am–2.30pm; B1990). Vegetarians should sign up for classes with Khun On at On’s Thai Issan Vegetarian; she’ll teach you how to make three dishes in two hours for B600, any time between 10am and 6pm.
Hospitals The private Thanakan Hospital (034 622358) is at 20/20 Thanon Saeng Chuto, at the southern end of town, near the junction with Thanon Chukkadon; the government-run Phahon Phonphayulasena Hospital (034 511233 or 034 622999) is further south at 572/1 Thanon Saeng Chuto, near the junction with Thanon Mae Klong.
Immigration office At 100/22 Thanon Mae Klong 034 564279.
Post office The GPO is 1km south of the TAT office on Thanon Saeng Chuto.
Tourist police For all emergencies, call the tourist police on the free, 24hr phone line (1155), or contact them at their office on Thanon Saeng Chuto (034 512795) or one of their booths at the Bridge, the train station or the bus station.
The parallel valleys of the Kwai Noi and the Kwai Yai, northwest of Kanchanaburi, are stacked full of great day-tripping opportunities, from elephant camps, through the exceptionally beautiful Erawan Falls and Huay Mae Khamin Falls, to the drama of a ride on the Death Railway and the pathos of the Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum and Walk. There are Stone Age artefacts at the Ban Kao National Museum, twelfth-century Khmer temple ruins at Prasat Muang Singh, and several good caves, including at Tham Than Lot National Park and Sai Yok National Park.
Many of these attractions are served by public transport, the train being an obvious option along the Kwai Noi valley as far as its Nam Tok terminus, with buses useful along both valleys. However, many people find it more convenient to combine several attractions and activities by signing up for one of the many mix-and-match tours offered by Kanchanaburi agents, or rent a motorbike for a day. Distances are not large, and there’s a handy connecting road between the two valleys just south of Nam Tok.
99/4 Moo 4, Ban Nong Hoi, Tambon Wang Dong (32km northwest of Kanchanaburi) • 086 335 5332, elephantsworld.org
Elephants’ World is the most popular of several elephant camps in the vicinity of Kanchanaburi, probably because of their sensitive and non-exploitative way of dealing with these gentle giants. You can sign up on their website for programmes lasting from a day to four weeks, with prices starting from B2500, for which they will pick you up and drop you off and provide all meals and accommodation. Their motto is “We work for the elephants, and not the elephants for us”, and activities include preparing food for them, feeding them and bathing them. Don’t forget to take along a change of clothes, as caring for these huge beasts can be a messy business.
Daily 8am–4.30pm, though rangers start clearing the upper levels of the falls earlier • National park fee B300 • 034 574222.nps.dnp.go.th
Considered by many to be the most beautiful falls in Thailand, the Erawan Falls are the star attraction of Erawan National Park. It’s a great day out and, if you’re on a tour, it combines well with a ride on the Death Railway.
The falls really are astonishingly lovely: the clear glacial-blue waters gush through the forest, dropping in a series of seven tiers along a route of around 2km. At each tier, cascades feed a pool shaded by bamboo, rattan and liana, and the whole course can be walked, along a riverside trail that gets increasingly tricky the further up you go. The distance between tiers, and the ascent to each, is clearly spelled out on signs in the park. It’s just 500m from the visitor centre to level one, and then fairly easy going on and up to the dramatically stepped fifth stage (1800m). Food and drink are not permitted beyond level two, apart from bottles of water for which you must pay a deposit of B20, returnable on showing the bottle as you come down.
The route on to the sixth and seventh levels is steep and slippery when wet, and features some rickety bridges and ladders: wear appropriate shoes and avoid doing the last bit alone, if you can; it’s about a one-hour-thirty-minute hike from bottom to top. The best pools for swimming are level two (which gets the most crowded) and level seven, which is a hard slog but rarely busy, and also boasts stunning views over the jungle, while level four boasts a natural rock slide; at many of the pools small fish nibble at swimmers, giving you a free, natural fish spa. The seventh tier is topped by a triple cascade and is the one that gave the falls their name: Erawan is the three-headed elephant of Hindu mythology, vehicle of the god Indra.
Day-trips, rafting and trekking around Kanchanaburi
All the places listed below advertise day-trips around the Kanchanaburi and Sangkhlaburi areas, including infinite permutations of bamboo rafting, elephant-riding, Erawan Falls, Hellfire Pass and the Death Railway, sometimes with a short trek thrown in; most companies include the floating market at Damnoen Saduak in their programmes and offer multi-day trips. Prices listed are per person, usually for a minimum of four. They usually also do tailor-made guided tours to the war sights (often by boat or raft) and will provide a cheap transport service – car plus driver but no guide – for the more accessible attractions. If you’re given the opportunity to visit Kanchanaburi’s “Monkey School” as part of your tour, you’re strongly advised to turn it down. The monkeys here are said to have been rescued from abusive owners, but they spend their days chained up by the neck or being coerced into performing circus tricks like shooting hoops and riding children’s bicycles.
Good Times Travel 63/1 Thanon Maenam Kwai 034 915484, good-times-travel.com. Competitively priced day-trips (from B1900/person for a group of four) and longer tours and treks, including a two-day trip to a Karen area near Hin Dat hot springs, which includes three–four hours’ trekking each day (B4700/person, based on four sharing).
KTC (Kanchanaburi Travel Centre) 99–101 Thanon Maenam Kwai 086 396 7349 or 087 153 4147, tourkanchanaburi.com. Offers the standard day-trips, as well as a twice-daily trip out to ride elephants and bathe them in the river (from B690) and an afternoon longtail trip to Wat Tham Khao Poon, Chungkai Cemetery and the Bridge (B400).
Safarine 117 Soi Tha Makham, Moo 2 (to the northwest of town) 086 049 1662, safarine.com. French-run private-tour company, whose offerings include short and half-day canoeing trips in the Kanchanaburi area for B350–550.
12km from Erawan Waterfall • Daily 8am–4.30pm (last entry 3pm)
With your own transport you might also want to visit the park’s other significant feature, the 200m-long stalactite-filled cave, Tham Phrathat, 12km by road from the falls, then a 500m walk. It’s of particular interest to geologists for its clearly visible disjointed strata, evidence of the Sri Sawat fault line that runs under the Kwai Yai.
Arrival and departureErawan falls
Erawan Waterfall is 70km northwest of Kanchanaburi, via Route 3199 along the Kwai Yai valley, or 40km from Nam Tok. Most foreign tourists charter return transport to Erawan Falls from Kanchanaburi but you can also get a public bus. On day tours, the falls are commonly combined with a ride on the Death Railway.
By bus From Kanchanaburi, buses run to the national park visitor centre (every 50min; 1hr 30min); the last bus back to Kanchanaburi (very crowded on weekends and public holidays) departs at 4pm.
By chartered transport Guesthouses in Kanchanaburi can arrange private transport to the falls (around B1500/car, depending on fuel prices).
Accommodation and eating
You’ll find several food stalls, restaurants, showers and shops near the trailhead that are open daily from around 8am–8pm.
National park accommodation 034 574222, nps.dnp.go.th. The park has a series of basic bungalows, terraced “houses” and tents, which can be reserved online or at the visitor centre. You can also pitch your own tent in the park. Camping per person B30, bungalows B800, tents B225
30km northwest of Tham Phrathat and 110km from Kanchanaburi • National park fee (Srinakarind National Park, aka Khuean Srinagarindra National Park) B300 • 081 010 6966, nps.dnp.go.th
Though the Erawan Falls are certainly beautiful, they’re often crowded, which can make it difficult to relax there. Arguably just as attractive but much less crowded (though it can get busy at weekends), the Huay Mae Khamin Falls also consist of seven levels, which are spread over 2km, with the most spectacular cataract at level four right beside the national park headquarters. The peculiar beauty of these falls is that mineral deposits create symmetrical ledges, over which the clear waters flow like a curtain. Informative signboards beside the wooden walkway and stairway (levels one to four) point out intriguing features of the landscape. Above level four, there’s a trail through groves of bamboo and plenty of pools where you can plunge in and cool off in the therapeutic waters.
Getting to the falls once necessitated a long and expensive boat ride across the Srinakarind Reservoir, which is fed by the dammed waters of the Mae Klong and the Kha Khaeng and gives rise to the Kwai Yai, but there’s now a sealed road (Route 6073) leading up the west side of the reservoir from Tham Phrathat in Erawan National Park. It’s not on many tour itineraries yet, but that may change given the relatively easy access.
Arrival and accommodationHuay Mae Khamin Falls
There’s no public transport to the falls, so you’ll need a rented vehicle or to join a tour. Follow directions to Erawan Falls and on to Tham Phrathat, then keep going for another 30km along a rollercoaster of a road (R6073) to the national park headquarters. There are several food stalls, for which you’ll need to buy coupons, beside the visitor centre. They serve simple rice and noodle dishes as well as drinks and are open daily from dawn to dusk.
National park accommodation 034 532027, dnp.go.th. There are several concrete, stilted bungalows with balconies and hot showers, sleeping three people, and a large campsite that is very popular among Thais at weekends. Reserve online or at the visitor centre. You can also pitch your own tent in the park. Camping per person B30, bungalows B900, tents B225
Tham Than Lot (Chaloem Rattanakosin) National Park
97km north of Kanchanaburi • B200 • 034 547020, nps.dnp.go.th
Tiny Tham Than Lot National Park (also known as Chaloem Rattanakosin National Park) covers just 59 square kilometres, but is home to leopards, oriental pied hornbills and barking tree frogs, and boasts two stalactite-strewn caves (bring a torch), a decent waterfall and an enjoyable hiking trail that links them.
From the visitor centre, follow the signed trail for about ten minutes to reach the first cave, Tham Than Lot Noi, which is 400m deep and illuminated if there are enough people (for example at weekends). A very picturesque 2.5km, two-hour trail runs on from the other side of Tham Than Lot Noi, along a stream and through a ravine to the first of three waterfalls, about an hour and a half’s easy walk away and passing towering dipterocarps, fine jungle views and plenty of butterflies en route. The path gets more difficult after the first waterfall, and dangerously slippery in the wet season, running via another couple of waterfalls before coming to the larger of the park’s two caves, the impressively deep sink-hole Tham Than Lot Yai, site of a small Buddhist shrine. Another ten minutes along the trail brings you to a small forest temple, from where you’ll need to retrace your steps to return to the visitor centre.
Arrival and accommodationTham Than Lot National Park
If you’d rather not drive, your best bet is to organize a private tour from Kanchanaburi. If you’re hungry, there’s a very basic restaurant at the park’s headquarters.
By car From the city, follow Route 3199 until you reach Ladya, and then join Route 3086. Turn left at Amphoe Nong Pru and then follow the road for 18km until you reach the park.
National Park accommodation A handful of simple, government-owned bungalows sit within the park – bedding, hot showers and fan are provided. 4 people from B1200
35km west of Kanchanaburi and 8km from Prasat Muang Singh • Wed–Sun 8.30am–4.30pm • B50 • 081 994 9873 • No public transport; follow Highway 323 north out of Kanchanaburi until you get to the junction with minor road 3229, then follow this road southwest for about 16km before joining minor road 3445 for the last 2km
The Ban Kao National Museum is devoted to relics from an advanced prehistoric civilization on the banks of the Kwai Noi (8000 to 1000 BC), which was first discovered by a Dutch POW working on the Death Railway who unearthed a burial site. Items on display include unique, curiously designed pots dated to around 1770 BC that were found buried at the head and feet of fifty skeletons; polished stone tools from around 8000 BC; and inscribed bronze pots and bangles transferred from a nearby bronze-culture site, which have been placed at around 1000 BC – somewhat later than the bronze artefacts from Ban Chiang in the northeast. The hollowed-out tree trunks in the museum once functioned as coffins.
8km northwest of Ban Kao National Museum, on minor road 3445 • Daily 8am–4.30pm • B100, plus B50/car, B20/motorbike or B10/bicycle • 034 591122 or 034 670264–5
Eight hundred years ago, the Khmer empire extended west as far as Muang Singh (City of Lions), an outpost strategically sited on the banks of the River Kwai Noi, 43km west of present-day Kanchanaburi. Thought to have been built at the end of the twelfth century, the temple complex of Prasat Muang Singh follows Khmer religious and architectural precepts, but its origins are obscure – the City of Lions gets no mention in any of the recognized chronicles until the nineteenth century.
Shutterstock
AISAWAN THIPHYA-ART, BANG PA-IN
Prasat Muang Singh covers one-third of a square kilometre, bordered by moats and ramparts that had cosmological as well as defensive significance, and with an enclosed shrine complex at its heart. Restorations now give an idea of the crude grandeur of the original structure, which was constructed entirely from blocks of rough, russet laterite.
As with all Khmer prasats, the pivotal feature of Muang Singh is the main prang, surrounded by a series of walls and a covered gallery, with gateways marking the cardinal points. The prang faces east, towards Angkor, and is guarded by a fine sandstone statue of Avalokitesvara, one of the five great bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism, would-be Buddhas who have postponed their entrance into Nirvana to help others attain enlightenment. He’s depicted here in characteristic style, his eight arms and torso covered with tiny Buddha reliefs and his hair tied in a topknot. In Mahayanist mythology, Avalokitesvara represents mercy, while the other statue found in the prasat, the female figure of Prajnaparamita, symbolizes wisdom – when wisdom and mercy join forces, enlightenment ensues. Just visible on the inside of the north wall surrounding the prang is the only intact example of the stucco carving that once ornamented every facade. Other fragments and sculptures found at this and nearby sites are displayed in a small museum; especially tantalizing is the single segment of what must have been a gigantic face hewn from several massive blocks of stone.
Arrival and departurePrasat Muang Singh
By car From Kanchanaburi either follow directions given for Ban Kao National Museum to start with, or continue along Highway 323, turn left onto Route 3445 and head southwest to Muang Singh.
By train You can get to Muang Singh by taking the Death Railway train: get off at Tha Kilen (1hr 15min from Kanchanaburi;), walk straight out of the station for 500m, turn right at the crossroads and continue for another 1km to reach the ruins.
There’s not much more to the tiny town of NAM TOK than the terminus of the Death Railway line. Tour groups of Thais and foreigners flock to the pretty, roadside Sai Yok Noi Falls, 2km north, and if you’re filling time between trains, you could walk along the continuation of the railway tracks to join them. It’s also straightforward to get a bus on to Hellfire Pass.
Arrival and departureNam Tok
By train The train station is at the top of the town, 900m north of Highway 323, and a further 2km from the Kwai Noi River. To reach the highway from the station, walk up the station approach road, cross the tracks, turn left at the spirit-house roundabout, then first right through the small town, passing a water tower and market on your left.
By bus All Kanchanaburi–Hellfire Pass–Thong Pha Phum/Sangkhlaburi buses pass through Nam Tok, generally making a stop near the T-junction of the highway and the station road (every 30min; last bus back to Kanchanaburi at about 5.30pm); it’s about 1hr 30min from Kanchanaburi to Nam Tok and 30min from Nam Tok to Hellfire Pass.
Accommodation
Boutique Raft Resort Just west of Pak Saeng pier on the river bank 081 353 1065, boutiqueraft-riverkwai.com; map. In a tranquil spot, accommodation either on land or in large, thatched bamboo and wood floating rafthouses with a/c, hot showers, fridges and their own waterside balconies, from which you could dive into the river. There’s also a large raft enclosing a river-water swimming pool and plenty of simple bamboo rafts for pootling about on. Breakfast included. B2200
Riding the Death Railway
The two-hour journey along the notorious Thailand–Burma Death Railway from Kanchanaburi to Nam Tok is one of Thailand’s most scenic and most popular train rides. Though the views are lovely, it’s the history that makes the ride so special, so it’s worth visiting the Thailand–Burma Railway Centre in Kanchanaburi before making the trip, as this provides a context for the enormous loss of human life and the extraordinary feat of engineering behind the line’s construction. Alternatively, take a bus from Kanchanaburi to the Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum and Walk, 18km from the line’s current Nam Tok terminus, which provides an equally illuminating introduction to the railway’s history, then take a bus back to Nam Tok and return to Kanchanaburi by train. A good tip, to get the best views, is to make sure you sit (or stand) on the right-hand side of the train on the journey back to Kanchanaburi, and on the left-hand side when travelling towards Nam Tok.
Leaving Kanchanaburi via the Bridge over the River Kwai, the train chugs through the fertile, red-soiled Kwai Noi valley, passing plantations of teak, tapioca, sugar cane, papaya and watermelon, and stopping frequently at country stations decked with frangipani and jasmine. The first stop of note is Tha Kilen (1hr 15min), where you can alight for Prasat Muang Singh. About twenty minutes later the most hair-raising section of track begins: at Wang Sing, also known as Arrow Hill, the train squeezes through 30m-deep solid rock cuttings, dug at the cost of numerous POW lives; 6km further, it slows to a crawl at the approach to the Wang Po viaduct, where a 300m-long trestle bridge clings to the cliff face as it curves with the Kwai Noi – almost every man who worked on this part of the railway died. The station at the northern end of the trestle bridge is called Tham Krasae, after the cave that’s hollowed out of the rock face beside the bridge; you can see the cave’s resident Buddha image from the train. North of Tham Krasae, the train pulls in at Wang Po Station before continuing alongside a particularly lovely stretch of the Kwai Noi, its banks thick with jungle and not a raft house in sight, the whole vista framed by distant tree-clad peaks. Thirty minutes later, the train reaches Nam Tok, a small town that thrives chiefly on its position at the end of the line.
Three trains operate daily along the Death Railway in both directions, but they don’t always run on time. Currently they’re scheduled to leave Kanchanaburi at 6.07am (originating at Nong Pladuk Junction), 10.35am and 4.26pm (the latter two originating at Bangkok’s Thonburi Station) and to return from Nam Tok at 5.20am, 12.55pm (both continuing to Thonburi Station) and 3.30pm (terminating at Nong Pla Duk Junction). If you’re up at the Bridge, you can join the train five minutes later, though you’re more likely to get a seat if you board at the main station. The Death Railway is classified as a historic line, so foreigners are charged an over-the-odds B100 to go to Nam Tok, even though the carriages are third class without a/c. If you’re really worried about getting a seat, you can buy a “special ticket” at the station for B300 (one way), which includes a cushion, a snack, a drink and a reservation in a “historic” third-class carriage, ie one that’s even older than the regular rolling stock.
Eating
There are several tourist-oriented restaurants at the station (open all day), and cheap hot-food stalls in the market (evening only), halfway along the station road, but your best bet for something to eat is Raenu Restaurant on Highway 323, about 2km north of town.
Raenu Restaurant Opposite Sai Yok Noi Falls on the main road 034 634360 or 081 880 1987; map. Big, open-sided wooden restaurant overlooking the valley, that’s hugely popular with Thai tourists, and for good reason: dished up in generous portions, the pla khao thawt man pla, a locally caught river fish deep-fried with fish sauce (B220), is delicious, and goes well with stir-fried local vegetables served with spicy shrimp-paste relish (B100). Daily 7/8am–8pm, until 9pm Sat & Sun.
Upriver on the Kwai Noi from Nam Tok
About 10km north of Nam Tok, a side road turns off Highway 323 at kilometre-stone 129 and winds down to the east bank of the river for about 2km, giving access to a beautiful stretch of the Kwai Noi and the Resotel pier. There’s no development along the banks apart from a few raft houses and shore-bound little hotels. The west bank of the river here, where you’ll find Tham Lawa, the Mon village and a couple of pleasant places to stay, can be reached either by boat from the Resotel pier or by car, crossing the bridge over the Kwai Noi by the Pak Saeng pier in Nam Tok and working your way up the minor roads.
Boat trips from Nam Tok
You can rent a longtail boat (plus driver) from the Nam Tok’s Pak Saeng pier (“Tha Pak Saeng”) for the ride upstream to Tham Lawa or Sai Yok Yai Falls. To reach the pier from the Highway 323 T-junction, cross the road, turn southeast towards Kanchanaburi, then take the first road on your right; it’s 2km from here to the river. The return journey to the cave takes roughly two hours, including 30–45min there, and costs B1200 for the eight-seater boat; for an extra B3000–4000 you could continue to Sai Yok Yai Falls, a five- or six-hour return trip, though this trip is not possible when water levels are low (Feb–May). You can also rent a boat for an hour’s sightseeing (around B1200) along this pretty stretch of river.
60km northwest of Kanchanaburi and 15km northwest of Nam Tok, on the west bank of the Kwai Noi • Daily roughly 8.30am–4.30pm • Sai Yok National Park fee B300 • Can be reached via a longtail ride upriver from the Pak Saeng pier in Nam Tok, by road on the west side of the river from Nam Tok, or by walking from nearby accommodation
The most famous attraction around here is Tham Lawa, the largest stalactite cave in the area and home to three species of bat. A steep set of stairs leads to the entrance, beyond which are five large chambers, connected by an illuminated concrete path. There are also light switches that should illuminate the more striking formations, but often don’t work; it’s best to take your own torch. The walk through the cave and back takes around thirty minutes, but the stalactites and stalagmites are not especially impressive and you’d need to be very keen on caves to find it worthwhile.
You can visit the Mon village just below Tham Lawa, where you’re encouraged to browse the sarongs and other artefacts made and sold by the villagers, take an elephant ride and visit the local school. The Mon villagers fled here from Myanmar in the late 1950s but have still not been granted Thai ID papers, which means the children can’t study at Thai secondary schools and adults have difficulty finding work. This village has close links with resorts operated by Serenata (including the Resotel and Float House), and many of its residents work at the hotels.
Arrival and departureUpriver on the Kwai Noi from Nam Tok
By bus Any Kanchanaburi–Hellfire Pass–Thong Pha Phum/Sangkhlaburi bus will drop you at the turn-off to the Resotel pier. Heading back to Kanchanaburi, you should be able to flag down buses at the same spot.
Accommodation
Float House Just upstream from the Resotel (see below) and Tham Lawa (take a boat from the Resotel pier) 02 642 5497, thefloathouseriverkwai.com; map. This is the newest resort operated by Serenata, a company with something of a monopoly on luxury accommodation in the region. In a gorgeous setting, with lush jungle all round and the river flowing beneath, this floating resort features beautiful thatched but a/c rooms with every comfort, including private terraces looking out over the river. Breakfast included. B5230
River Kwai Resotel On the west bank of the river (take a boat from the Resotel pier) 02 642 5497, riverkwairesotel.net; map. Serenata’s flagship resort is a classy, upmarket spot, comprising an open-air restaurant, some charming and spacious thatched riverside chalets with their own balconies and a turquoise swimming pool. Breakfast included. B2850
Sam’s Jungle Guest House About 1km off the highway at kilometre-stone 129 081 948 3448, samsguesthouse.com; map. Occupying a large swathe of steep and densely grown riverbank, this place offers a range of well-priced fan and a/c accommodation with hot showers and terraces, in a strange and rather unstylish assortment of buildings that nonetheless enjoy an exceptionally tranquil setting; there’s kayak rental too. Staff keep the front gate closed while working down by the river, so call ahead if you can. Fan B400, a/c B500
Although the rail line north of Nam Tok was ripped up soon after the end of World War II, it casts its dreadful shadow all the way up the Kwai Noi valley into Myanmar. The remnants of track are most visible at Hellfire Pass, and many of the villages in the area are former POW sites – locals frequently stumble across burial sites, now reclaimed by the encroaching jungle. To keep the Death Railway level through the uneven course of the Kwai valley, the POWs had to build a series of embankments and trestle bridges and, at dishearteningly frequent intervals, gouge deep cuttings through solid rock. The most concentrated digging was at Konyu, 18km beyond Nam Tok, where seven separate cuttings were made over a 3.5km stretch. The longest and most brutal of these was Hellfire Pass, which got its name from the hellish-looking lights and shadows of the fires the POWs used when working at night. The job took three months of round-the-clock labour with the most primitive tools.
Daily 9am–4pm • Donation requested • 034 919605, dva.gov.au
The story of the POWs who died on the Hellfire Pass is documented at the beautifully designed Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum, the best and most informative of all the World War II museums in the Kanchanaburi region. Inside, wartime relics, POW memorabilia, photos and informative display boards tell the sobering history of the construction of this stretch of the Thailand–Burma Railway, along with slide shows and videos. Founded by an Australian–Thai volunteer group, the museum now serves as a sort of pilgrimage site for the families and friends of Australian POWs.
No set hours for the walk, but the audio tour must be returned to the museum by 4pm
The same Australian–Thai group responsible for the Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum has also cleared a one-hour circular memorial walk, which begins at the museum and descends to follow the old rail route through the 20m-deep, 70m-long cutting and back. Only adding to the poignancy, it’s a beautiful trail through woods and bamboo stands, with bucolic views of the mountain ridges across the valley. It’s also possible to extend the walk by continuing northwards along the line of the railway to the Hin Tok Road, just beyond Hin Tok Cutting, along a course relaid with some of the original narrow-gauge track (about 2hr 30min out and back; if you have a car with driver, you could arrange to be picked up at the Hin Tok Road). It’s well worth getting the excellent, free audio tour available at the museum (leave your passport or driving licence as deposit), which gives a detailed commentary, including vivid first-person testimonies by Australian former POWs, all along both sections of walk. Bring water and sturdy shoes as the walk along the old railway line goes over large chippings.
Arrival and departureHellfire Pass
Hellfire Pass is 18km north of Nam Tok, on a military base on the west side of Highway 323 just after kilometre-stone 139. Most Kanchanaburi tour-operators offer day-trips featuring Hellfire Pass. It’s also easy to get here on your own by bus, or by a combination of train and bus, taking the Death Railway to Nam Tok, then a bus to Hellfire Pass.
By bus From Kanchanaburi or Nam Tok, take any bus bound for Thong Pha Phum or Sangkhlaburi and ask to be dropped off at Hellfire Pass; it’s about a 2hr journey from Kanchanaburi or 30min from Nam Tok. The last return bus to Kanchanaburi passes Hellfire Pass at about 5pm; if you’re continuing to Sangkhlaburi, the last onward bus comes past at about 2pm, the last a/c minibus at about 6.30–7pm.
B300 • 034 686024, nps.dnp.go.th
Expanses of impenetrable mountain wilderness characterize the Kwai Noi valley to the north of Hellfire Pass, a landscape typified by the dense monsoon forests of Sai Yok National Park, which stretches all the way to the Burmese border. The park makes a refreshing enough stopover between Nam Tok and Sangkhlaburi, particularly if you have your own transport. Its teak forests are best known for the much-photographed though unexceptional Sai Yok Yai Falls flowing into the Kwai Noi River, the eight stalactite-filled chambers of Daowadung Caves, and Kang Kao Cave, which is home to one of the smallest-known mammals in the world, the elusive Kitti’s hog-nosed or bumblebee bat, which weighs as little as 1.75g when fully grown. Short trails to Sai Yok Yai Falls and Kang Kao Cave start from near the park’s visitor centre, while Daowadung Cave is 6km away by road or longtail boat.
Arrival and departureSai Yok National Park
The park is 19km from Hellfire Pass, 97km north of Kanchanaburi, signed off Highway 323 between kilometre-stones 155 and 156.
By bus Any of the Kanchanaburi–Thong Pha Phum/Sangkhlaburi buses will stop at the road entrance to Sai Yok, from where it’s a 3km walk to the visitor centre, trailheads and river (motorbike taxis sometimes hang around the road entrance). The last bus to Sangkhlaburi passes at around 2.30pm and the last bus to Kanchanaburi at about 4.30pm.
By boat The most scenic approach to Sai Yok is by longtail from Nam Tok, a 5–6hr return trip, though it’s not always possible in the dry season (Feb–May).
Accommodation and eating
There are plenty of hot-food stalls, restaurants and floating restaurants near the visitor centre.
National park accommodation 034 686024, dnp.go.th. You can stay in the national park’s simple, fan-cooled bungalows, sleeping between four and seven people, some with hot showers, but it’s worth booking ahead online. B800
Pha Tad Falls and Hin Dat hot springs
Pha Tad Falls (Srinakarind National Park fee) B300 • Hin Dat hot springs B60
North of Sai Yok National Park, signs off Highway 323 direct you to the two long, gently sloping cascades of Pha Tad Falls, which are very attractive in the wet season (June–Nov), though there’s almost no water in the late dry season (Feb–May). Nearer the main road is Hin Dat (Hindad) hot springs, where, after paying the entry fee, you can immerse yourself in pools of soothingly warm water. Close by is a much cooler stream – perfect for leaping into after a good soak in the springs – and you can make use of the nearby showers and food stalls.
Arrival and departurePha Tad Falls and Hin Dat hot springs
Both Pha Tad Falls and Hin Dat hot springs are east off Highway 323.
To/from Pha Tad Falls The falls are 10km east from kilometre-stone 178 and can only be reached with your own transport or on a tour.
To/from Hin Dat The hot springs are 1km east from kilometre-stone 180; any Thong Pha Phum/Sangkhlaburi bus from Kanchanaburi will drop you at the Hin Dat access track, from where it’s an easy walk across to the springs. Returning in the afternoon, flag down a bus from Thong Pha Phum or Sangkhlaburi for the trip back to Kanchanaburi (last bus around 4pm).
The first significant settlement northwest of Sai Yok is Thong Pha Phum (147km from Kanchanaburi), a mid-sized market town with bus connections to Sangkhlaburi and Kanchanaburi and plenty of small food shops. With your own transport, you could drive northwest of town to explore the southeastern fringes of nearby Vajiralongkorn Reservoir (formerly Khao Laem Reservoir, but renamed after the current king), set in a refreshing, almost Scandinavian, landscape of forested hills and clear, still water. This vast body of water stretches all the way from the dam, 12km northwest of Thong Pha Phum market, to Sangkhlaburi 73km to the north and, when created in the early 1980s, flooded every village in the vicinity.
Arrival and departurethong pha phum
By bus Take a bus or a/c minibus from Kanchanaburi (2hr 30min–3hr 30min) or from Sangkhlaburi (1hr–1hr 30min). Occasional yellow songthaews travel to the reservoir from Thong Pha Phum market.
Accommodation
The Rabbit House Down a lane that runs behind the hospital, opposite Wat Thong Pha Phum 034 910190, therabbithouse1.tht.in.th; map. Thong Pha Phum’s best hotel is a surprisingly modern-looking affair, offering bright, tiled rooms with a/c, hot showers, fridges and cable TV. B790
About 60km west of Thong Pha Phum along Route 3272 • B200 • 034 510979, nps.dnp.go.th
After skirting round the southern branch of Vajiralongkorn Reservoir, the final 30km of the road to Thong Pha Phum National Park twists like a roller coaster and is slow but surfaced. If you have your own wheels the effort is worth it; this is a remote and lovely place to escape to, barely visited by foreign tourists and home to a population of wild elephants, mountain goats and barking deer. If you stay overnight, the big pleasure here is waking to see the foggy jungle below. During the day you can follow several trails that lead to the park’s waterfalls.
ArrivalThong Pha Phum National Park
By songthaew Occasional songthaews head to Pilok on the Myanmar border from the market in Thong Pha Phum, taking around 1hr 30min.
Accommodation and eating
In high season, there’s a restaurant on site but options are limited, so it’s worth bringing some of your own supplies.
National park accommodation 034 510979. There are a number of rather basic bungalows near park headquarters. Call in advance to reserve. It’s also possible to camp here – you can bring your own tent, or rent one. Camping B30, tents B225, bungalows B800
Beyond Thong Pha Phum the views get increasingly spectacular as Highway 323 climbs through the remaining swathes of montane rainforest, occasionally hugging the eastern shore of the Vajiralongkorn Reservoir until 73km later it comes to an end at Sangkhlaburi (often called Sangkhla for short). In the early 1980s, the old town was lost under the rising waters of the newly created Khao Laem (now Vajiralongkorn) Reservoir, when the Kwai Noi River was dammed. Its residents were mostly relocated to the northern tip of the lake, beside the Songkalia River, where modern-day Sangkhla now enjoys an eerily beautiful view of the water. It’s a tiny town with no unmissable attractions, but the atmosphere is pleasantly low-key and the best of the accommodation occupies scenic lakeside spots so it’s a great place to slow down for a while.
Cultural interest is to be found in the villages, markets and temples of the area’s Mon, Karen and Thai populations, including at Ban Waeng Ka across the water. It sees relatively few farang tourists, but it’s a popular destination for weekending Thais (come during the week for better deals on accommodation) and resident NGO volunteers add a positive vibe. Though the Burmese border is just 22km away at Three Pagodas Pass, at the time of writing it was closed to foreigners.
Aside from crossing the famous wooden bridge over the lake to the Mon village of Ban Waeng Ka, the main pastime in Sangkhlaburi is boating across the reservoir in search of the old village that was submerged when the valley was flooded. Water levels in the reservoir have dropped over the last few years, and vary between the dry and rainy seasons, but you should be able to see the “old” Wat Wang Wiwekaram and the “old” Wat Si Suwan; early morning and late afternoon are the best times to go. P Guest House rents out two-person canoes for independent exploring (B60/hr, B250/day or B150 for half a day) and offers longtail boat trips (B600 for up to six people; about 1hr 30min).
The Mon village of BAN WAENG KA, across the reservoir from Sangkhlaburi, was founded in the late 1940s after the outbreak of civil war in Myanmar forced many to flee across the Thai border. The Mon people’s homeland, Mon State, lies just west of the Tenasserim Mountains, so thousands of Mon ended up in Sangkhlaburi, illegal immigrants whose presence was permitted but not officially recognized. Most now have official Sangkhlaburi residency, but still endure limited rights and must apply for expensive seven-day permits if they wish to travel out of the district, a system that lends itself to corruption.
Baan Unrak Foundation
Sangkhla’s location so close to the Burmese border, along with the upheavals caused by the creation of the reservoir, mean that the town is full of displaced people, many of whom are in dire straits. Several organizations work with refugees in the area, including Baan Unrak Foundation (034 510778, baanunrak.org), a farang-managed programme founded by the Neo Humanist Foundation that has run a children’s home here since 1991 and has also established a primary school and a weaving project for destitute women. To help support the project you can buy handicrafts at the Baan Unrak Bakery or make a donation. Volunteer placements are also possible, including teaching English.
Getting to Ban Waeng Ka entails crossing the narrow northern neck of the lake, near the influx of the Songkalia River. Drivers have to use a concrete bridge and a winding road of several kilometres to get there, but pedestrians can walk over the spider’s web of a wooden bridge that is Sangkhla’s unofficial town symbol. At almost 400m it is said to be the longest hand-built wooden bridge in the world and it can be reached either by following signs from near the post office to Samprasop Resort, which overlooks the structure, or by using the connecting footbridge near the Burmese Inn. Once across the wooden bridge, turn left to get into the village – a sprawling collection of traditional wooden houses lining a network of steep tracks, with a small but lively dry-goods market at its heart.
About 2km south from the bridgehead
Wat Wang Wiwekaram (also known as Wat Luang Pho Uttama) is Ban Waeng Ka’s most dramatic sight, its massive, golden chedi clearly visible from Sangkhlaburi. Built in a fusion of Thai, Indian and Burmese styles, the imposing square-sided stupa is modelled on the centrepiece of India’s Bodh Gaya, the sacred site of the Buddha’s enlightenment, and contains a much-prized Buddha relic (said to be a piece of his skeleton) brought to Ban Waeng Ka from Sri Lanka. It’s a focal point for the Mon community on both sides of the Thai–Myanmar border, particularly at Mon New Year in April. There’s a tourist market in the covered cloisters at the chedi compound, with plenty of reasonably priced Burmese woodcarvings, checked longyis and jewellery.
The wat is spread over two compounds (you might want to hail a motorbike taxi to get here from the bridgehead), with the bot, viharn and monks’ quarters about 1km away from the chedi, at the end of the left-hand fork in the road. The interior of the viharn is decorated with murals showing tableaux from the five hundred lives of the Buddha, designed to be viewed in anticlockwise order.
Three Pagodas Pass and the border
24km north of Sangkhlaburi • Songthaews leave Sangkhla bus station roughly every 40min from 6.40am until about 6.30pm and take 40min; the last songthaew back to Sangkhla leaves at about 5pm
All border trade for hundreds of kilometres north and south has to come through Three Pagodas Pass (signed as Jadee Sam Ong), but at the time of writing the crossing was closed to foreigners. Unless you’re looking for heavy teak furniture or orchids, that means it’s currently not worth making the trip as there’s nothing more than a small market on the Thai side, in the village of Ban Chedi Sam Ong, plus the three eponymous little chedis said to have been erected in the eighteenth century by the kings of Myanmar and Thailand as a symbolic peace gesture. If and when full border operations resume, foreigners will probably once again be allowed access to the Burmese border village of Payathonzu, whose main attraction is the Mon temple Wat Sao Roi Ton, known in Burmese as Tai Ta Ya temple, or the Temple of One Hundred Teakwood Posts.
The Mon in Thailand
Dubbed by some “the Palestinians of Asia”, the Mon people – numbering between roughly two and four million in Myanmar and an estimated one hundred thousand in Thailand (chiefly in the western provinces of Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi, in the Gulf province of Samut Sakhon and in Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani, just north of Bangkok) – have endured centuries of persecution, displacement and forced assimilation.
Ethnologists speculate that the Mon originated either in India or Mongolia, travelling south to settle on the western banks of the Chao Phraya valley in the first century BC. Here they founded the Dvaravati kingdom (sixth to eleventh centuries AD), building centres at U Thong, Lopburi and Nakhon Pathom and later consolidating a northern kingdom in Haripunchai (modern-day Lamphun). They probably introduced Theravada Buddhism to the region, and produced some of the earliest Buddhist monuments, particularly Wheels of Law and Buddha footprints.
Over on the Burmese side of the border, the Mon kingdom had established itself around the southern city of Pegu well before the Burmese filtered into the area in the ninth century, but by the mid-eighteenth century they’d been stripped of their homeland and were once again relocating to Thailand. The Thais welcomed them as a useful source of labour, and in 1814 the future Rama IV arrived at the Kanchanaburi border with three royal warboats and a guard of honour to chaperone the exiles. Swathes of undeveloped jungle were given over to them, many of which are still Mon-dominated today.
The persecution of the Burmese Mon continued after independence in 1948 and, even though the New Mon State Party (NMSP) entered into a ceasefire agreement with the military junta in June 1995, international human-rights organizations continued to report violations against civilian Mon living in Myanmar. Thousands of Mon men, women and children were press-ganged into unpaid labour, and soldiers occupied some Mon villages and confiscated farmland and livestock. In an attempt to wipe out Mon culture, the military leaders also banned the teaching of Mon language, literature and history in government schools. Not surprisingly, Mon fled these atrocities in their thousands, the majority ending up in five resettlement camps collectively known as Halockhani, in a Mon-controlled area near the Thai border opposite Sangkhlaburi; from there, many have been resettled in the USA, Canada, Australia, Scandinavia and the Netherlands.
The oppression has abated since the 2011 and 2015 elections which eventually brought Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy to power, and the population of Halockhani was down to three thousand in August 2015. However, there are still reports of human rights abuses, and the Mon continue to struggle for the right to administer their own independent Mon State in their historical homelands in lower Myanmar. As one commentator has described it, while some of Myanmar’s ethnic minority groups seek to establish autonomy, the Mon are attempting to reclaim it, and they still celebrate their national day in the town of Ye each year, usually in February. For more information, see the website of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM; rehmonnya.org).
Like Thais, the Mon are a predominantly Buddhist, rice-growing people with strong animist beliefs. All Mon families have totemic house spirits, such as the turtle, snake, chicken or pig, which carry certain taboos; if you’re of the chicken-spirit family, for example, the lungs and head of every chicken you cook have to be offered to the spirits, and although you’re allowed to raise and kill chickens, you must never give one away. Guests belonging to a different spirit group from their host are not allowed to stay overnight. Mon festivals also differ slightly from Thai ones – at Songkhran (Thai New Year), the Mon spice up the usual water-throwing and parades with a special courtship ritual in which teams of men and women play each other at bowling, throwing flirtatious banter along with their wooden discs.
Arrival and departuresangkhlaburi
By bus A/c buses currently run from Bangkok’s Northern Mo Chit bus terminal via Kanchanaburi to Thanon Tessaban 1, near Sangkhla’s bus station, before heading on to Three Pagodas Pass (2 daily; 7hr 30min); however, this service is losing popularity and may disappear. In addition, there are four daily, non-a/c Kanchanaburi–Sangkhla buses that take about 5 hours.
By minibus The fastest way to get to Sangkhlaburi from Kanchanaburi is by a/c minibus (every 30min; 3–4hr; reserve a few hours ahead if possible and be prepared to buy an extra seat if you have luggage); they also pick up from Thong Pha Phum. Minibuses terminate on Thanon Tessaban 1, with services in the opposite direction departing from the same spot.
By car or motorbike Driving from Kanchanaburi to Sangkhlaburi can be tiring as the road is full of twists after Thong Pha Phum; the last 25km are particularly nerve-wracking due to the switchback bends. Nonetheless, the scenery is fabulous, particularly at the lakeside viewpoint just north of kilometre-stone 35 (about 40km south of Sangkhlaburi). As this is a border area, there may be police checkpoints en route – after a quick look at your passport, the officers should wave you through.
Getting around and information
Sangkhlaburi itself is small enough to walk round in an hour, but if the sun is beating down hard, you might want to look for an alternative.
By motorbike taxi Motorbikes from the bus station usually charge B20 to the guesthouses and B50 for a ride to Wat Wang Wiwekaram across the water.
By bicycle or motorbike P Guest House rents out bicycles (B100/day) and motorbikes (B200/day).
By pick-up truck Burmese Inn or P Guest House should be able to arrange a pick-up truck and driver; prices depend on the length of hire and distances travelled.
Services Siam Commercial Bank, on the edge of the market in the town centre, changes money and has an ATM.
Accommodation
Reservations are essential at all accommodation for weekends and national holidays.
Burmese Inn Soi 1 086 168 1801, burmese-inn.com; map. This rambling, traveller-oriented guesthouse overlooks the northeastern spur of the lake just behind the newer bridge, offering easy access to the Mon village, but hardly any rooms have lake views. Most of the rooms and bungalows feel run-down, but all have hot showers and there’s a decent restaurant serving Burmese food. Fan B500, a/c B1000
P Guest House Thanon Si Suwan Khiri 034 595061, p-guesthouse.com; map. Large, popular, Mon-owned place that’s efficiently run, clued-up and friendly. It’s arrayed on terraces that now slope a long way down to the lakeshore, affording great views across to Ban Waeng Ka and Wat Wang Wiwekaram. There are basic, stone-studded rooms with shared bathrooms that have partial lake views, or much more luxurious en-suite rooms with a/c and hot showers that are bigger and brighter and have sweeping views. Reservations strongly advised. Fan B400, a/c B950
Somchai About 1km west of Ban Waeng Ka on Route 3024 (the road that winds round the lake to the Mon village) 034 595180, facebook.com/somchaicoffeeofficial; map. Basic, compact rooms with hot showers and balconies on stilts, at the top of a steep slope overlooking the tree-lined hillside opposite. Fan B700, a/c B1000
Eating
Day and night, the cheapest places to eat are at and around the market in the town centre. On Saturday evenings in high season and bank-holiday weekends, there’s a much wider choice of food stalls here when this area turns into a “walking street” market, accompanied by live bands, local dances and, of course, souvenirs. If you’re hankering after a decent latte, drop into one of the new a/c coffee shops that have popped up across town. Note that most places close quite early.
Baan Unrak Bakery Thanon Si Suwan Khiri, opposite Soi 3; map. Part of the Baan Unrak foundation, this sociable café and bookstore serves hot vegetarian meals (B60–100) and great cakes, as well as selling their woven products. Mon–Sat 8am–8pm.
Birdland 13/1 Thanon Si Suwan Khiri 086 801 6738; map. Open-sided place in front of a secondhand bookstore, serving everything from pancakes, pizzas and yummy potato balls (B90) to Burmese curry, in generous portions. Daily 7am–8pm.
Blend Tessaban 1, just across from the bus station 034 595204; map. A handy place to wait before catching a bus, this diddy a/c café serves scrummy home-baked cakes and good espresso coffees (from B30). Daily 8am–6pm.
P Guest House Thanon Si Suwan Khiri 034 595061; map. The large, Wild-West style restaurant at P Guest House offers fine lake views from its terrace and serves a short menu of Thai and Burmese food (most dishes around B120), as well as a few Western dishes, such as an American breakfast (B150 including coffee). Daily 7am–8.30pm.
Samprasop Resort Restaurant By the north end of the wooden bridge; map. Very popular with visiting Thais, this open-air restaurant offers lofty views of the bridges, the lake and Wat Wang Wiwekaram, and very good dishes such as thawt man pla grai, fishcakes with a cucumber dip (B130). Daily 5pm–8.30pm (last orders).
Little more than a roadside market, the village of BANG PA-IN, 60km north of Bangkok, has been put on the tourist map by its extravagant and rather surreal Royal Palace, even though most of the buildings can be seen only from the outside. King Prasat Thong of Ayutthaya first built a temple and palace on this site, 20km downstream from his capital, in the middle of the seventeenth century, and it remained a popular country residence for the kings of Ayutthaya. The palace was abandoned a century later when the capital was moved to Bangkok, only to be revived in the middle of the nineteenth century when the advent of steamboats shortened the journey time upriver. Rama IV (1851–68) built a modest residence here, which his son Chulalongkorn (Rama V), in his passion for westernization, knocked down in the 1870s to make room for the eccentric melange of European, Thai and Chinese architectural styles visible today.
Daily 8am–4pm, ticket office closes around 3.30pm • B100 • palaces.thai.net/index_bp.htm • Visitors are asked to dress respectfully, so no vests, shorts, short skirts, see-through shirts or backless sandals
Set in manicured grounds on an island in the Chao Phraya River, and based around an ornamental lake, the palace complex is flat and compact, and easy to see on foot. The best approach is to explore slowly, following walkways that crisscross the lake.
The lakeside and covered bridge
On the north side of the lake stand a two-storey, colonial-style residence for the royal relatives and the Italianate Varobhas Bimarn (Warophat Phiman, “Excellent and Shining Heavenly Abode”), which housed Chulalongkorn’s throne hall and still contains private apartments where the present royal family sometimes stays, though the lavishly furnished rooms by the entrance are usually open to the public. A covered bridge links this outer part of the palace to the Pratu Thewarat Khanlai (“The King of the Gods Goes Forth Gate”), the main entrance to the inner palace, which was reserved for the king and his immediate family. The high fence that encloses half of the bridge allowed the women of the harem to cross without being seen by male courtiers.
You can’t miss the glittering Aisawan Thiphya-art (“Divine Seat of Personal Freedom”) in the middle of the lake: named after King Prasat Thong’s original palace, it’s the only example of pure Thai architecture at Bang Pa-In. The elegant tiers of the pavilion’s roof shelter a bronze statue of Chulalongkorn.
In the inner palace, the Uthayan Phumisathian (“Garden of the Secured Land”), recently rebuilt in grand, neocolonial style, was Chulalongkorn’s favourite house. After passing the candy-striped Ho Withun Thasana (“Sage’s Lookout Tower”), built so that the king could survey the surrounding countryside, you’ll come to the main attraction of Bang Pa-In, the Phra Thinang Wehart Chamrun (“Palace of Heavenly Light”), which was the favourite residence of Vajiravudh (Rama VI). A masterpiece of Chinese design, the mansion and its contents were shipped from China and presented as a gift to Chulalongkorn in 1889 by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok. The sumptuous interior gleams with fantastically intricate lacquered and gilded wooden screens, hand-painted porcelain floor tiles and ebony furniture inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
The simple marble obelisk behind the Uthayan Phumisathian was erected by Chulalongkorn to hold the ashes of Queen Sunandakumariratana, his favourite wife. In 1881, Sunanda, who was then 21 and expecting a child, was taking a trip on the river here when her boat capsized. She could have been rescued quite easily, but the laws concerning the sanctity of the royal family left those around her no option: “If a boat founders, the boatmen must swim away; if they remain near the boat [or] if they lay hold of him [the royal person] to rescue him, they are to be executed.” Following the tragedy, King Chulalongkorn set about reforming Thai customs and strove to make the monarchy more accessible.
Perhaps the oddest building of all in Bang Pa-In’s architectural melange is Wat Niwet Thammaprawat, reached by a cable car across the canal on the north side of the grounds. Chulalongkorn wanted a royal temple for his palace but, in his thirst for Westernization, employed an Italian architect to build it in the style of a Gothic Revival church. Surmounted by a spire with a weather vane and lit by stained-glass windows, the main Buddha image sits under the pointed arches of a typically Gothic three-part altar.
Arrival and departureBang Pa-in
Bang Pa-In can easily be visited on a day-trip from Bangkok, and tours to Ayutthaya from the capital usually feature a stop here. From Ayutthaya, about 20km to the north, you could cycle or motorbike down the riverside Route 3477 beginning at Wat Phanan Choeng, or catch the train.
By train The best route from Bangkok is by train from Hualamphong station, which takes about one-hour-thirty-minutes to reach Bang Pa-In (on arrival, note the separate station hall built by Chulalongkorn for the royal family). All trains continue to Ayutthaya, with half going on to Lopburi. From Bang Pa-In’s train station it’s a 20min walk to the palace, or you can take a motorbike taxi for about B40. Returning to the station, catch a motorized samlor from the market, about 300m southwest of the palace entrance.
Destinations Ayutthaya (15 daily; 15min); Bangkok Hualamphong (15 daily; 1hr 30min).
By bus Buses leave Bangkok’s Northern Mo Chit terminal (roughly every 30min; 1hr 30min–2hr) and stop at Bang Pa-In market, about 300m southwest of the palace entrance. This is also the easiest place to catch a bus back to Bangkok.
By songthaew From Ayutthaya, irregular and interminably slow songthaews leave Chao Phrom market for the journey to Bang Pa-In market (very roughly hourly; about 1hr 30min), returning from the same spot.
EATING
There are food stalls just outside the palace gates, and at Bang Pa-In market, plus a couple of well-appointed riverside restaurants (no English signs) between the railway station and the palace, opposite Wat Chumpol Nikarayam.
In its heyday as the booming capital of the Thai kingdom, AYUTTHAYA, 80km north of Bangkok, was so well-endowed with temples that sunlight reflecting off their gilt decoration was said to dazzle from 5km away. Wide, grassy spaces today occupy much of the atmospheric site, which now resembles a graveyard for temples: grand, brooding red-brick ruins rise out of the fields, satisfyingly evoking the city’s bygone grandeur while providing a soothing contrast to more glitzy modern temple architecture. A few intact buildings help form an image of what the capital must have looked like, while several fine museums flesh out the picture.
The core of the ancient capital was a 4km-wide island at the confluence of the Lopburi, Pasak and Chao Phraya rivers, which was once encircled by a 12km-long wall, crumbling parts of which can be seen at the Phom Petch fortress in the southeast corner. A grid of broad roads now crosses the island, known as Ko Muang: the hub of the small modern town occupies its northeast corner, around the Thanon U Thong and Thanon Naresuan junction, but the rest is mostly uncongested and ideal for exploring by bicycle.
There is much pleasure to be had, also, from soaking up life on and along the encircling rivers, either by taking a boat tour or by dining at one of the waterside restaurants. It’s very much a working waterway, busy with barges carrying cement, rice and other heavy loads to and from Bangkok and the Gulf and with cross-river ferry services that compensate for the lack of bridges. In addition, kids – and children at heart – will enjoy the Million Toy Museum, which provides light relief from the sombre mood of Thailand’s ancient heritage.
Ayutthaya comes alive each year for a week in mid-December, with a festival that commemorates the town’s listing as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on December 13, 1991. The highlight is the nightly son et lumière show, featuring fireworks and elephant-back fights, staged around the ruins.
Ayutthaya takes its name from the Indian city of Ayodhya (Sanskrit for “invincible”), the legendary birthplace of Rama, hero of the Ramayana epic. It was founded in 1351 by U Thong – later Ramathibodi I – after Lopburi was ravaged by smallpox, and it rose rapidly through exploiting the expanding trade routes between India and China. Stepping into the political vacuum left by the decline of the Khmer empire at Angkor and the first Thai kingdom at Sukhothai, by the mid-fifteenth century Ayutthaya controlled an empire covering most of the area of modern-day Thailand. Built entirely on canals, few of which survive today, Ayutthaya grew into an enormous amphibious city, which by 1685 had one million people – roughly double the population of London at the same time – living largely on houseboats in a 140km network of waterways.
Visiting Ayutthaya – orientation and temple pass
The majority of Ayutthaya’s ancient remains are spread out across the western half of the island in a patchwork of parkland: Wat Phra Mahathat and Wat Ratburana stand near the modern centre, while a broad band runs down the middle of the parkland, containing the Royal Palace (Wang Luang) and temple, the most revered Buddha image, at Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopit, and the two main museums. To the north of the island you’ll find the best-preserved temple, Wat Na Phra Mane, and Wat Phu Khao Thong, the “Golden Mount”; to the west stands the Khmer-style Wat Chai Watthanaram; while to the southeast lie the giant chedi of Wat Yai Chai Mongkol, Wat Phanan Choeng, still a vibrant place of worship, and Baan Hollanda, which tells the story of the Dutch settlement in Ayutthaya. The city’s main temples can be visited for a reduced rate when you buy the special six-in-one pass for Wat Phra Mahathat, Wat Ratburana, Wat Phra Ram, Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Wat Chai Watthanaram and easily missable Wat Maheyong (B220; valid for 30 days), which is available from the temples’ ticket offices.
Ayutthaya’s great wealth attracted a swarm of foreign traders, especially in the seventeenth century. At one stage around forty different nationalities were settled here, including Chinese, Persians, Portuguese (the first Europeans to arrive, in the early sixteenth century), Spanish, Dutch, English and French. Many of them lived in their own ghettos and had their own docks for the export of rice, spices, timber and hides. With deft political skill, the kings of Ayutthaya maintained their independence from outside powers, while embracing the benefits of their cosmopolitan influence: they employed foreign architects and navigators, used Japanese samurai – mostly Christians fleeing persecution at home – as royal bodyguards, and even took on outsiders as their prime ministers, who could look after their foreign trade without getting embroiled in the usual court intrigues.
In 1767, this four-hundred-year-long golden age of stability and prosperity came to an abrupt end. After more than two centuries of recurring tensions, the Burmese captured and ravaged Ayutthaya, taking tens of thousands of prisoners back to Myanmar. With even the wats in ruins, the city had to be abandoned to the jungle, but its memory endured: the architects of the new capital on Ratanakosin island in Bangkok perpetuated Ayutthaya’s layout in every possible way.
Most of Ayutthaya’s main sights, as well as most accommodation and restaurants, are located on the island, so it makes sense to begin your exploration here, then branch out to sights off the island if you have time.
1km west of the new town centre along Thanon Naresuan • Daily 8am–6pm • B50, or included with the B220 six-in-one pass
Heading west out of the new town centre brings you to the first set of ruins – a pair of temples on opposite sides of the road. The overgrown Wat Phra Mahathat, on the left, is the epitome of Ayutthaya’s nostalgic atmosphere of faded majesty. The name “Mahathat” (Great Relic Chedi) indicates that the temple was built to house remains of the Buddha himself: according to the royal chronicles – never renowned for historical accuracy – King Ramesuan (1388–95) was looking out of his palace one morning when ashes of the Buddha materialized out of thin air here. A gold casket containing the ashes was duly enshrined in a grand 38m-high prang, and the temple became home to Ayutthaya’s supreme patriarch. The prang later collapsed, but the reliquary was unearthed in the 1950s, along with a hoard of other treasures, including a gorgeous marble fish, which opened to reveal gold, amber, crystal and porcelain ornaments – all now on show in the Chao Sam Phraya National Museum.
You can climb what remains of the prang to get a good view of the broad, grassy complex, with dozens of brick spires tilting at impossible angles and headless Buddhas scattered around like spare parts in a scrapyard; look out for the serene (and much photographed) head of a stone Buddha that has become nestled in the embrace of a bodhi tree’s roots.
Ayutthaya tours and cruises
Ayutthaya is relatively spread out, so if you’re really pushed for time, you might consider joining one of the day-trips from Bangkok. With a little more time, you can tour by tuk-tuk, bicycle or boat. The widest choice of tours is offered by Ayutthaya Boat & Travel (081 733 5687, ayutthaya-boat.com), whose itineraries include cycling around the ruins and to Bang Pa-In, homestays, boat tours, lunch and dinner cruises on a teak rice barge, cooking classes and packages by train and boat from Bangkok. For a serious guided historical tour of the ruins, local expert Professor Monton at Classic Tour (081 832 4849; about B2000/person/day, depending on group size) comes highly recommended.
From Bangkok
The most popular day-trips by bus to Ayutthaya from Bangkok feature only the briefest whizz around the old city’s two or three main temples, making a stop at the Bang Pa-In summer palace en route and rounding the day off with a short river cruise down the Chao Phraya from just north of Bangkok; Grand Pearl Cruise is one of the main operators (grandpearlcruise.com; B1900). You can also cruise the river in more style, spending one or more nights on plushly converted teak rice-barges such as the Mekhala (asian-oasis.com), the two owned by the Anantara Riverside Hotel (bangkok-cruises.anantara.com) or the Thanatharee (thanatharee.com; also offers day-trips).
by tuk-tuk, boat or elephant
If you’re pushed for time you could hire a tuk-tuk for a whistle-stop tour of the old city. This will cost B300 an hour from the station, where on busy days a queue forms, which is then divided into groups of four or five for the tours; or around B200 an hour if you walk away from the tourist hotspots and flag a tuk-tuk down on the street. (Sunset tuk-tuk tours to see the ruins illuminated may be organized by guesthouses again if the temples’ floodlights ever get fixed.)
Circumnavigating Ayutthaya by boat is a very enjoyable way to take in some of the outlying temples, and possibly a few lesser-visited ones too; many of the temples were designed to be approached and admired from the river, and you also get a leisurely look at twenty-first-century riverine residences. All guesthouses and agencies offer boat tours, typically charging B180 per person for a two-hour trip in the early evening; tours can also be arranged – and boats chartered (B700 for 2hr) – from Chao Phrom pier.
It’s also possible to take a brief elephant ride past a couple of the central ruins from the roadside elephant “camp” on Thanon Pathon (B400/person for 15min, B500 for 25min; 035 242417). The elephants and their mahouts are photogenically clad in period costume and you can buy the elephants bananas while they wait for custom, or simply watch them return home after 6pm when they rumble across to the northeast side of town to bathe and bed down in the restored sixteenth-century kraal. Wild elephants were formerly driven to the kraal for capture and taming, but these days it’s the headquarters of Elephantstay (elephantstay.com), an organization that runs one- to fourteen-day packages for visitors who want to ride, feed, water and bathe the sixty resident elephants.
Across the road from Wat Phra Mahathat • Daily 8am–6pm • B50, or included with the B220 six-in-one pass
The towering Wat Ratburana was built in 1424 by King Boromraja II to commemorate his elder brothers, Ay and Yi, who managed to kill each other in an elephant-back duel over the succession to the throne, thus leaving it vacant for Boromraja. Here, four elegant Sri Lankan-style chedis lean outwards as if in deference to the main prang, on which some of the original stuccowork can still be seen, some of which has been restored, including fine statues of garudas swooping down on nagas. It’s possible to descend steep steps inside the prang to the crypt, where on two levels you can make out fragmentary murals of the early Ayutthaya period.
West of Wat Phra Mahathat • Daily 8am–6pm • B50, or included with the B220 six-in-one pass
West of Wat Phra Mahathat you’ll see a lake, now surrounded by a popular park, and the slender prang of Wat Phra Ram, built in the late fourteenth century on the site of Ramathibodi’s cremation by his son and successor as king, Ramesuan. Sadly, not much of the prang’s original stuccowork remains, but you can still get an idea of how spectacular it would have looked when the city was at its zenith.
Wat Phra Si Sanphet and the Wang Luang (Royal Palace)
To the west of Thanon Si Sanphet • Daily 8am–6pm • B50, or included with the B220 six-in-one pass
Wat Phra Si Sanphet was built in 1448 by King Boromatrailokanat as a private royal chapel, and was formerly the grandest of Ayutthaya’s temples. Even now, it’s one of the best preserved.
The wat took its name from one of the largest standing metal images of the Buddha ever known, the Phra Si Sanphet, erected here in 1503. Towering 16m high and covered in 173kg of gold, it did not survive the ravages of the Burmese, though Rama I rescued the pieces and placed them inside a chedi at Wat Pho in Bangkok. The three remaining grey chedis in the characteristic style of the old capital were built to house the ashes of three kings, and have now become the most familiar image of Ayutthaya.
The site of this royal wat was originally occupied by Ramathibodi I’s wooden palace, which Boromatrailokanat replaced with the bigger Wang Luang (Royal Palace; same hours and ticket as Wat Phra Si Sanphet, though it was under renovation at the time of writing), stretching to the Lopburi River on the north side. Successive kings turned the Wang Luang into a vast complex of pavilions and halls, with an elaborate system of walls designed to isolate the inner sanctum for the king and his consorts. The palace was destroyed by the Burmese in 1767 and plundered by Rama I for its bricks, which he needed to build the new capital at Bangkok. Now you can only trace the outlines of a few walls in the grass and inspect an unimpressive wooden replica of an open pavilion – better to consult the model of the whole complex in the Historical Study Centre.
In the northwest corner of the island, just west of the Royal Palace and the westernmost bridge over the Lopburi River • Tues–Sun 9am–4pm • B50 • milliontoymuseum.com
After a few hours gazing at the ruins of ancient temples, it comes as a welcome relief to enter the quirky, private Million Toy Museum, where cabinets on two floors are packed not only with toys, but also with odd items like Queen Elizabeth II coronation mugs from 1953. Kids love it, and even adults will recognize a few favourites from childhood, such as Superman, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy. There’s a café out front that is also full of toy characters, and seats in a shady garden where you can rest your legs.
On the south side of Wat Phra Si Sanphet • Closed for repair at the time of writing, but usually daily 8am–4.30pm • Free
Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopit attracts tourists and Thai pilgrims in about equal measure. The pristine hall – a replica of a typical Ayutthayan viharn, with its characteristic chunky lotus-capped columns around the outside – was built in 1956, with help from the Burmese to atone for their flattening of the city two centuries earlier, in order to shelter the revered Phra Mongkol Bopit, which, at 12.45m high (excluding the base), is one of the largest bronze Buddhas in Thailand. The powerfully austere image, with its flashing mother-of-pearl eyes, was cast in the fifteenth century, then sat exposed to the elements from the time of the Burmese invasion until its new home was built. During restoration, the hollow image was found to contain hundreds of Buddha statuettes, some of which were later buried around the shrine to protect it.
Chao Sam Phraya National Museum
10min walk south of Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopit • Daily 8.30am–4pm • B150
The largest of the town’s three museums is the Chao Sam Phraya National Museum, where most of the moveable remains of Ayutthaya’s glory – those that weren’t plundered by treasure-hunters or taken to the National Museum in Bangkok – are exhibited. Apart from numerous Buddhas and some fine woodcarving, the museum is bursting with gold treasures, including the original relic casket from Wat Mahathat, betel-nut sets and model chedis, and a gem-encrusted fifteenth-century crouching elephant found in the crypt at Wat Ratburana.
Thanon Rotchana, a 5min walk from Chao Sam Phraya National Museum • Scheduled to reopen after renovation in 2018, but usually Tues–Sun 9am–4pm • B100
It’s worth paying a visit to the Historical Study Centre, if only to check out its scale model of the Royal Palace before you set off to wander around the real thing. The visitors’ exhibition upstairs puts Ayutthaya’s ruins in context, dramatically presenting a broad social history of the city through videos, sound effects and reconstructions of temple murals. Other exhibits include model ships and a peasant’s wooden house.
In the northeast corner of the island • Wed–Sun 8.30am–4pm • B100
The Chantharakasem Palace was traditionally the home of the heir to the Ayutthayan throne. The Black Prince, Naresuan, built the first wang na (palace of the front) here in about 1577 so that he could guard the area of the city wall that was most vulnerable to enemy attack. Rama IV (1851–68) had the palace restored and it now houses a museum displaying many of his possessions, including a throne platform overhung by a white chat, a ceremonial nine-tiered parasol that is a vital part of a king’s insignia. The rest of the museum features beautiful ceramics and Buddha images, and a small arsenal of cannon and musketry.
It’s easy enough to visit places off the island via various bridges across the river, especially if you’re travelling around on a bike. If you’re pushed for time, the two main sights are Wat Chai Watthanaram to the west, and Wat Yai Chai Mongkol to the southeast of the island.
On the north bank of the Lopburi River, opposite the Wang Luang • Daily 8am–5pm • B20
Wat Na Phra Meru is in some respects Ayutthaya’s most rewarding temple, being the only one from the town’s golden age that survived the ravages of 1767 (because the Burmese used it as their main base during the siege), though frequent refurbishments make it appear quite new.
The main bot, built in 1503, shows the distinctive features of Ayutthayan architecture – outside columns topped with lotus cups, and slits in the walls instead of windows to let the air circulate. Inside, underneath a rich red-and-gold coffered ceiling that represents the stars around the moon, sits a powerful 6m-high Buddha in the disdainful, over-decorated royal style characteristic of the later Ayutthaya period.
In sharp contrast is the dark-green Phra Khan Thavaraj Buddha, which dominates the tiny viharn behind to the right. Seated in the “European position”, with its robe delicately pleated and its feet up on a large lotus leaf, the gentle figure conveys a reassuring serenity. It’s advertised as being from Sri Lanka, the source of Thai Buddhism, but more likely is a seventh- to ninth-century Mon image from Wat Phra Mane at Nakhon Pathom.
2km northwest of Wat Na Phra Mane • Daily dawn–dusk • Free
Head northwest of Wat Na Phra Mane and you’re in open country, where the 50m-high chedi of Wat Phu Khao Thong rises steeply out of the fields. In 1569, after a temporary occupation of Ayutthaya, the Burmese erected a Mon-style chedi here to commemorate their victory. Forbidden by Buddhist law from pulling down a sacred monument, the Thais had to put up with this galling reminder of the enemy’s success until it collapsed nearly two hundred years later, when King Borommakot promptly built a truly Ayutthayan chedi on the old Burmese base – just in time for the Burmese to return in 1767 and flatten the town. This “Golden Mount” has recently been restored, with a colossal equestrian statue of King Naresuan, conqueror of the Burmese, to keep it company. You can climb 25m of steps up the side of the chedi to look out over the countryside and the town, with glimpses of Wat Phra Si Sanphet and Viharn Phra Mongkok Bopit in the distance.
Opposite the northwest corner of the island, near the confluence of the Chao Phraya and Lopburi rivers • Daily dawn–dusk • Free
This modern temple is wild – think Buddha goes to Disneyland. Highlights include a room full of enormous statues of famous monks, motion-activated skeletons, robots and other mannequins that wai as you pass and ask for a donation, and the plushest bathrooms you’ll see in town. There’s also a floating market on the riverside selling souvenirs, and an interesting display of Buddha images from neighbouring countries.
Across the river, west of the island • Daily 8am–6pm • B50, or included with the B220 six-in-one pass
It’s worth the bike or boat ride to reach the elegant brick-and-stucco latticework of Khmer-style stupas at Wat Chai Watthanaram. Late afternoon is a popular time to visit, as the sun sinks photogenically behind the main tower.
King Prasat Thong commissioned the building of Wat Chai Watthanaram in 1630, possibly to commemorate a victory over Cambodia, designing it as a sort of Angkorian homage, around a 35m-high central Khmer corncob prang encircled by a constellation of four minor prangs and eight tiered and tapered chedis. Most of the stucco facing has weathered away to reveal the red-brick innards in pretty contrast, but a few tantalizing fragments of stucco relief remain on the outside of the chedis, depicting episodes from the Buddha’s life. Around the gallery that connects them sits a solemn phalanx of 120 headless seated Buddhas, each on its own red-brick dais but showing no trace of their original skins, which may have been done in black lacquer and gold-leaf. To the east a couple of larger seated Buddhas look out across the river from the foundations of the old bot.
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WAT PHRA SI SANPHET, AYUTTHAYA
Southeast of the island, about 2km from the station • Daily 8am–5pm • B20 • If cycling here, avoid the multi-laned Pridi Damrong/Naresuan Bridge and Bangkok road by taking the river ferry across to the train station and then heading south 1.5km before turning east to the temple
Across the Pasak River southeast of the island, you pass through Ayutthaya’s new business zone and some rustic suburbia before reaching the ancient but still functioning Wat Yai Chai Mongkol. Surrounded by formal lawns, flowerbeds and much-photographed saffron-draped Buddhas, the wat was established by Ramathibodi I in 1357 as a meditation site for monks returning from study in Sri Lanka. King Naresuan put up the beautifully curvaceous chedi to mark the decisive victory over the Burmese at Suphanburi in 1593, when he himself is said to have sent the enemy packing by slaying the Burmese crown prince in an elephant-back duel. Built on a colossal scale to outshine the Burmese Golden Mount on the opposite side of Ayutthaya, the chedi has come to symbolize the prowess and devotion of Naresuan and, by implication, his descendants right down to the present king. By the entrance, the reclining Buddha was also constructed by Naresuan. A huge modern glass-walled shrine to the revered king dominates the back of the temple compound.
Near the confluence of the Chao Phraya and Pasak rivers, to the west of Wat Yai Chai Mongkol • Daily 8am–5pm • B20
In Ayutthaya’s most prosperous period, the docks and main trading area were located near the confluence of the Chao Phraya and Pasak rivers, and this is where you’ll find the oldest and liveliest working temple in town, Wat Phanan Choeng. The main viharn is often filled with the sights, sounds and smells of an incredible variety of merit-making activities, as devotees burn huge pink Chinese incense candles, offer food and rattle fortune sticks. If you can get here during a festival, especially Chinese New Year, you’re in for an overpowering experience.
The 19m-high Buddha, which almost fills the hall, has survived since 1324, shortly before the founding of the capital, and tears are said to have flowed from its eyes when Ayutthaya was sacked by the Burmese. However, the reason for the temple’s popularity with the Chinese is to be found in the early eighteenth-century shrine by the pier, with its image of a beautiful Chinese princess who drowned herself here because of a king’s infidelity: his remorse led him to build the shrine at the place where she had walked into the river.
Just south of Wat Phanan Choeng • Wed–Sun 9am–5pm • B50 • baanhollanda.org
During Ayutthaya’s heyday in the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries, foreign merchants were attracted here to trade with the Siamese, and were permitted to set up trading posts on either side of the Chao Phraya River to the southeast of the island. Three settlements have now been turned into museums recounting foreign relations with Siam, and of these, Baan Hollanda (the Dutch settlement) is the most interesting (the others are those of the Japanese and Portuguese). Established in 2013 in order to inform visitors about the history of the Dutch in Siam, the exhibition covers Siamese–Dutch relations from the first arrival of the Dutch East India Company in 1604. It’s housed in a reconstruction of the original Dutch colonial-style lodge, following a description in the diary of a seventeenth-century Dutch merchant. The Dutch bought rice, tin, deerskins and wood from Siam and in return sold Japanese silver and Indian printed textiles to the Siamese. The centre also demonstrates how the Dutch have mastered the art of flood protection in their own country so that a large percentage of its population lives below sea level without fear, and there’s a café and an opportunity for visitors to pick up a pair of ceramic clogs or a windmill at the museum shop.
art and history at the Ayutthaya tourist office
While visiting the Tourist Information Centre, it’s well worth heading upstairs to the smartly presented multi-media exhibition on Ayutthaya (daily 8.30am–4.30pm; free), which provides an engaging introduction to the city’s history, an overview of all the sights, including a scale-model reconstruction of Wat Phra Si Sanphet, and insights into local traditional ways of life. Also on this floor, there’s the Ayutthaya National Art Museum (daily 8.30am–roughly 4.30pm; free), which houses depictions of animals, people and landscapes by Thai artists as well as temporary exhibitions.
Arrival and departureAyutthaya
by train
The best way of getting to Ayutthaya from Bangkok is by train (with departures mostly in the early morning and evening); trains continue on to Nong Khai and Ubon Ratchathani in the northeast, and to the north and Chiang Mai. The station is on the east bank of the Pasak; to get to the centre of town, take a ferry from the jetty 100m west of the station (last ferry around 8pm; B5) across and upriver to Chao Phrom pier; it’s then a 5min walk to the junction of Thanon U Thong and Thanon Naresuan, near most guesthouses. The station has a useful left-luggage service (24hr; B10 per piece per day).
Destinations Bangkok Hualamphong (23–32 daily; 1hr 30min–2hr); Chiang Mai (5 daily; 10hr 45min–13hr 10min); Lopburi (14–16 daily; 45min–1hr 30min); Nong Khai (3 daily; 9hr 30min); Phitsanulok (11 daily; 3hr 30min–6hr 20min); Ubon Ratchathani (6 daily; 7hr 20min–10hr 30min).
By Bus or minibus
From/to Bangkok Frequent a/c minibuses to Ayutthaya depart Bangkok’s Northern (Mo Chit) and Southern bus terminals, pulling in at the stop on Thanon Naresuan, near the main accommodation area.
From/to Lopburi Frequent a/c minibuses to Lopburi depart from Soi 2, Thanon Bang Ian, near Chao Phrom Market.
From/to northern Thailand Long-distance buses to/from the north only stop at Ayutthaya’s Northern Bus Terminal, 5km to the east of the centre on the main north–south highway, from where you’ll need a tuk-tuk to get into town (B150–200). On departure, there’s an office for these services on Thanon Naresuan, where you can buy tickets.
From/to Kanchanaburi Travelling from Kanchanaburi, it’s possible to bypass the Bangkok gridlock, either by hooking up with an a/c tourist minibus direct to Ayutthaya (daily; 3hr) arranged through guesthouses in Kanchanaburi or, under your own steam, by taking a public bus to Suphanburi (every 20min; 2hr 30min), then changing to an Ayutthaya a/c minibus, which will drop you off on Soi 2, Thanon Bang Ian, near Chao Phrom Market. To travel from Ayutthaya to Kanchanaburi, the easiest option is to book a seat on a minibus through one of the guesthouses.
Destinations Bangkok (every 20min; 1hr 30min–2hr); Chiang Mai (11 daily; 9hr); Chiang Rai (7 daily; 12hr); Kamphaeng Phet (8 daily; 5hr); Lopburi (every 30min; 1hr 30min); Mae Sot (8 daily; 6hr); Phitsanulok (roughly hourly; 5hr); Sukhothai (over 30 daily; 5–6hr); Suphanburi (every 10min; 1hr 30min); Tak (6 daily; 6hr).
Getting around
Busloads of tourists descend on Ayutthaya’s sights during the day, but the area covered by the old capital is large enough not to feel swamped. Distances are deceptive, so it’s not a good idea to walk everywhere. There are plenty of bicycle and other tours around Ayutthaya, and tuk-tuks can be hired by the hour.
By bicycle or motorbike As well as at guesthouses, bicycles (from B50/day) can be rented around the train station and, more conveniently, from Chao Phrom pier across the river and at Wat Phra Mahathat; if you do rent from the station, put the bike on the ferry to Chao Phrom pier rather than take on the busy, steep Pridi Damrong Bridge. Some guesthouses and a few outlets in front of the station and at Chao Phrom pier rent small motorbikes (from B200/day).
By tuk-tuk Tuk-tuks are easy enough to flag down on the street, charging around B40 for a typical medium-range journey in town on your own.
By motorbike taxi Motorbikes charge around B30 for short journeys.
Information
Tourist information TAT’s helpful Ayutthaya Tourist Information Centre (daily 8.30am–4.30pm; 035 246076–7, tatyutya@tat.or.th) is in a room on the ground floor of the former city hall (on the west side of Thanon Si Sanphet, opposite the Chao Sam Phraya National Museum).
Useful website If you want to delve further into the city’s history, have a look at Ayutthaya Historical Research (ayutthaya-history.com), a labour of love by three expat enthusiasts.
Accommodation
Ayutthaya offers a good choice of accommodation, including a small ghetto of budget guesthouses on and around the soi that runs north from Chao Phrom market to Thanon Pamaphrao; it’s sometimes known as Soi Farang but is actually signed as Naresuan Soi 2 at the southern end and Pamaphrao Soi 5 at the northern.
Baan Lotus 20 Thanon Pamaphrao 035 251988; map. Two old wooden houses with polished wooden floors and large, plain, but clean rooms (with either shared or en-suite hot showers), at the end of a long-overgrown garden with a lotus pond and pavilion for relaxing at the back. It’s a wonderfully restful location just a few steps from the restaurants and bars on Soi Farang. FanB350, a/c B600
Baan Thai House 199/19 Moo 4, Sri Krung Villa, 600m east of the train station 035 259760, baanthaihouse.com; map. Twelve immaculate a/c villas with traditional sloping roofs, set around manicured tropical gardens and a huge artificial pond with its own wooden water wheel. Rooms have flatscreen TVs, wooden floors and delicately carved furnishings, plus classy outdoor showers. Perks include free bicycles, a spa and an outdoor pool. Breakfast included. B2400
Bann Kun Pra 48/2 Thanon U Thong, just north of Pridi Damrong Bridge 035 241978, bannkunpra.com; map. The best rooms in the rambling, hundred-year-old teak house here have shared bathrooms and gorgeous river-view balconies. There are also two newer and slightly noisier blocks near the road, where you can choose between basic, single-sex dorm rooms with individual lockable tin trunks, or stylish en-suite doubles with a/c, attractive wooden floors and private terraces overlooking the waterway. They also offer river tours, a warm welcome and a good restaurant. Dorms B250, fan doubles B500, a/c doubles B1100
Chantana House 12/22 Naresuan Soi 2 035 323200, chantanahouse@yahoo.com; map. Towards the quieter end of the travellers’ soi, this low-key guesthouse has simple, boxy but spotlessly clean rooms with en-suite hot showers, though not all have outward-facing windows; it’s set in a two-storey house with lots of common areas behind a well-kept garden. Kind, friendly staff, but not much English spoken. Fan B500, a/c B600
Krung Sri River Hotel 27/2 Moo 11, Thanon Rojana 035 244333, krungsririver.com; map. Ayutthaya’s most prominent central hotel occupies nine storeys in a prime if noisy position beside the Pridi Damrong Bridge, with some standard rooms and all suites enjoying river views. Furnishings aren’t exactly chic, but there are minibars, safes and TVs in all two hundred large bedrooms, as well as an attractive third-floor pool and a fitness centre. Breakfast included, B2650
Tamarind Guest House On a lane off Thanon Chikun in front of the entrance to Wat Mahathat 081 655 7937; map. Tucked away from the main road, this quirky guesthouse has bags of character and its stylish a/c rooms are all different in design, though all have attractive wooden floors, bright colour schemes and en-suite hot showers. There’s a great, multi-level family room and the owner can help with sightseeing plans. Free coffee, tea, fruit and biscuits. If this place is full, ask about nearby Good Morning, a similar, slightly cheaper guesthouse under the same ownership. B650
Eating
Other than the restaurants listed below, the roti (Muslim pancake) stalls near the hospital at the southern end of Thanon Si Sanphet are good for daytime snacks and after dark there are a couple of night markets. There’s an excellent one with a wide range of food beside the river at Hua Raw, about ten minutes’ walk north of Naresuan Soi 2, and another at the west end of Thanon Bang Ian, 150m south of Wat Phra Mahathat.
Bann Kun Pra Thanon U Thong, just north of Pridi Damrong Bridge 035 241978, bannkunpra.com; map. The riverside dining terrace here is just as atmospheric as the lovely guesthouse upstairs, and enjoys fine views. It specializes in creative and reasonably priced fish, seafood and river prawns, in dishes such as an intensely flavoured seafood tom yam, with a thicker soup than usual. Most mains around B150. Daily 7am–10.30pm.
Malakor Thanon Chikun, opposite Wat Ratburana; map. Handy for the sights, this all-round café-restaurant is set on appealing wooden decks among shady trees. As well as a wide choice of breakfasts, espresso coffees and icy-cold beers, it offers some tasty and unusual Thai dishes that can be spiced to order, such as tom klong pla yang (sour and spicy smoked fish soup; B150), and one-plate meals and salads for under B100. Daily 8am–9.30pm (kitchen closes 3–4.30pm).
Pae Krung Kao Thanon U Thong, just south of Pridi Damrong Bridge; map. Festooned with plants, mai dut (Thai bonsai trees), waterfalls and curios, this rustic restaurant with breezy wooden decks built over the river specializes in river prawns. They’re pricy (B700 each) but huge, sweet and juicy and come with a delicious nam jim, spicy, sour dipping sauce. Other noteworthy dishes include green curry with fish balls (B150). Daily 10am–8.30pm.
Saithong 45 Moo 1, Thanon U Thong 035 241449; map. On the south side of the island, this place has an attractive riverside terrace and a cosy a/c room, and its reasonably priced seafood (most dishes B150–200) is popular with locals, so it’s often full on weekend evenings. Try the seabass with spicy lemon sauce or the yum Saithong – a spicy salad with shrimp, chicken, squid and ham. Live music from 6pm each evening. Daily 10am–9.30pm.
Drinking
Competing singers at the clutch of bar-restaurants along Soi Farang (Naresuan Soi 2) can mean this stretch turns into a battle of the bands after 9pm, but it’s fun and lively, and free with your beer.
Street Lamp Bar Naresuan Soi 2; map. One of the most popular bars on the street, with regular live music, ranging from country to rock and blues, and cheap, ice-cold beer. Simple dishes like fried rice from B65. Daily roughly 8.30am–midnight.
Directory
Banks and ATMs There are plenty of banks with exchange services and ATMs around the junction of Thanon Naresuan and Naresuan Soi 2.
Hospital The government Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya hospital is at the southern end of Thanon Si Sanphet (035 211888).
Tourist police Based just to the north of the TAT office on Thanon Si Sanphet (035 241446 or 1155).
Mention the name LOPBURI to Thais and the chances are that they’ll start telling you about monkeys – the central junction in the old town of this unexceptional provincial capital, 150km due north of Bangkok, swarms with around two thousand macaques. So beneficial are the beasts to the town’s tourist trade that a local hotelier treats them to a mostly fruitarian meal laid out on a hundred tables at Phra Prang Sam Yod temple every year on the last Sunday of November, as a thank you for their help. In fact, the monkeys can be a real nuisance, so make sure to close your windows at night and take care with bags while out and about.
The town’s central Khmer buildings, though historically important, are rather unimpressive. More illuminating are the Somdet Phra Narai National Museum, housed in a partly reconstructed seventeenth-century palace complex, Ban Vichayen, once home to the Greek adventurer Constantine Phaulkon, and distant Wat Phra Phutthabat, a colourful eye-opener for non-Buddhists. Lopburi’s main festival is the nine-day King Narai Reign Fair in February, which commemorates the seventeenth-century king’s birthday with costumed processions, cultural performances, traditional markets and a son et lumière show at Phra Narai Ratchanivet.
The old centre of Lopburi sits on an egg-shaped island between canals and the Lopburi River, with the railway line running across it from north to south. Thanon Vichayen, the main street, crosses the rail tracks at the town’s busiest junction before heading east – now called Thanon Narai Maharat – through the newest areas of development, via Sakeo roundabout (aka Sri Suriyothai roundabout) and the bus station, to meet Highway 1 at the Narai roundabout. Most of the town’s accommodation and restaurants are set within the quiet, partly residential core between Phra Narai Ratchanivet to the west and Thanon Na Phra Karn to the east.
Originally called Lavo, Lopburi is one of the longest-inhabited towns in Thailand, and was a major centre of the Mon (Dvaravati) civilization from around the sixth century. It maintained a tenuous independence in the face of the advancing Khmers until as late as the early eleventh century, when it was incorporated into the empire as the provincial capital for much of central Thailand. Increasing Thai migration from the north soon tilted the balance against the Khmers, and Lopburi was again independent from some time early in the thirteenth century until the rise of Ayutthaya in the middle of the fourteenth. Thereafter, Lopburi was twice used as a second capital, first by King Narai of Ayutthaya in the seventeenth century, then by Rama IV of Bangkok in the nineteenth, because its remoteness from the sea made it less vulnerable to European expansionists. Rama V downgraded the town, turning the royal palace into a provincial government office and museum; Lopburi’s modern role is as the site of several huge military barracks.
Just south of Thanon Na Phra That • Wed–Sun 7am–5pm • B50
The impressive centrepiece of the sprawled grassy ruins of Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat is a laterite prang in the Khmer style of the twelfth century, decorated with finely detailed stuccowork and surrounded by a ruined cloister. Arrayed in loose formation around this central feature are several more rocket-like Khmer prangs and a number of graceful chedis in the Ayutthayan style, among them one with a bulbous peak and faded bas-reliefs of Buddhist saints. King Narai added to the mishmash of styles by building a “Gothic” viharn on the eastern side of the main prang, now roofless, which is home to a lonely, headless stone Buddha, often draped in photogenic saffron.
Phra Narai Ratchanivet (King Narai’s palace)
Sandwiched between Thanon Ratchadamnern and Thanon Phetracha; main entrance on Thanon Sorasak • Wed–Sun 8am–4pm • B150
The imposing gates and high crenellated walls of the Phra Narai Ratchanivet make it easy to imagine how visitors from afar would have been in awe of the palace in its seventeenth-century heyday. The extensive grounds are a pleasant place to stroll, and the informative museum in the centre of the complex is a good place to begin a tour of Lopburi. King Narai, with the help of French architects, built the heavily fortified palace in 1666 as a precaution against any possible confrontation with the Western powers, and for the rest of his reign he was to spend eight months of every year here, entertaining foreign envoys and indulging his love of hunting. After Narai’s death, Lopburi was left forgotten until 1856, when Rama IV – worried about British and French colonialism – decided to make this his second capital and lavishly restored the central buildings of Narai’s palace.
Lopburi rock-climbing
Khao Chin Lae, a 240m-high limestone pinnacle on Lopburi’s northeastern edge, features over forty climbing routes of all difficulty levels. Surrounded by fields of rice and sunflowers that bloom roughly from November to February, the craggy peak looms behind Wat Pa Suwannahong at the eastern end of the mountain. The monks themselves maintain the climbing area (donations welcome), asking visitors to register before and after their climb and to dress respectfully while passing through the temple. Noom Guesthouse rents out gear and runs climbing trips.
The main entrance to the palace complex is through the Phayakkha Gate on Thanon Sorasak. You’ll see the unusual lancet shape of this arch again and again in the seventeenth-century doors and windows of Lopburi – just one aspect of the Western influences embraced by Narai. Around the outer courtyard, which occupies the eastern half of the complex, stand the walls of various gutted buildings – twelve warehouses for Narai’s treasures, stables for the royal hunting elephants and a moated reception hall for foreign envoys. With their lily ponds and manicured lawns, these well-shaded grounds are ideal for a picnic or a siesta.
Somdet Phra Narai National Museum
Straight ahead from the Phayakkha Gate another arch leads into the central courtyard, where the three buildings of the museum are located. The typically Ayutthayan Chanthara Phisan Throne Hall contains a fascinating exhibition on Narai’s reign – check out the pointed white cap typical of those worn by noblemen of the time, which increased their height by no less than 50cm. The colonial-style Phiman Mongkut Pavilion houses exhibits that show the development of Lopburi from prehistory to the present, spread across three floors. On the first floor are artefacts unearthed in excavations around town, mostly dating to the Dvaravati era. On the second floor are objects of Khmer art, as well as objects from the Ayutthaya and Rattanakosin eras, while the top floor is dedicated to King Mongkut, filled with his furniture and assorted memorabilia of his reign, including his very short and uncomfortable-looking bed and eerie painted statues of his equally vertically challenged near-contemporaries, Napoleon and Queen Victoria. Finally, the Phra Pratiep Building, which used to be Rama IV’s harem, contains examples of Lopburi’s arts and crafts and gives a taste of local culture.
On the south side of the museum lies the shell of the Dusit Sawan Hall, where foreign dignitaries came to present their credentials to King Narai. Inside you can still see the niche, raised 3.5m above the main floor, where the throne was set; beneath the niche, a modern plaque showing Narai receiving the French envoy, the Chevalier de Chaumont, in 1685 is revered as an icon of the king, with offerings of gold leaf, joss sticks and garlands. The whole building is divided in two around the throne: the front half has “foreign” doors and windows with pointed arches; the rear part, from where the king would have made his grand entrance, has traditional Thai openings. The hall used to be lined with French mirrors in imitation of Versailles, with Persian carpets and a pyramidal roof of golden glazed tiles rounding off the most majestic building in the palace.
Rue de France
The street that runs from the north wall of Phra Narai Ratchanivet to Ban Vichayen is named rue de France, to commemorate the establishment of diplomatic ties between Siam and France in the 1680s (following the usual diplomatic niceties, the main street in the French city of Brest, where the Siamese envoys first landed, is “rue de Siam”). Halfway along the street is a building whose plain terracotta roof tiles and whitewashed exterior give it a strangely Mediterranean look. This is in fact the viharn of Wat Sao Thong Thong, and is typical of Narai’s time in its combination of Thai-style tiered roof with “Gothic” pointed windows. Erected as either a Christian chapel or a mosque for the Persian ambassador’s residence, it was later used as a Buddhist viharn and has now been tastefully restored, complete with brass door-knockers and plush red carpet. Inside there’s an austere Buddha image of the Ayutthaya period and, in the lamp niches, some fine Lopburi-style Buddhas.
Thanon Vichayen • Wed–Sun 7am–5pm • B50
The complex of Ban Vichayen was originally built by Narai as a residence for foreign ambassadors, with a Christian chapel incongruously stuccoed with Buddhist flame and lotus-leaf motifs. Though now just a nest of empty shells, it still conjures up the atmosphere of court intrigue and dark deeds which, towards the end of Narai’s reign, centred on the colourful figure of its most famous resident, Constantine Phaulkon, a Greek adventurer who came to Ayutthaya with the English East India Company in 1678. He entered the royal service as interpreter and accountant, rapidly rising to the position of prime minister. It was chiefly due to his influence that Narai established close ties with Louis XIV of France, a move that made commercial sense but also formed part of Phaulkon’s secret plan to turn Narai and his people to Christianity, with the aid of the French. (It was around this time that the word for Westerner, farang, entered the Thai language, from the same derivation as français, which the Thais render farangset.) In 1688, a struggle for succession broke out, and leading officials persuaded the dying Narai to appoint as regent his foster brother, Phetracha, a great rival of Phaulkon’s. Phetracha promptly executed Phaulkon on charges of treason, and took the throne himself when Narai died. Under Phetracha, Narai’s open-door policy towards foreigners was brought to a screeching halt and the Thai kingdom returned to traditional, smaller-scale dealings with the outside world.
The junction of Thanon Vichayen and Thanon Sorasak is marked by an unusual traffic island on which perch the three stubby red-brick towers of Prang Khaek, a well-preserved Hindu shrine, possibly to the god Shiva, dating from as early as the eighth century. The three towers, which face east and are aligned in a row, have been restored on several occasions – most notably in the seventeenth century under the auspices of King Narai.
On the corner of Thanon Prang Sam Yod and Thanon Vichayen • Wed–Sun 6am–8pm • B50
Like nearby Prang Khaek, Phra Prang Sam Yod, at the top of Thanon Na Phra Karn, seems to have originally been a Hindu temple, later converted to Buddhism under the Khmers. The three chunky prangs, made of dark laterite with some restored stuccowork, and symbolizing the Hindu triumvirate of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, are Lopburi’s most photographed sight, though they’ll only detain you for a minute or two – while you’re here, check out some carved figures of seated hermits at the base of the door columns.
The shrine’s grassy knoll is a good spot for monkey-watching – monkeys run amok all over this area, so keep an eye on your bags and pockets. Across the railway line at the modern red-and-gold shrine of San Phra Karn, there’s even a monkey’s adventure playground, beside the base of what must have been a huge Khmer prang.
Wat Phra Phutthabat (Temple of the Buddha’s Footprint)
17km southeast of Lopburi, off Highway 1 • Any of the frequent buses to Saraburi or Bangkok from Lopburi’s Sakeo roundabout will get you there (30min)
The most important pilgrimage site in central Thailand, Wat Phra Phutthabat is believed to house a footprint made by the Buddha.
The legend of Phra Phutthabat dates back to the beginning of the seventeenth century, when King Song Tham of Ayutthaya sent some monks to Sri Lanka to worship the famous Buddha’s footprint of Sumankut. To the monks’ surprise, the Sri Lankans asked them why they had bothered to travel all that way when, according to the ancient Pali scriptures, the Buddha had passed through Thailand and had left his footprint in their own backyard. As soon as Song Tham heard this he instigated a search for the footprint, which was finally discovered in 1623 by a hunter named Pram Bun, when a wounded deer disappeared into a hollow and then emerged miraculously healed. The hunter pushed aside the bushes to discover a foot-shaped trench filled with water, which immediately cured him of his terrible skin disease. A temple was built on the spot, but was destroyed by the Burmese in 1765 – the present buildings date from the Bangkok era.
A staircase flanked by nagas leads up to a marble platform, where an ornate mondop with mighty doors inlaid with mother-of-pearl houses the footprint, which in itself is not much to look at. Sheltered by a mirrored canopy, the stone print is nearly 2m long and obscured by layers of gold leaf presented by pilgrims; people also throw money into the footprint, some of which they take out again as a charm or merit object. The hill behind the shrine, which you can climb for a fine view over the gilded roofs of the complex to the mountains beyond, is covered in shrines. The souvenir village around the temple includes plenty of food stalls.
The Festival of the Holy Footprint
During the dry season in January, February and March, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all over the country flock to Wat Phra Phutthabat for the Ngan Phrabat (Festival of the Holy Footprint). During the fair, which reaches its peak in two week-long lunar periods, one usually at the beginning of February and the other at the beginning of March, stalls selling souvenirs and traditional medicines around the entrance swell to form a small town, and traditional entertainments, magic shows and a Ferris wheel are laid on. The fair is still a major religious event, but before the onset of industrialization it was the highlight of social and cultural life for all ages and classes; it was an important place of courtship, for example, especially for women at a time when their freedom was limited. Another incentive for women to attend the fair was the belief that visiting the footprint three times would ensure a place in heaven – for many women, the Phrabat Fair became the focal point of their lives, as Buddhist doctrine allowed them no other path to salvation. Up to the reign of Rama V (1868–1910) even the king used to come, performing a ritual lance dance on elephant-back to ensure a long reign.
Arrival and departureLopburi
By train
Lopburi is on the main line north to Chiang Mai and is best reached by train from Bangkok’s Hualamphong Station, via Ayutthaya. A popular option is to arrive in Lopburi in the morning, leave your bags at the conveniently located station while you look around the old town, then catch one of the night trains to the north.
Destinations Ayutthaya (16 daily; 45min–1hr 30min); Bangkok Hualamphong Station (16 daily; 2hr 30min–3hr); Chiang Mai (5 daily; 10–12hr); Phitsanulok (11 daily; 3hr–5hr 15min).
By Bus or minibus
The long-distance bus terminal is on the southwest side of the huge Sakeo roundabout (aka Sri Suriyothai roundabout), 2km east of the old town. From there, shared songthaews head west on Thanon Narai Maharat to Narai’s palace (B10).
From/to Bangkok Besides regular buses from the Northern Bus Terminal (Mo Chit), a couple of companies operate fast a/c minibuses between the same bus terminal and Lopburi, which leave when full (roughly 5am–8pm) and terminate outside their offices on Thanon Na Phra Karn, between the train station and Phra Prang Sam Yod. They depart from the same locations.
Destinations Ayutthaya (every 30min; 1hr 30min); Bangkok (every 20min; 2–3hr); Chiang Mai (4 daily; 9–11hr); Khorat (hourly; 3hr–3hr 30min).
Getting around and information
By motorbike Lopburi is easily explored on foot, but if you want to get further afield, Noom Guesthouse I rents out automatic motorbikes for B250–300/day.
Tourist information The TAT office is in Lopburi Provincial Hall at the Narai roundabout, about 4km east of the old town on Thanon Narai Maharat (daily 8.30am–4.30pm; 036 770096–7, tatlobri@tat.or.th); it’s too far from the city’s main sights to be of much use, though they can provide a good map of the town and a booklet of nearby attractions.
Accommodation
Benjatara Hotel 123/33 Moo 1, Tambon Khao Sam Yod (just east of the Narai roundabout, on a lane to the north off Highway 1 immediately after the Ford dealership) 036 422 608–9, facebook.com/benjatara; map. This smart, modern place offers the town’s most comfortable mid-range lodging, but it’s about 5km from the centre. The large, tiled rooms all have a/c, hot showers, fridges and TVs, and some have balconies. B550
Nett Hotel 17/1–2 Soi 2, Thanon Ratchadamnern 036 411738; map. The best alternative to Noom (see below) is this clean and friendly place, announced by a multicoloured, three-storey mosaic of a dragon and a cockerel. It offers unadorned en-suite fan or a/c rooms, the latter with hot water, TVs and fridges, though don’t expect a view. Fan B250, a/c B400
Noom Guesthouse I 15–17 Thanon Praya Kumjud 036 427693, noomguesthouse.com; map. Most travellers make a beeline for the rooms at friendly Noom Guesthouse I, whose centrally located old wooden house is fronted by a streetside restaurant and bar. There’s a good mix of teak-floored rooms upstairs in the main house sharing hot-water bathrooms, including single and family rooms at decent rates, or you can stay in one of the a/c bungalows with en-suite hot showers and TVs in the back garden. As well as rock-climbing, Noom offers half-day tours to a cave packed with bats, and one-day (combined with a visit to Wat Phra Phutthabat) and overnight trekking trips. Fan B350, a/c B550
Eating
Lopburi’s dining scene is pretty limited, but the night market, which sets up all along the west side of the railway tracks, is a reliable choice for cheap eats.
Noom Guesthouse I 15–17 Thanon Praya Kumjud 036 427693, noomguesthouse.com; map. This classic travellers’ café serves a great range of Thai and Western dishes (mostly B100–150) in its cosy, ground-floor restaurant, with tables spilling on to the street in the evening. They serve a wide range of breakfasts and draught beer and cocktails in the evening. Owner Noom is the man to ask if you have any queries about attractions near Lopburi or onward travel. Restaurant daily 8am–9pm (bar often stays open later).
Pae Ban Rim Nam 57/68 Soi Wat Choeng Tha, off Thanon Phetracha 036 618005; map. This floating restaurant, located just southwest of King Narai’s Palace, makes a good spot for lunch after exploring the palace grounds and the museum. Dishes are a bit expensive but portions are huge (they cater mostly to Thai groups), with lots of seafood and classics like green curry (B120) on the menu. They sometimes host karaoke parties in the evening, when it’s not such a pleasant experience. Daily 10am–10pm.
Pelaplearn Thanon Ratchadamnern; map. Stylish little a/c café – think polished concrete walls and retro armchairs – serving tasty cakes, snacks and a good range of espresso coffees (latte B35). Tues–Sun 10.30am–5.30pm.
Drinking
The most popular places for a beer, day or night, are Ma Tini and the sociable pavement tables at Noom Guesthouse I.
Ma Tini 18 Thanon Praya Kumjud 088 680 7335; map. Ma Tini, meaning “come here”, is run by Tee, a musician who sometimes plays with his band and other times puts on classic rock songs. Seating is on a shady outdoor terrace, and though the menu covers a wide range of Thai, Western and vegetarian dishes (mostly around B100), it’s more bar than restaurant, and a cool place to hang out in the evening, enjoying the music or playing pool over a beer or a cocktail. Daily 9am–midnight.
Handily located midway up the railway line between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, the provincial capital of PHITSANULOK (“Abode of Vishnu”) makes a useful stopover with reasonable hotels and good transport connections, especially to the historical centres of Sukhothai and Kamphaeng Phet. The main sight in town is the country’s second-most important Buddha image, enshrined in historic Wat Mahathat and the focus of pilgrimages from all over Thailand; it is complemented by one of the best ethnology collections in Thailand, at the Sergeant Major Thawee Folklore Museum. There are also several potentially rewarding national parks within an hour or two’s drive along Highway 12, the so-called “Green Route”.
Typically for a riverside town, “Phit’lok” as it’s often nicknamed, is long and narrow. The heart of the city, which occupies the east bank of the Nan River, is easily walkable and exudes plenty of urban grit, with its Thai-Chinese shophouses and traditional restaurants, particularly along Thanon Boromtrailoknat between the police station and the Pailyn Hotel. The two main sights, however, lie at opposite extremities: Wat Mahathat to the north, and the folklore museum 2.5km south.
Huge swathes of Phitsanulok were destroyed by fire in 1957, but the town’s history harks back to a heyday in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries when, with Sukhothai waning in power, it rose to prominence as the favoured home of the crumbling capital’s last rulers. After supremacy was finally wrested by the emerging state of Ayutthaya in 1438, Phitsanulok was made a provincial capital, subsequently becoming a strategic army base during Ayutthaya’s wars with Lanna and the Burmese, and adoptive home to Ayutthayan princes. The most famous of these was Naresuan, who was governor of Phitsanulok before he assumed the Ayutthayan crown in 1590. The foundations of fifteenth-century Chandra Palace, where both Naresuan and his younger brother Akkathasaroth were born, have been excavated in the grounds of a former school northwest of Naresuan Bridge; the tramway tour makes a stop there.
Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat (Wat Yai)
Entrances on Thanon Bhudhabucha on the east bank of the Nan River, and on Thanon Jakarnboon • Daily 6am–9pm • Free • No shorts or skimpy clothing
Officially called Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat (and known locally as Wat Yai, meaning “big temple”), this fourteenth-century temple was one of the few buildings miraculously to escape Phitsanulok’s great 1957 fire. It receives a constant stream of worshippers eager to pay homage to the highly revered Buddha image inside the viharn. Because the image is so sacred, a dress code is strictly enforced here, forbidding shorts and skimpy clothing.
Delicately inlaid mother-of-pearl doors made in the eighteenth century mark the entrance to the main viharn, opening onto the low-ceilinged interior, painted mostly in dark red and black, with gold leaf motifs, and dimly lit by narrow slits along the upper walls. In the centre of the far wall sits the much-cherished Phra Phuttha Chinnarat: late Sukhothai in style and probably cast in the mid-fourteenth century for King Lithai, this gleaming, polished-bronze Buddha is one of the finest of the period and, for Thais, second in importance only to the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok. Tales of the statue’s miraculous powers have fuelled the devotion of generations of pilgrims – one legend tells how the Buddha wept tears of blood when Ayutthayan princes arrived in Phitsanulok to oust the last Sukhothai regent. The Phra Phuttha Chinnarat stands out among Thai Buddha images because of its mandorla, the flame-like halo that symbolizes extreme radiance and frames the upper body and head like a chair-back, tapering off into nagas at the arm rests. There’s an almost perfect replica of the Phitsanulok original in Bangkok’s Marble Temple, commissioned by Rama V in 1901. Visitors are asked not to photograph this image in a standing position, but to kneel respectfully in front of it as locals do.
Festivals and events in Phit’lok
In late January or February, Phitsanulok honours the Phra Buddha Chinnarat with a week-long festival, which features likay folk-theatre performances and dancing. Then, later in the year, on the third weekend of September, traditional longboat races are staged on the Nan River, in front of Wat Mahathat. Phitsanulok also hosts three lively food festivals every year, during Songkhran, the Thai New Year, in April, over the Loy Krathong period in November, and over the Christmas and Western New Year period. Almost every restaurant in town participates, selling their trademark dishes from special stalls set up along the east bank of the river, and there’s traditional Thai dance and other entertainments.
Behind the main viharn, the gilded mosaic prang houses the holy relic that gives the wat its name (Mahathat means “Great Relic Stupa”) – though which particular remnant of the Buddha lies entombed here is unclear – and the cloister surrounding both structures contains a gallery of Buddha images of different styles.
Phra Phuttha Chinnarat National Museum
Daily 8am–4pm • Free
The viharn on the north side of the prang is the unlikely setting for what must be Thailand’s smallest national museum, sheltering a desultory display of bencharong, Sangkhalok and blue and white ceramics. The highlights are two alms bowl lids made for Rama V and beautifully inlaid with mother-of-pearl, one showing a mythical lion, the other the king’s insignia, the three-headed elephant Erawan surmounted by a coronet.
South of Wat Mahathat and Naresuan Bridge, the east and west banks of the Nan River have been landscaped into a pleasant riverside park and jogging track that runs all the way down to Akkathasaroth (Ekathosarot) Bridge. There are no exceptional attractions along its course, but you may want to make a stop at Wat Rajburana, or join the locals who come out in their thousands each evening to exercise in this area. South of Akkathasaroth Bridge, the east bank of the river is dominated by the permanent stalls of the night bazaar, the place for locals and tourists to shop for bargain-priced fashions and a cheap meal.
Just south of Naresuan Bridge • Daily 6am–8.30pm
Like Wat Mahathat, Wat Rajburana survived the 1957 fire. Recognizable by the huge brick-based chedi that stands in the compound, the Sukhothai-era wat is chiefly of interest for the Ramakien murals that cover the interior walls of the bot. Now fading, they were probably painted in the mid-nineteenth century. Other interesting features are a wooden scripture library raised on concrete piles, and a boat once used by King Rama V that is protected by a shelter and bedecked with floral garlands.
The Sergeant Major Thawee Folk Museum
26/138 Thanon Wisut Kasat, just over 1km southeast of the train station • Daily 8.30am–4/4.30pm • B50
The Sergeant Major Thawee Folk Museum (Phiphitaphan Ja Tawee) displays a variety of exhibits on the region’s culture and its fascinating look at traditional rural life makes this one of the best ethnology museums in the country. The collection, which is housed in a series of wooden pavilions, belongs to Sergeant Major Dr Thawee, a former military cartographer who has pursued a lifelong personal campaign to preserve and document a way of life that’s gradually disappearing. Highlights include the reconstructed kitchen, veranda and birthing room of a typical village house, known as a “tied house” because its split-bamboo walls are literally tied together with rattan cane; and an exceptionally comprehensive gallery of traps: dozens of specialized contraptions designed to ensnare everything from cockroaches to birds perched on water buffaloes’ backs. There’s also a display on weaving and natural dyes, a collection of traditional toys and some fearsome-looking wooden implements for giving yourself a massage. A recent addition to the museum is an aquarium of fish found in local rivers, including the snakehead fish and the Mekhong giant catfish.
26/43 Thanon Wisut Kasat, about 50m south of the Folk Museum 055 301668 • Daily roughly 8am–5pm • Free
For a rare chance to see Buddha images being forged, head to Sergeant Major Thawee’s Buranathai Buddha Bronze-Casting Foundry. Anyone can drop in to see the fairly lengthy procedure, which is best assimilated from the illustrated explanations along the entrance lane. Images of all sizes are made here, from 30cm-high household icons to mega models destined for wealthy temples. The Buddha business is quite a profitable one: worshippers can earn a great deal of merit by donating a Buddha statue, particularly a precious one, to their local wat, so demand rarely slackens. There’s a gift shop on site.
Behind the Buddha Foundry on Thanon Wisut Kasat • Daily 8.30am–5pm • B50 • Accessible from the foundry or via Soi 17
Garden Birds of Thailand (Suan Nok) is another of Sergeant-Major Thawee’s enthusiasms: a zoo containing hundreds of breathtakingly beautiful Thai birds, each one segregated and informatively described. It’s an astonishing collection that offers a unique chance to admire at close range such beauties as the blue magpie, the Eurasian jay and the common hoopoe.
Arrival and departurePhitsanulok
Phitsanulok stands at the hub of an efficient transport network that works well as a transit point between Bangkok, the far north and Isaan. Every Bangkok–Chiang Mai train stops here, and assorted buses head east towards the Isaan towns of Loei and Khon Kaen.
By plane
Phitsanulok airport is 7km south of town and B120 by tuk-tuk from the train station or about B200 in a taxi. The airport is served by Air Asia, Nok Air and Thai Lion Air flights to and from Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport (5–10 daily; 1hr).
By train
Phitsanulok train station is in the town centre; tuk-tuk rates from here to various attractions are posted outside (from B60).
Destinations Ayutthaya (11 daily; 4hr 30min–5hr 30min); Bangkok Hualamphong (11 daily; 5hr 30min–8hr); Chiang Mai (6 daily; 5hr 50min–8hr 15min); Den Chai (for Phrae; 8 daily 2–3hr); Lampang (6 daily; 4hr–5hr 30min); Lamphun (6 daily; 5hr 40min–7hr 20min); Lopburi (11 daily; 3hr–5hr 15min).
By bus
Buses for Sukhothai, Lom Sak and other adjacent provinces use the old bus station, about 4km east of Naresuan Bridge on the south side of Highway 12; Sukhothai buses also make useful stops in the centre near the bridge, as marked on our map (B60 by tuk-tuk from the train station). Long-distance buses are meant to use the new bus station (Bus Terminal 2), but it’s about 10km east of Naresuan Bridge near Indochina Junction, where highways 11 and 12 meet, and understandably unpopular with locals. Accordingly, some long-distance buses, including some services to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Sot, use the old bus station; however, if you make the trek out to the new terminal, you’ll have a wider choice of long-distance services with more frequent departures. Shared purple songthaews (B15–30) shuttle between the new bus station and the train station in the centre of town, via the old bus station, while a taxi or a tuk-tuk to the centre will cost about B150 from the new terminal, B60 or more from the old terminal.
The Green Route
East of Phitsanulok and served by frequent buses, Highway 12 towards Lom Sak has been tagged “the Green Route” by TAT because it gives access to several national parks and rapids, and provides an excuse for a pleasant day or two’s excursion from the city. Their Phitsanulok office can provide a simple map outlining routes. Beyond Lom Sak on the same road lies Nam Nao National Park.
The first highlight is the chance to go whitewater rafting on the Class 1–5 rapids of the Khek River; the Sappraiwan Resort (055 293293, sappraiwan.com; doubles B2800 including breakfast) at kilometre-marker 53 on Highway 12 arranges an overnight trip (roughly June–Nov; B1950/person including three meals and one night’s accommodation). The resort also has a swimming pool and an elephant sanctuary where you can watch the pachyderms playing together.
Next up is Phu Hin Rongkla National Park (B500; 055 233527, nps.dnp.go.th), about 100km northeast of Phitsanulok: turn north off Highway 12 at kilometre-stone 68 onto Route 2013, then east onto Route 2331 to reach the visitor centre. Formerly the notorious stronghold of the insurgent Communist Party of Thailand from 1967 to 1982, the park still contains some relics from that period, though its short trails through montane forests and natural rock gardens are now the main point of interest. Should you want to stay, the park offers bungalows (from B800).
Also on the Green Route is Thung Salaeng Luang National Park (B200–500 depending on which areas you want to visit; 055 268019, nps.dnp.go.th), 82km east of Phitsanulok (turn south off Highway 12 at kilometre-stone 79). Thung Salaeng is famous for Kaeng Sopha waterfall, which is spectacular towards the end of the rainy season, and for the flowers that carpet its grasslands at Thung Nonson for a brief period after the end of the rainy season (November is the best time to go). Bungalows are available in the park from B1000.
The Dhamma Abha Vipassana meditation centre (081 827 7331, abha.dhamma.org), which follows the teachings of S.N. Goenka, holds frequent ten-day meditation courses throughout the year (sign up on the website), and is also in this area, in Ban Huayplu; turn north off Highway 12 at kilometre-stone 49.
Destinations Bangkok (over 40 daily; 5–6hr); Chiang Mai (over 30 daily; 5–7hr); Chiang Rai (over 20 daily; 6–8hr); Kamphaeng Phet (roughly hourly; 2–3hr); Khon Kaen (roughly hourly; 5–6hr); Loei (3 daily; 4–5hr); Lom Sak (roughly hourly; 2hr); Mae Sot (roughly hourly; 3hr 30min–5hr); Nan (5 daily; 5–6hr); Phrae (17 daily; 2–3hr); Sukhothai (hourly; 1hr); Udon Thani (3 daily; 6–7hr).
Getting around
Phitsanulok has a handful of city buses but their schedules are so infrequent that they’re to all intents and purposes useless.
By tuk-tuk Tuk-tuks buzz around town and hang out at the train station, where rates are posted on a board outside, including B60 to Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat and the Sergeant Major Thawee Folk Museum; you might have to walk to the station to get these rates, as a tuk-tuk flagged down on the street is likely to quote a higher fare.
By taxi For an a/c taxi, call 055 338888; a few will turn the meter on, but most will want to agree a fare in advance.
By car or motorbike Avis (avisthailand.com), who will deliver and collect anywhere in town, and Budget (budget.co.th) have desks at the airport. Motorbike rental is available for B200–300 per day at Lady Motor (086 209 9988) on the northwest side of the old bus station.
Information
Tourist information The helpful municipal tourist office occupies a traditional-style wooden building next to Coffee Mania on Thanon Bhudhabucha (Mon–Fri 8.30am–4.30pm; 055 252148). There’s also a TAT office (daily 8.30am–4.30pm; 055 252742, tatphlok@tat.or.th) in Surasri Square (aka Surasi Trade Centre), a small grid of businesses off the eastern side of Thanon Boromtrailoknat.
Phitsanulok by tram
For a cheap whizz around some of the town’s sights, you could take a 45-minute “tramway tour” in a kind of open-sided bus (in Thai rot rang), which starts in front of the tourist police booth inside Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat (daily roughly 8/9am–4pm, though the driver will knock off early if there are no tourists around; departs when it has at least ten passengers; B40). Commentary is in Thai but one of the students who works at the tourist police booth might offer to accompany you to translate; there are printed English-language summaries, but they’re only available at the TAT office. The route takes in some remains of the town’s Ayutthaya-era walls and moat, as well as a couple of excavated ruins across the river – King Naresuan’s place of birth, Chandra Palace, plus the Sukhothai-era Wat Wihanthong – neither of which is really worth making the effort to walk to.
Accommodation
Bon Bon Guest House 77 Thanon Phayalithai 055 219058 or 081 707 7649; map. The only thing approaching a genuine guesthouse in the town centre, this three-storey place is set back from the road around a small yard. The twenty rooms all have small balconies, en-suite hot showers and TVs and are kept nice and clean. Fan B350, a/c B400
Karma Home Hostel 26/54 Soi Lang Wat Mai Apaiyaram 088 814 1268, facebook.com/karmahomehostel; map. Welcoming and informative hostel-cum-homestay in the centre of town, offering fan-cooled bunk beds and hammocks for chilling on the roof terrace, as well as informal cooking classes and temple tours. Dorms B200
Lithai Guest House 73/1–5 Thanon Phayalithai 055 219626–9, lithaiphs@yahoo.com; map. Good but bland option, used mainly by salespeople so not especially cosy and much more of a hotel than a guesthouse. The clean, bright rooms come with hot shower, TV and either fan or a/c. Decent rates for singles. Fan B300, a/c B580
P1 House Northeast of the centre at 9/15–19 Thanon Phra Ong Dam 055 211007; map. Above a retro-styled café that gives onto a garden at the back, stylish, well-maintained, good-sized rooms with a/c, hot showers, TVs and fridges. Simple breakfast included. B650
Pailyn Hotel 38 Thanon Boromtrailoknat 055 252411–5; map. Central, long-running three-star tourist and business hotel that’s old-fashioned and unstylish but offers good-sized a/c rooms with comfortable beds. Upper-floor rooms in the twelve-storey tower enjoy long-range river views from their balconies. Breakfast included. B850
Pattara Resort 349/40 Thanon Chaiyanupap, 2km west of the town centre 055 282966, pattararesort.com; map. Situated out of town in a residential area, this rambling resort is the best place in Phitsanulok to really relax. All rooms, from the large superior rooms up to the huge villas with their own pools, are surrounded by greenery and furnished with thick-mattress beds, rain showers, DVD players and subtle lighting. There’s also a large swimming pool, a spa and a good restaurant. Breakfast included. B3800
Yodia Heritage Hotel 89/1 Thanon Buddhabucha (Puttabucha), 250m north of Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat 055 214677, yodiaheritage.com; map. This classy boutique hotel beside the river provides spacious, contemporary-styled rooms, all with a/c, wooden floors, elegantly restrained decor, bathtubs and a balcony overlooking the small garden. The on-site Amore restaurant enjoys river views, and there’s also a swimming pool and a library. Free pick-up from the airport. Breakfast included. B2800
Eating
In the evening, night market stalls set up south of the night bazaar along the east bank of the river, south of Akkathasaroth Bridge. Phat thai and hawy thawt (omelette stuffed with mussels) are popular choices, but the most famous dish is “flying vegetables”, in which strong-tasting morning-glory (phak bung) is stir-fried before being tossed flamboyantly in the air towards the plate-wielding waiter or customer. Also famous in Phit’lok are kwaytiaw hoy kha, or dangling leg noodles, so named for the style of eating noodles while sitting with legs dangling over the side of a raised pavilion.
Ban Mai 93/30 Thanon Wisut Kasat 055 303122; map. It’s worth heading east across the railway tracks to this smart restaurant in a residential lane off Thanon Wisut Kasat (opposite the Ayara Grand Palace). Expect white tablecloths, sturdy furnishings and attentive service, complementing classic Thai dishes, such as chicken green curry (B150). Daily 11am–10pm, last orders 8.30pm.
Coffee Mania Thanon Bhudhabucha, next to the municipal tourist office 055 251133; map. This laidback café enjoys an excellent riverside location, with seating in and around an attractive traditional-style wooden building overlooking a pond. They serve delicious milky cappuccinos (B40), as well as a few snacks such as cakes and biscuits. Daily 8am–7pm.
Italy: The Restaurant Soi 7, Thanon Boromtrailoknat 055 219177; map. Offers a huge choice of pizzas (B120–270), pastas, meat and fish dishes, plus wines, in a slightly quieter part of town, away from the worst of the traffic noise. Daily 10am–10pm.
Kwaytiaw Hoy Kha Rim Nan 100m north of Wat Mahathat 081 379 3172; map. The noodles here are so famously tasty they’ve been featured on several TV channels. Choose from phat thai, Sukhothai noodles with red pork in a sweet and spicy broth, tom yam soup with noodles, or yellow noodles with pork; tofu versions are also available (B30–50). You sit on the raised floor with legs dangling (hoy kha) under the table. There’s no English sign, but it’s an open-sided pavilion with a brown awning and is always packed. Daily 9am–4pm.
Sor Lert Rot Thanon Boromtrailoknat, immediately south of the Pailyn Hotel; map. It doesn’t look much, but this basic, rather untidy, Thai-Chinese restaurant cooks up some of the best food in town. Try the fried chicken (B120) and the salted fish with Chinese kale (khana pla khem; B50). Mon–Sat 8am–9/10pm.
VG (Café Veggie) 93/2 Thanon Phayalithai 080 786 3405; map. This chic, industrial-look café, with bare concrete walls, marble-topped tables and stylish lighting, features an appetizing menu of salads, soups and sandwiches, but, despite the name, it’s far from exclusively vegetarian, and you can indulge in delicious burgers and fish and chips too (most dishes B150–200), along with delicious juices to wash it down and spectacular desserts such as french toast with ice cream and strawberries. Daily 11.30am–9pm (kitchen closes 8pm).
Drinking
In Town (Amarin) 50–52 Thanon Phayalithai 096 665 5186; map. Small, buzzy, open-sided bar, with bare brick walls and sports on the TV, that’s something of a beer drinker’s paradise – though one with deep pockets (around B200/bottle). There’s a huge range of brews on offer, including Czech, German, Belgian, British, American and Japanese, with several draught beers at any one time. Daily 6pm–midnight.
Directory
Banks and ATMs There are several banks on Thanon Boromtrailoknat, and ATMs can be found here and outside most convenience stores.
Hospitals Bangkok Hospital on Thanon Phra Ong Dam (055 212222) is private, and Buddha Chinnarat Hospital, Thanon Sithamtraipidok (055 270300), is government-run.
Left luggage At the train station (daily 7am–11pm; B20–30/item).
Tourist police For all emergencies, call the tourist police on the free 24hr phoneline 1155, or contact them at their booth in the southwest corner of the compound of Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat (their main office is in the far northern suburbs near the stadium).
Travel agent Able Tour and Travel (Mon–Fri 8.30am–5pm, Sat 8.30am–4pm; 055 242206, ablegroup@hotmail.com), near the TAT office in Surasri Square, sells air tickets and can arrange minibuses to Sukhothai or Kamphaeng Phet (B1800 excluding petrol).
For a brief but brilliant period (1238–1376), the walled city of SUKHOTHAI presided as the capital of Thailand, creating the legacy of a unified nation of Thai peoples and a phenomenal artistic heritage. Some of Thailand’s finest buildings and sculpture were produced here, but by the sixteenth century the city had been all but abandoned to the jungle. Now an impressive assembly of elegant ruins, the Old City, 58km northwest of Phitsanulok, has been preserved as Sukhothai Historical Park and is one of Thailand’s most visited ancient sites.
There are several accommodation options near the historical park, but travellers looking for urban comforts tend to stay in so-called NEW SUKHOTHAI, a modern market town 12km to the east, which has good travel links with the Old City and is also better for restaurants and long-distance bus connections. It’s a small, friendly town, used to seeing tourists but by no means overrun with them. The town straddles the Yom River, which burst its banks and caused serious flooding in 2011, since when an ugly flood wall has been erected along its course through town.
Sukhothai makes a peaceful and convenient base for visiting Ramkhamhaeng National Park, as well as the ruins of Si Satchanalai and Kamphaeng Phet, which, while not as extensively renovated, are still worth visiting – if only for their relative wildness and lack of visitors. Most of these outlying places can be reached fairly easily by public transport, but for trips to Wat Thawet and Ramkhamhaeng National Park you’ll need to rent your own vehicle or arrange a driver through your accommodation.
The Historical Park (Muang Kao Sukhothai)
12km west of New Sukhothai 055 697527 • Daily: central zone 6.30am–7.30pm, floodlit Sat 6.30–9pm; northern zone 7.30am–5.30pm; western zone 8am–4.30pm • B100 per zone (central, north and west), plus B10 per bicycle per zone • iPad guide rental B690/day, including admission fees and either bike hire (and bike admission fees) or tram ticket (sukhothaikingdom.com)
In its prime, the Old City boasted around forty separate temple complexes and covered an area of about seventy square kilometres between the Yom River and the low range of hills to the west. At its heart stood the walled royal city, protected by a series of moats and ramparts. SUKHOTHAI HISTORICAL PARK, or Muang Kao Sukhothai, covers all this area and is divided into five zones: all the most important temples lie within the central zone, with the Ramkhamhaeng Museum just outside it; the ruins outside the city walls are spread out over a sizeable area and divided into north, south, east and west zones.
With the help of UNESCO, the Thai government’s Fine Arts Department has restored the most significant ruins and the result reveals the original town planners’ keen aesthetic sense, especially their astute use of water to offset and reflect the solid monochrome contours of the stone temples. Although there is a touch of the too perfectly packaged theme park about the central zone (and, in some critics’ opinions, too liberal an interpretation of thirteenth-century design), it’s a serene and rewarding site, with plenty to investigate should you want to look more closely. It does, however, take a determined imagination to visualize the ancient capital as it must once have looked, not least because houses and palaces would have filled the spaces between the wats – like their Khmer predecessors, the people of Sukhothai constructed their secular buildings from perishable materials such as wood, only using expensive, durable stone for their sacred structures. Private vehicles have recently been banned from the central zone, which covers three square kilometres: a bike is the best way to get around, or you could hire an electric tuk-tuk with driver (from B200/hour) or join one of the regular, hour-long tram tours (B60). Of the eleven ruins here, Wat Mahathat is the one that should definitely not be missed.
The Sukhothai Buddha
The classic Buddha images of Thailand were produced towards the end of the Sukhothai era. Ethereal, androgynous figures with ovoid faces and feline expressions, they depict not a Buddha meditating to achieve enlightenment – the more usual representation – but an already enlightened Buddha: the physical realization of an abstract, “unworldly” state. Though they produced mainly seated Buddhas, Sukhothai artists are renowned for having pioneered the walking Buddha, one of four postures described in ancient Pali texts but without precedent in Thailand.
There’s a much less formal feel to the ruins in the outer zones, where you’re as likely to find cows trampling through the remains as tourists; with some clever planning, you could visit several lesser-known ruins without paying the zone fee. You’ll need a bicycle or car to get around, but all sites are clearly signposted from the gates encircling the central zone. The north zone is the closest and most rewarding, followed by the east zone (no fee) just off the road to New Sukhothai. If you’re feeling energetic, head for the west zone, which requires a much longer bike ride and some hill climbing. The ruins to the south (no fee) are rarely visited, but Wat Chetuphon and Wat Chedi Si Hong are definitely worth a look.
Prior to the thirteenth century, the land now known as Thailand was divided into a collection of petty principalities, most of which owed their allegiance to the Khmer empire and its administrative centre Angkor (in present-day Cambodia). With the Khmers’ power on the wane, two Thai generals joined forces in 1238 to oust the Khmers from the northern plains, founding the kingdom of Sukhothai (“Dawn of Happiness” in Pali) under the regency of one of the generals, Intradit. In short order they had extended their control over much of present-day Thailand, as well as parts of Myanmar and Laos.
The third and most important of Sukhothai’s eight kings, Intradit’s youngest son Ramkhamhaeng (r.1279–98) laid the foundations of a unique Thai identity by establishing Theravada (Hinayana) Buddhism as the common faith and introducing the forerunner of the modern Thai alphabet; of several inscriptions attributed to him, the most famous, found on what’s known as Ramkhamhaeng’s Stele and housed in Bangkok’s National Museum (with a copy kept in Sukhothai’s Ramkhamhaeng Museum), tells of a utopian land of plenty ruled by a benevolent monarch.
Ramkhamhaeng turned Sukhothai into a vibrant spiritual and commercial centre, inviting Theravada monks from Nakhon Si Thammarat and Sri Lanka to instruct his people in the religion that was to supplant Khmer Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism, and encouraging the growth of a ceramics industry with the help of Chinese potters. By all accounts, Ramkhamhaeng’s successors lacked his kingly qualities, and so, by the second half of the fourteenth century, Sukhothai had become a vassal state of the newly emerged kingdom of Ayutthaya; finally, in 1438, it was forced to relinquish all vestiges of its independent identity.
Just outside the main entrance to the central zone • Daily 9am–4pm • B150
The well-presented Ramkhamhaeng National Museum features several illuminating exhibitions and contains some of the finest sculptures and reliefs found at the temples of Sukhothai’s Old City and nearby Si Satchanalai. Outstanding artefacts in the downstairs gallery of the main building include the fourteenth-century bronze statue of a walking Buddha, and the large Buddha head that was found at Wat Phra Phai Luang in the north zone of Sukhothai Historical Park. Also here is a useful guide to the many different stucco motifs that once decorated every Sukhothai-era temple, along with a copy of one of the finest local examples of stucco relief, depicting the Buddha being sheltered by a naga, whose original is still in situ at Si Satchanalai’s Wat Chedi Jet Taew. The wide-ranging section on Ramkhamhaeng’s famous stele features a complete translation of the inscription, plus a detailed look at the origins and evolution of the original “Tai” script. The upstairs gallery provides an informative introduction to Sangkhalok ceramics.
A modern statue of King Ramkhamhaeng sits to the right inside the main entrance to the central zone, just beyond the ticket office. Cast in bronze, he holds a palm-leaf book in his right hand – a reference to his role as founder of the modern Thai alphabet. Close by stands a large bronze bell, a replica of the one referred to on the famous stele (also reproduced here), which told how the king had the bell erected in front of his palace so that any citizen with a grievance could come by and strike it, whereupon the king himself would emerge to investigate the problem.
Central zone
Your first stop in the central zone should be Sukhothai’s most important site, the enormous Wat Mahathat compound. It’s packed with the remains of scores of monuments and surrounded, like a city within a city, by a moat. This was the spiritual focus of the city, the king’s temple and symbol of his power; successive regents, eager to add their own stamp, restored and expanded it so that by the time it was abandoned in the sixteenth century it numbered ten viharns, one bot, eight mondops and nearly two hundred small chedis. Looking at the wat from ground level, it’s hard to distinguish the main structures from the minor ruins. Remnants of the viharns and the bot dominate the present scene, their soldierly ranks of pillars, which formerly supported wooden roofs, directing the eye to the Buddha images seated at the far western ends.
The principal chedi complex, which houses the Buddha relic, stands grandly, if a little cramped, at the heart of the compound, built on an east–west axis in an almost continuous line with two viharns. Its elegant centrepiece follows a design termed lotus-bud chedi (after the bulbous finial ornamenting the top of a tower), and is classic late Sukhothai in style. This lotus-bud reference is an established religious symbol: though Sukhothai architects were the first to incorporate it into building design – since when it’s come to be regarded as a hallmark of the era – the lotus bud had for centuries represented the purity of the Buddha’s thoughts nudging through the muddy swamp and finally bursting into flower. The chedi stands surrounded by eight smaller towers – some with their stucco decoration partially reapplied, and some with a Buddha image in one of their four alcoves – on a square platform decorated with a procession of walking Buddha-like monks, another artistic innovation of the Sukhothai school, here depicted in stucco relief. Flanking the chedi platform are two square mondops, built for the colossal standing Buddhas still inside them today.
Loy Krathong
Every year on the evening of the full moon of the twelfth lunar month (usually in November), Thais all over the country celebrate the end of the rainy season with Loy Krathong, also known as the Festival of Light. One of Thailand’s most beautiful festivals, it’s held to honour and appease the spirits of the water at a time when all the fields are flooded and the canals and rivers are overflowing their banks. The festival is said to have originated seven hundred years ago, when Nang Noppamas, the consort of a Sukhothai king, adapted an ancient Brahmin tradition of paying homage to the water goddess.
At this time, nearly everyone makes or buys a krathong and sets it afloat (loy) on the nearest body of water, to cast adrift any bad luck that may have accrued over the past year. Krathongs are miniature basket-boats made of banana leaves that have been elegantly folded and pinned, origami style, and then filled with flowers, three sticks of incense and a lighted candle; the traditional base is a slice of banana tree trunk, but it’s increasingly popular to buy your krathong ready-made from the market, sometimes with an eco-unfriendly polystyrene bottom. Some people slip locks of hair and fingernail clippings between the flowers, to represent sinful deeds that will then be symbolically released along with the krathong; others add a coin or two to persuade the spirits to take away their bad luck (swiftly raided by opportunist young boys looking for small change). It’s traditional to make a wish or prayer as you launch your krathong and to watch until it disappears from view: if your candle burns strong, your wishes will be granted and you will live long.
Chiang Mai goes to town over Loy Krathong (see page Loy Krathong), but Sukhothai Historical Park is the most famous place in Thailand to celebrate the festival, and the ruins are the focus of a spectacular festival held over several nights around the full moon. The centrepiece is a charming son et lumière performance at Wat Mahathat, complemented by firework displays, the illumination of many Old City ruins, thousands of candles floating on the shimmering lotus ponds, a parade of charming Nang Noppamas (Miss Loy Krathong) lookalikes and all sorts of concerts and street-theatre shows. All accommodation gets packed out during the festival, so book ahead if possible.
The grassy patch across the road to the east of Wat Mahathat was until recently thought to be the site of the royal palace, but archeologists now think it is more likely to have been located north of Wat Sa Si towards the northern gate.
300m southwest of Wat Mahathat, central zone
The triple corn-cob-shaped prangs of Wat Sri Sawai make for an interesting architectural comparison with Wat Mahathat. Just as the lotus-bud chedi epitomizes Sukhothai aspirations, the prang represents Khmer ideals: Wat Sri Sawai was probably conceived as a Hindu shrine several centuries before the Sukhothai kingdom established itself here. The stucco reliefs decorating the prangs feature a few weatherworn figures from both Hindu and Buddhist mythology, which suggests that the shrine was later pressed into Buddhist service; the square base inside the central prang supported the Khmer Shiva lingam (phallus), while the viharn out front is a later, Buddhist, addition.
Just west of Wat Mahathat, central zone
Wat Trapang Ngoen is distinguished by a particularly fine lotus-bud chedi. Aligned with the chedi on the symbolic east–west axis are the dilapidated viharn and, east of that, on an island in the middle of the “silver pond” after which the wat is named, the remains of the bot. Walk across the bridge to the bot to appreciate the setting from the water. North of the chedi, notice the fluid lines of the walking Buddha mounted onto a brick wall – a classic example of Sukhothai sculpture.
North of Wat Trapang Ngoen, central zone
Entirely surrounded by water, Wat Sa Si commands a fine position on two connecting islands north of Wat Trapang Ngoen. The bell-shaped chedi with a tapering spire and square base shows a strong Sri Lankan influence, and the metallic replica of a freestanding walking Buddha is typical Sukhothai.
North zone, about 500m north of the old city walls: exit the central zone north of Wat Sa Si
About 500m north of the earthen ramparts of the old city walls, a footbridge (also accessible to bicycles and motorbikes) leads you across to Wat Phra Phai Luang, one of the ancient city’s oldest structures, surrounded by around fifty Sangkhalok pottery kilns. The three prangs, only one of which remains intact, were built by the Khmers before the Thais founded their own kingdom here, and, as at the similar Wat Sri Sawai, you can still see some of the stucco reliefs showing both Hindu and Buddhist figures. Others are displayed in Ramkhamhaeng National Museum. It’s thought that Wat Phra Phai Luang was at the centre of the old Khmer town and that it was as important then as Wat Mahathat later became to the Thais. When the shrine was converted into a Buddhist temple, the viharn and chedi were built to the east of the prangs: the reliefs of the (now headless and armless) seated Buddhas are still visible around the base of the chedi. Also discernible among the ruins are parts of a large reclining Buddha and a mondop containing four huge standing Buddhas in different postures.
About 750m southwest from the Wat Phra Phai Luang compound, north zone
Wat Sri Chum boasts Sukhothai’s largest surviving Buddha image, the Phra Achana, which is mentioned on Ramkhamhaeng’s Stele as the “statue of the Teacher”. This enormous, heavily restored brick-and-stucco seated Buddha, measuring more than 11m from knee to knee and almost 15m high, peers through the slit in its custom-built mondop. Check out the elegantly tapered fingers, complete with gold-leaf nail varnish. A passageway – rarely opened up, unfortunately – runs inside the mondop wall, taking you from ground level on the left-hand side to the Buddha’s eye level and then up again to the roof, affording a bird’s-eye view of the image. Legend has it that this Buddha would sometimes speak to favoured worshippers, and this staircase would have enabled tricksters to climb up and hold forth, unseen; one of the kings of Sukhothai is said to have brought his troops here to spur them on to victory with encouraging words from the Buddha.
East zone, about 1.5km east of the main entrance
The only temple of interest in the east zone is canalside Wat Chang Lom, beside the bicycle track to New Sukhothai and just off the road to the new city. Chang Lom means “surrounded by elephants” and the main feature here is a large Sri Lankan-style, bell-shaped chedi encircled by a sculpted frieze of more than thirty elephants.
West zone, almost 5km west of the Ramkhamhaeng National Museum
Be prepared for a long haul out to the west zone, in the forested hills off the main road to Tak. Marking the western edge of the Old City, the hilltop temple of Wat Saphan Hin should – with sufficiently powerful telescopic lenses – give a fantastic panorama of the Old City’s layout, but with the naked eye conjures up only an indistinct vista of trees and stones. The wat’s ruinous viharn is reached via a steep 300m-long pathway of stone slabs (hence the name, meaning “Stone Bridge”), which starts from a side road running south from the main Tak road. This is the easiest approach if you’re on a bike, as it’s completely flat; the other route, which follows a lesser, more southerly road out of the Old City’s west side via Wat Tham Hip, takes you over several hills (it’s not known which route was taken by King Ramkhamhaeng, who is said to have visited this temple on a white elephant on every Buddhist holy day). Inside the viharn you’ll find a well-preserved, 12m standing Buddha image called Phra Attharot, which is mentioned on Ramkhamhaeng’s Stele.
Wat Chetuphon and Wat Chedi Si Hong
South zone; follow Route 1272 south from just southwest of Wat Chang Lom
Surrounded by a narrow moat that is smothered with pink water lilies which open for a few hours every morning, Wat Chetuphon’s main feature is a headless walking Buddha framed by laterite columns of what was once the viharn. Behind it is a headless standing Buddha, and the mondop that once protected them also housed a sitting and reclining Buddha. Just opposite, Wat Chedi Si Hong is largely overgrown, though it’s possible to make out a few stucco elephants round the base of the chedi and the crossed legs of a large Buddha image that is also framed by laterite columns.
2km east of New Sukhothai on the northern bypass (Highway 101), close to the junction with Highway 12, the road to Phitsanulok • Daily 8am–5pm • B100 • Tuk-tuk ride from central New Sukhothai should cost around B100
If you have a serious interest in ceramics you’ll probably enjoy the Sukhothai-era exhibits at the privately owned Sangkhalok Museum – ask for one of the informative museum booklets at the ticket desk to get the most out of a visit. The ground floor of the museum displays ceramic artefacts from thirteenth- to seventeenth-century Sukhothai, including water pipes used in the city’s widely admired irrigation system, and the lotus-bud lamps whose gracefully shaped perforations both shield the flame and diffuse its light and are still popular in Thailand today. Some of the finest pieces are the characteristically expressive figurines, many of which are signed by the potter, and the bowls, which fall into two main types: light green celadon with incised patterns, sometimes with scalloped rims; and cream with underglazed black painting, often with floral or fish designs. This style of pottery has become known as Sangkhalok, after the prosperous city of Sawankhalok, near Si Satchanalai, which was part of the kingdom of Sukhothai at that time. Also on show are some of the most exquisite ceramics produced in northern Thailand during the Lanna era (fourteenth to sixteenth centuries). Upstairs, the focus is on the cultural significance of certain artefacts and how they represent traditional Thai philosophy.
10km north of New Sukhothai on the west bank of the River Yom • Donation requested
Famous for its one hundred different, brightly painted, concrete statues depicting morality tales and Buddhist fables, Wat Thawet makes a stark contrast to the temples in the historical park. The main attraction is a sculpture park that was conceived by a local monk in the 1970s, with the aim of creating a “learning garden” where visitors could learn about the Buddhist ideas of hell and karmic retribution. For example, people who have spent their lives killing animals are depicted here with the head of a buffalo, pig, cock or elephant, while those who have been greedy and materialistic stand naked and undernourished, their ribs and backbones sticking out. Then there’s the alcoholic who is forced to drink boiling liquids that make his concrete guts literally explode on to the ground.
Part of the appeal of Wat Thawet is that it makes a good focus for a very pleasant bicycle trip from Sukhothai. Peaceful minor roads follow the west bank of the winding River Yom pretty much all the way from the main bridge in New Sukhothai to the temple, crossing two bypasses on the way and passing typical wooden houses and several banana plantations.
Around 30km southwest of Sukhothai • B200 • 055 910000, nps.dnp.go.th • To get to the main park entrance from New Sukhothai, follow Highway 101 towards Kamphaeng Phet for 19km, then take side road 1319 (signed to Khao Luang) for the final 16km to park headquarters; Kamphaeng Phet-bound buses will take you to the junction, but you’ll have trouble hitching to the park from here, so renting private transport is advised
The forested area immediately to the southwest of Sukhothai is protected as Ramkhamhaeng National Park and makes a pleasant day-trip on a motorbike. The park is home to waterfalls and herbal gardens and, if you’re feeling sufficiently energetic, there’s the possibility of a challenging mountain climb.
The headquarters stands at the foot of the eastern flank of the highest peak, Khao Luang (1185m), which can be climbed in around four hours, but only safely from November to February. Several very steep trails run up to the summit from here, but they are not very clearly marked; the first couple of kilometres are the worst, after which the incline eases up a little. From the top you should get a fine view over the Sukhothai plains. If you want to camp on the summit, simply alert the rangers at the park headquarters, and they will arrange for their colleague at the summit to rent you a tent; you need to take your own food and water. Fan-cooled bungalows in the area around the park headquarters can be rented for B1200–1800.
16km south of New Sukhothai on Highway 101
En route to or from Ramkhamhaeng National Park you could make a detour to Thung Luang Pottery Village (signposted), where nearly every household is involved in the production of earthenware pots, vases and statuary. Their lamps and table decorations are often purchased by Thai resort hotels and used to add colour to outdoor restaurants. Once you’ve turned off the main road, you’ll pass a line of roadside stalls, but to enter the heart of the pottery neighbourhoods continue for another kilometre or so, past a school and two temples.
Arrival and departureSukhothai
By plane The tiny airport is about 25km north of town (halfway to Si Satchanalai) and is served by three daily Bangkok Airways’ flights to and from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport (1hr 20min). Shuttle buses transfer passengers to or from New Sukhothai hotels for B180 per person, while Eddy Rent-a-car offers car rental, with or without a driver (093 131 5597, eddy-rentacar.com). Air Asia and Nok Air offer minivan transfers to Old Sukhothai from Phitsanulok Airport.
By bus Sukhothai has direct bus connections with many major provincial capitals and makes a good staging point between Chiang Mai and Bangkok, as well as an easy day-trip from Phitsanulok. All buses use the Sukhothai bus terminal, located about 3km west of New Sukhothai’s town centre, just off the bypass (note that many buses from Chiang Mai and Tak pass the Old City en route). To get from the bus station to the New Sukhothai guesthouses, songthaews are currently charging as much as B60/person, which is way over the odds. However, many guesthouses will pick you up for free – just ring ahead. In Old Sukhothai, Win Tour has an office on Thanon Charodvithitong (099 135 5645, sukhothaiwintour.com) where you can catch a bus to Bangkok via Ayutthaya three times a day, or to Chiang Mai via Lampang five times a day.
Destinations Ayutthaya (over 30 daily; 5–6hr); Bangkok (over 30 daily; 6–7hr); Chiang Mai (over 20 daily; 5–6hr); Chiang Rai (3 daily; 8–9hr); Kamphaeng Phet (roughly hourly, best in the morning; 1hr–1hr 30min); Khon Kaen (9 daily; 6–7hr); Lampang (over 20 daily; 4hr); Mae Sot (roughly hourly; 2hr 30min–4hr); Nan (2 daily; 4–5hr); Phitsanulok (hourly; 1hr); Phrae (6 daily; 3–4hr); Si Satchanalai (every 30min; 1–2hr); Tak (roughly hourly; 1hr 30min).
By train and bus If you’re coming from Bangkok, Chiang Mai or anywhere in between, one option is to take the train to Phitsanulok and then change onto a bus to Sukhothai. From Phitsanulok station, take a tuk-tuk (about B60) to the bus stop opposite Topland Plaza near Naresuan Bridge, then catch one of the hourly buses to New Sukhothai bus terminal (1hr, coming from Phitsanulok old bus station).
Cycling around Sukhothai
You can cycle from New Sukhothai to the historical park along a peaceful canalside track. To pick up the track, start from the bridge in New Sukhothai, cycle west along the main road towards the historical park for about 3km (beyond Sukhothai Hospital, just before the Big C hypermarket) until you reach a temple with an impressive gold-and-white-decorated gateway on the right-hand side. A narrow track between this temple and the adjacent petrol station takes you via a small bridge to a track that runs along the north bank of Khlong Maerampan, nearly all the way to the Old City. It’s an easy 14km ride. Near the end you cross a major road to pick up the final stretch of track; then, after reaching the elephant statues at the ruins of Wat Chang Lom, cross the bridge on your left to regain the main road into the historical park, about 1.5km away. Bicycle rental is available from a few guesthouses in New Sukhothai and in great numbers at the historical park where outlets near the songthaew stop rent them out for B30.
Alternatively, join a full-day guided cycle tour around the historical park (B990 including lunch) with Belgian–Thai-run Cycling Sukhothai (085 083 1864, cycling-sukhothai.com). They also offer morning, sunset and full-day cycle tours around local villages and countryside. All trips include mountain bike and transfers, and are bookable through most guesthouses.
Getting around
By bus Many buses from the bus terminal in New Sukhothai that are heading for Chiang Mai or Tak will drop you off in the Old City.
By songthaew Large songthaews from New Sukhothai (roughly every 30min; 20min; B30; see map for location) terminate at the central zone entrance point in the Old City, beside a couple of cycle-rental outlets.
By tuk-tuk New Sukhothai guesthouses can organize a tuk-tuk to drop you in Old Sukhothai for B200.
By bicycle Cycling makes a peaceful and pleasant way to see Sukhothai and its surroundings.
By motorbike For getting around the wider area, motorbike rental (around B250/day) is available at guesthouses or the shop underneath Chopper Bar on New Sukhothai’s Thanon Pravetnakorn.
Information
Tourist information The TAT office is at 200 Thanon Charodvithitong in the new city (daily 8.30am–4.30pm; 055 616228, Etatsukho@tat.or.th), but you’d be better off asking for information at your guesthouse or hotel. Alternatively, friendly tour guide Naa offers free information and advice by phone or in person at her cookery school in the old city.
Guidebook Dawn F. Rooney’s lively and beautifully photographed Ancient Sukhothai is a great guidebook, not only to Sukhothai’s Old City but also to those of Si Satchanalai and Kamphaeng Phet; you’ll need to buy it before you arrive, though.
Accommodation
There’s plenty of attractive accommodation in Sukhothai; just be wary of commission-hungry tuk-tuk drivers falsely claiming places are full, no good or no longer in business.
New Sukhothai
At Home 184/1 Thanon Wichien Chamnong 055 610172; map. Delightful, genuinely welcoming guesthouse that’s been converted from a fifty-year-old family home to accommodate eleven large, attractive rooms. The most atmospheric are upstairs in the teak-walled, teak-floored part of the house, which is set back from the road in a garden with a large pond, where there are a few smart new a/c bungalows with DVD players too (B1100). Free bicycles. Breakfast included. Fan B700, a/c B900
Blue House & Green House 295/34 & 295/31 Soi Sri Samarang 080 506 8402, sukhothaibluehouse.wordpress.com; map. Two houses at the end of a quiet, central lane, operated by the same welcoming family. Green is a more basic wooden house, sheltering tightly packed fan dorms and private rooms with shared, cold or en-suite, hot showers. A gleaming modern villa, Blue provides tiled a/c rooms with comfortable wooden beds, TVs, fridges and en-suite hot water. Dorm B140, fan B250, a/c B600
J&J Guest House 12 Soi Wat Kuhasuwan, around 100m north of the bridge 055 620095; map. Located on the west side of the River Yom, J&J offers well-designed wooden bungalows with a/c, en-suite hot-water bathrooms, TVs, balconies and pretty ceramic handbasins in the shape of blooming flowers. The rooms are set around a shady garden. B750
Ruean Thai Hotel 181/20 Soi Pracha Ruam Mit, off Thanon Charodvithitong 055 612444, rueanthaihotel.com; map. This idiosyncratic thirty-room hotel has been painstakingly assembled from ten century-old teak houses from the Sukhothai area. The main two-storey complex is built around a central swimming pool, its attractive facades fashioned from salvaged teak walls, windows and doors, and steeply gabled roofs; room interiors are modern, individually furnished and with good-quality contemporary bathrooms. Those with most character are the deluxe and family rooms; all rooms have a/c and fridges. There is a restaurant, free bicycle use and free transfers from the bus station. Rates include a good buffet breakfast. B1480
Sawasdipong Hotel 56/2–5 Thanon Singhawat 055 611567, sawasdipong.com; map. A good-value option in a central location, with fifty rooms that all have a/c, TVs, fridges and en-suite hot-water bathrooms, set back from the busy main road so it’s reasonably quiet. B600
TR Guest House 27/5 Thanon Pravetnakorn 055 611663, sukhothaibudgetguesthouse.com; map. Large a/c doubles in a spotlessly clean concrete block, plus slightly less stylish but otherwise identical fan rooms, and a handful of spacious, wooden, fan or a/c bungalows with verandas in the back garden; all accommodation types have en-suite hot-water bathrooms. Toh and Long, the helpful and knowledgable couple who run the place, can provide you with an excellent map of the area, and can help out with travel plans. Fan B300, a/c B450
The Old City area
Orchid Hibiscus Guest House Just off Route 1272, about 1km southeast of the main entrance to the historical park 084 714 2256, orchidhibiscus-guesthouse.com; map. Tranquil Italian–Thai-managed garden haven within easy cycling reach of the Old City. The smart rooms and bungalows are furnished with a/c, hot showers and fridges and are ranged around a pretty tropical flower garden and swimming pool. Their second branch up on the main road, Pin Pao Guest House, has a pool and a Jacuzzi and is slightly cheaper. Breakfast included. B900
Scent of Sukhothai 95/14 Moo 3, off Route 1272 083 211 8898; map. This new resort about 1km southeast of the Ramkhamhaeng National Museum constitutes very good value. Smart, bright, tasteful rooms with a/c, hot showers, TVs, fridges and balconies overlook a well-tended garden, a saltwater swimming pool and a Jacuzzi, and a good breakfast is included. B1250
Siam Villa Route 1272, about 1km southeast of the Ramkhamhaeng National Museum T055 019956, siamvillasukhothai.com; map. Excellent-value choice with oodles of charm: a/c rooms with hot showers, fridges and TVs in traditional Thai-style villas with steep roofs and wood-panelled walls, set around a lotus pond in a leafy garden. Double B720
Sukhothai Airport
Sukhothai Heritage Resort Just outside the airport compound 055 647567, sukhothaiheritage.com; map. Tastefully designed four-star hotel owned by Bangkok Airways, set in lovely rural surrounds of organic rice fields (where guests can learn about rice farming), an orchid farm and lotus ponds. The hotel garden is artfully planted with shrubs and hedges and there are two pools, two restaurants and a library. Rooms are modern with verandas overlooking the pools, flatscreen TVs and DVD players. Bicycles are free for guests’ use. It’s about halfway between Sukhothai and Si Satchanalai, so well placed for a visit to both. Breakfast included. B2970
Eating
The local speciality is a pungent bowl of Sukhothai noodles: thin rice noodles served in a dark, slightly sweet broth flavoured with soy sauce, coriander and chilli and spiked with chunks of pork crackling, green beans and peanuts. In New Sukhothai, as well as at the places noted below, you can find them at the hot-food stalls and streetside tables that set up every evening in front of Wat Ratchathani on Thanon Charodvithitong. There’s also a permanent covered area for night-market-style restaurants on the soi between Thanon Ramkhamhaeng and Thanon Nikhon Kasem. In the Old City, there is a string of restaurants serving hot food and fresh coffee on the main street just east of the central zone entrance. On Saturday evenings, there are “walking street” markets selling food and crafts on the main street to the east of the central zone in the Old City (Dec–Feb weekly, March–Nov fortnightly), and on Thanon Nikhon Kasem just south of the bridge in New Sukhothai.
New Sukhothai
Baan Kru Iw 203/25 Thanon Wichien Chamnong, corner of Soi Mahasaranon 1, about 75m north of At Home guesthouse; map. This award-winning, folksy lunch spot is famous locally for its duck noodles (B45), its aromatic parcels of phat thai wrapped in thin omelette, khanom jiin nam yaa (rice noodles with fish curry) – and Sukhothai noodles. Watch the white-capped cooks in their open-plan kitchens. Daily 9am–3.30pm.
Dream Café 86/1 Thanon Singhawat 094 626 1065; map. Dark and cosy, with wood-panelled walls and windowsills full of curios and Thai antiques, this long-running Sukhothai institution serves great food (main dishes around B150–200) and is very popular. Highlights include delicious green curry, tom yam with pork spare ribs and young tamarind leaves, fiery wing-bean salad, and deep-fried banana-flower fritters. Daily 5–11pm.
Hong Rama Tearoom Nakorn de Sukhothai, 35/1 Thanon Prasertpong 055 611833; map. On the ground floor of a boutique hotel, this welcoming restaurant is right opposite the covered night market, yet still tempts plenty of diners in with its smart design and eager-to-please staff. Mostly Thai cuisine (mostly B80–150), but several Western dishes too such as pizza and spaghetti carbonara (B100), plus beer served in chilled glasses, espresso coffees, teas and smoothies. Daily 7.30am–9pm.
Mai Klang Kroong 139 Thanon Charodvithitong 055 621882; map. No Roman-script sign but look out for the shopfront festooned with ferns. This is a great place to sample Sukhothai noodles (B35) and other local specialities from the short menu (in English), and soak up the mood of a bygone era. Staff wear traditional dress and there’s also a small gift shop selling traditional clothing. Daily roughly 8am–3pm.
Poo Restaurant 24/3 Thanon Charodvithitong; map. Friendly streetside travellers’ bar-restaurant that serves all the standard Thai dishes (around B100) and a few simple Western dishes, plus cheap draught Chang beer and lots of bottled Belgian beer. Daily 9am–10pm.
Tai Ton Krajee Thanon Charodvithitong, about 500m west of the bridge on the south side of the road; map. This basic restaurant in an ancient one-storey wooden building is one of the best places to try the very more-ish Sukhothai noodle soup (B30). English menu but no English sign. Daily 8/9am–4pm.
The Old City area
The Coffee Cup Thanon Charodvithitong, opposite the museum 098 347 5496; map. At this clean and airy café, the menu of Thai, Western and fusion dishes is huge (with photos to help), including bagels, baguettes, massaman chicken curry (B100), espresso coffees and delicious fruit shakes. Daily 7am–10pm.
Coffee House Sinvana Resort, Thanon Charodvithitong, corner of Route 1272; map. Congenial restaurant with a/c or veranda tables, serving tasty basics like phat thai (from B50) and more interesting dishes such as kaeng som with acacia-shoot omelette and shrimp (B100), as well as espresso coffees, ice cream and other desserts. Daily 8am–9pm.
Drinking
New Sukhothai
Chopper Bar 95/1–2 Thanon Pravetnakorn 055 611190; map. This popular balcony bar with cheap beer and an extensive menu of Thai dishes (mostly B90–120) is a great place to meet other travellers or just watch the world go by. Daily 3pm–midnight.
Directory
Banks, exchange and ATMs In the Old City, there are several ATMs on the approach road to the historical park, and the Government Savings Bank dispatches an a/c minibus to a spot opposite the museum entrance to act as a currency exchange booth (Mon–Wed, Sat & Sun 10am–3pm; 055 610081). New Sukhothai has many banks and ATMs.
Cookery courses One- and two-day courses led by excellent tour guide Naa at her cooking school in the Old City (423/6 Moo 3, 300m south of the museum; 089 858 9864, ninetynine_gh@yahoo.com; B800/person for 1 day, B1500 for 2 days). Accommodation is available for those on two-day courses (B400/night with a/c and hot shower).
Guides Khun Tan, the former owner of Lotus Village Guesthouse who speaks excellent English and French (081 533 6288, lotus.village@ymail.com), offers guiding services to Sukhothai and Si Satchanalai by appointment, as does Khun Naa when she’s not busy at her cooking school.
Hospital The government-run Sukhothai Hospital (055 610903) is about 2km west of New Sukhothai on the road to Sukhothai Historical Park.
Post office Thanon Nikhon Kasem, about 1km south of the bridge in New Sukhothai (Mon–Fri 8.30am–4.30pm).
Tourist police For all emergencies, call the tourist police on 1155, or go to the local police station on Thanon Si Intharadit (the continuation southwards of Thanon Singhawat) or the more central police box on Thanon Wichien Chamnong in New Sukhothai.
In the mid-thirteenth century, Sukhothai cemented its power by establishing several satellite towns, of which the most important was SI SATCHANALAI, 57km upriver from Sukhothai on the banks of the Yom. Now a UNESCO-listed historical park, the partially restored ruins of Muang Kao Si Satchanalai have a quieter ambience than the grander models at Sukhothai Historical Park, and the additional attractions of the riverside Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat in nearby Chalieng, the Sangkhalok pottery kilns in Ban Ko Noi, the Sathorn Gold Textile Museum in New Si Satchanalai and Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary combine to make the area worth exploring.
The Historical Park (Muang Kao Si Satchanalai)
South bank of the Yom River, 11km south of New Si Satchanalai 055 950714 • Daily 8.30am–4.30pm • B100
Si Satchanalai Historical Park, or Muang Kao Si Satchanalai, is where you’ll find most of the main monuments. At the entrance on the park’s southeastern side, there are an information centre, food stalls, bicycle rental and a trolley bus.
Muang Kao Si Satchanalai Information Centre
Before heading inside the park it’s worth checking out this friendly information centre, set around tranquil gardens, which provides useful background information on the area and shows how its location, on a plain between the Yom River and the Khao Phra Sri ridge, made it ideal for human habitation. Exhibits include shards of pottery from the excavation at nearby Wat Chom Chuen and some polished stone tools from Tha Chai subdistrict. There’s also a large-scale model of the entire UNESCO World Heritage Site, showing how the temples hug the bend in the river.
Wat Nang Phya is remarkable for the original stucco reliefs on its viharn wall, which remain in fine condition; stucco is a hardy material that sets soon after being first applied, and becomes even harder when exposed to rain – hence its ability to survive seven hundred years in the open. The balustraded wall has slit windows and is entirely covered with intricate floral motifs.
Wat Chedi Jet Taew has seven rows of small chedis of different styles thought to enshrine the ashes of Si Satchanalai’s royal rulers, which makes it the ancient city’s most important temple. One of the 34 chedis is an elegant scaled-down replica of the hallmark lotus-bud chedi at Sukhothai’s Wat Mahathat. Several have fine stucco-covered Buddha images in their alcoves, including a famously beautiful one of the Buddha sheltered by a naga (now with restored head), also reproduced in Ramkhamhaeng National Museum.
The park’s most striking set of ruins is the elephant temple of Wat Chang Lom, built by King Ramkhamhaeng in the 1280s. Its centrepiece is a huge, Sri Lankan-style, bell-shaped chedi set on a square base studded with 39 life-sized elephant sculptures (those in Sukhothai and Kamphaeng Phet are smaller). A mahout and his elephant sometimes hang out here to prove the point. Many of the elephant statues are in good repair, with much of their stucco flesh still intact; others now have their bulky laterite-brick innards exposed.
Wat Khao Phanom Pleung and Wat Khao Suwan Khiri
North of Wat Chang Lom, the hilltop ruins of Wat Khao Phanom Pleung and nearby Wat Khao Suwan Khiri afford splendid aerial views of different quarters of the ancient city. The sole remaining intact chedi of Wat Khao Phanom Pleung sits on top of the lower of the hills and used to be flanked by a set of smaller chedis built to entomb the ashes of Si Satchanalai’s important personages – the ones who merited some special memorial, but didn’t quite make the grade for Wat Chedi Jet Taew. The temple presumably got its name, which means “mountain of sacred fire”, from the cremation rituals held on the summit.
Shutterstock
ANCIENT BUDDHA STATUE AT MAHATHAT TEMPLE, AYUTTHAYA
Wat Khao Suwan Khiri’s huge chedi, which graces the summit 200m northwest, has definitely seen better days, but the views from its platform – south over the main temple ruins and north towards the city walls and entrance gates – are worth the climb.
Just over 2km east of the Historical Park • B20
Before Sukhothai asserted control of the region and founded Si Satchanalai, the Khmers governed the area known as Chalieng, which is cradled in a tight bend in the Yom River. Just about all that now remains of Chalieng is Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat (known locally as Wat Phra Prang), whose compound, aligned east–west and encircled by a now sunken wall of pock-marked laterite blocks, contains structures thought to date back to the early thirteenth century, in the Khmer era, but with later additions by Sukhothai and Ayutthayan builders.
If you approach from the wooden suspension bridge, you’ll pass some simple food and coffee stalls and enter the ancient temple via its semi-submerged eastern gateway, passing beneath a hefty Khmer-style lintel carved with both Buddhist and Hindu images. Inside, the compound is dominated by a towering corncob prang, the main shrine, which was likely remodelled during the Ayutthayan era and whose exterior has been renovated with all-over stucco decorations. The ruined viharn in front of the prang enshrines a large seated Buddha sculpted in typical Sukhothai style, with hand gestures symbolizing his triumph over temptation. The gracefully curving stucco of a walking Buddha in high relief to the left is also classic Sukhothai and is regarded as one of the finest of its genre. Immediately to the west of the prang, the remains of the octagonal laterite platform and its bell-shaped chedi are believed to date from a different era, possibly considerably earlier. A mondop built around a large standing Buddha guards one side and looks north; beyond lies another viharn, containing two seated Buddha images.
Endowed with high-quality clay, the area around Si Satchanalai – known as Sawankhalok or Sangkhalok during the Ayutthaya period – commanded an international reputation as a ceramics centre from the mid-fourteenth to the end of the fifteenth century, producing pieces still rated among the finest in the world. Several of Thailand’s major museums feature collections of ceramics from both Si Satchanalai and Sukhothai under the umbrella label of Sangkhalok, and there’s a dedicated collection of Sangkhalok wares just outside New Sukhothai (see below). More than two hundred kilns have been unearthed in and around Si Satchanalai to date, and it’s estimated that there could once have been a thousand in all. One of the main groups of kilns is in the village of BAN KO NOI, which is about 5km upstream from Si Satchanalai Historical Park and can be reached by bicycle by following the very pleasant, almost traffic-free road up the west bank of the Yom River through hamlets fringed with flowering shrubs and fruit trees.
Centre for the Study and Preservation of Sangkhalok Kiln
Daily 8.30am–4.30pm • B100 • 055 259414
Two groups of excavated kilns, about 800m apart along the river road at Ban Ko Noi, have been roofed and jointly turned into the Centre for the Study and Preservation of Sangkhalok Kiln. The first site you’ll reach shelters four kilns and is often referred to as Kiln 61 after the most important of the four, which still contains broken vases of all sizes in situ. Two of the kilns here are up-draught kilns and two, including #61, are cross-draught kilns, the latter generating a greater and more consistent heat, which enabled the production of glazed ware. Most Sangkhalok ceramics were glazed – the grey-green celadon, probably introduced by immigrant Chinese potters, was especially popular – and typically decorated with fish or chrysanthemum motifs. A small display of Sangkhalok ceramics gives a hint of the pieces that were fired here: domestic items such as pots, decorated plates and lidded boxes; decorative items like figurines, temple sculptures and temple roof tiles; and items for export, particularly to Indonesia and the Philippines, where huge Sangkhalok storage jars were used as burial urns. Across the road from Kiln 61, shops sell reproduction ceramics and “antiques”.
Sitting pretty among trees on the west bank of the River Yom, the centre’s other site contains two much bigger kilns. Of these, the more important is Kiln 42, which actually consists of nine layers of kilns built on top of one another to a depth of seven metres. There are only a smattering of exhibits at this second site, but it does have very informative display boards about all aspects of Sangkhalok ware. Kiln 42 sits at the junction of the river road with Route 1201, which after 5km will bring you across the Yom into New Si Satchanalai.
11km north of the Historical Park, at the northern end of the modern town of Si Satchanalai, on the east side of Highway 101 055 671143, sathorngoldtextilemuseum.com • Daily 8.30am–5.30pm • Free • Any Sukhothai guesthouse can include a visit to the museum in a Si Satchanalai day-trip, or you can come here on the bus from New Sukhothai, getting off in modern Si Satchanalai rather than at the ruins
The Sathorn Gold Textile Museum houses the private collection of Khun Sathorn, who also runs the adjacent textile shop, which now sits in a small complex of cafés, jewellery and souvenir shops; he or his staff open up the one-room exhibition for anyone who shows an interest.
Most of the textiles on show come from the nearby village of Hat Siew, whose weavers, descendants of Thai Puan migrants from Laos, specialize in the art of teen jok, or hem embroidery, whereby the bottom panel of the sarong or phasin (woman’s sarong) is decorated with a band of supplementary weft, usually done in exquisitely intricate patterns. Some of the textiles here are almost a hundred years old and many of the teen jok motifs have symbolic meaning showing what the cloths would have been used for – a sarong or phasin used for a marriage ceremony, for example, tends to have a double image, such as two birds facing each other. Elephants also feature quite a lot in Hat Siew weaving, probably a reference to the village custom in which young men who are about to become monks parade on elephants to their ordination ceremony. The tradition continues to this day and elephant parades are held at the mass ordination ceremony every year on April 7 and 8. Modern Hat Siew textiles are sold at the adjacent Sathorn shop and at other outlets further south along the main road.
Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary (BLES)
304 Moo 5, Ban Na Ton Jan, Tambon Ban Tuek (about 30km northeast of Si Satchanalai, on the way to Uttaradit; arrange pick-up at Sukhothai Airport or Uttaradit) • B6000/person/night (advance booking necessary) • blesele.org
Named after a baby elephant that succumbed to various injuries, Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary (BLES) was started by Katherine Connor in 2004 and is now one of the most popular sanctuaries in the country, home to around twenty elephants that have been saved from abuse and sickness. The sanctuary is only open to guests staying overnight; accommodation consists of three teak cottages and prices are inclusive of all meals. Guests are involved in every aspect of caring for the elephants, from collecting food for them to repairing elephant pens and bathing the pachyderms. Typically people stay around three to five days, but at the time of writing it was fully booked six months ahead, so this is one experience that needs some advance planning.
Arrival and departureSi Satchanalai
A visit to Si Satchanalai Historical Park works best as a day-trip from Sukhothai (60km away). The easiest option is to travel with a car or motorbike from New Sukhothai, or join a tour from there, which can be organized through many of the guesthouses.
By bus The fastest way to get here by public transport from Sukhothai is on one of the a/c buses bound for Chiang Rai from the New Sukhothai bus station (3 daily); there’s a convenient departure at 9am, which will get you to Si Satchanalai in just over an hour. Local buses towards Uttaradit depart about every half-hour (also from the bus station), but take around two hours to reach Si Satchanalai and sometimes require a change of bus in Sawankhalok. All buses drop passengers on Highway 101 at the signpost for Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat, beside a pink archway gate. Pass through it, follow the narrow road and cross the suspension bridge to the temple, from where it’s a further 2km west to Si Satchanalai Historical Park. Heading back, the last bus to New Sukhothai passes Old Si Satchanalai at about 4pm.
Getting Around
By bicycle If arriving by bus, the best place to rent a bike (B30) is the shop at the end of the suspension bridge, close to Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat. Bikes are also available for rent for the same price at the entrance to the historical park by the information centre.
By trolley bus Cars are no longer admitted to the historical park, so if you don’t fancy walking or cycling, you’ll need to hire an open-sided trolley bus to take you around (B300; duration flexible).
KAMPHAENG PHET, 77km south of Sukhothai, was probably founded in the fourteenth century by the kings of Sukhothai as a buffer city between their capital and the increasingly powerful city-state of Ayutthaya. Strategically sited 100m from the east bank of the Ping, the ruined old city has, like Sukhothai and Si Satchanalai before it, been partly restored and opened to the public as a historical park and is similarly listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The least visited of the three, it rivals both Sukhothai and Si Satchanalai for your attention mainly because of the untamed tree-shaded setting and the gracefully weathered statues of its main temple.
A new city has grown up over and around the old. Municipal and provincial edifices dot the area within the old city walls, while the commercial centre now lies to the southeast, the usual commercial blandness offset by a riverside park, plentiful flowers and an unusual number of historic wooden houses dotted along the main thoroughfares. You can even swim off an island in the middle of the river, accessible via a footbridge near Soi 21, a few hundred metres south of the night market.
Kamphaeng Phet National Museum
Thanon Pin Damri • Wed–Sun 9am–4pm • B100
Kamphaeng Phet National Museum takes a look at the fascinating development of the ancient city. The prize exhibit in its upstairs sculpture gallery is the bronze standing Shiva: cast in the sixteenth century in Khmer-Ayutthayan style, the statue has had a chequered history – including decapitation by a nineteenth-century German admirer. Also on this floor is an unusual wooden, seventeenth- or eighteenth-century Ayutthayan-style standing Buddha, whose diadem, necklace and even hems are finely carved.
Kamphaeng Phet Ruan Thai Provincial Museum
Thanon Pin Damri 055 722342 • Daily 9am–4.30pm • B100
While you’re at the National Museum, you can’t miss the alluring group of traditional-style, stilted teak buildings in the adjacent landscaped compound – nor the barking of its resident dogs. This is the Kamphaeng Phet Ruan Thai Provincial Museum, whose exhibits and scale models introduce the history, traditions and contemporary culture of Kamphaeng Phet province.
Historical Park (Muang Kao Kamphaeng Phet)
Daily 6am–6pm • B150 for both main zones or B100 for one zone; vehicle entry for the arunyik zone B10–50 • Bicycle rental B30
Ruins surround modern Kamphaeng Phet on all sides, but the Historical Park – or Muang Kao Kamphaeng Phet – takes in the two most interesting areas: the zone around the two main temples, Wat Phra Kaeo and Wat Phra That, inside the old city walls, and the forested (“arunyik”) area just north of that. A tour of both areas involves a 5km round-trip, so you’ll need transport; a bicycle is the best option. Parts of the city walls that gave Kamphaeng Phet its name (“Diamond Walls”) are still in good condition, though Highway 101 to Sukhothai now cuts through the enclosed area and a few shops have sprung up along the roadside, making it hard to visualize the fortifications as a whole. The ruins that dot the landscape across the Ping River, west of the Thanon Tesa roundabout, belong to the even older city of Nakhon Chum, but are very dilapidated.
The two dozen or so ruins in the forested area north of the city walls – head north for 100m along Highway 101 from behind Wat Phra Kaeo, cross the moat and turn up a road to the left – are all that remains of Kamphaeng Phet’s arunyik (forest) temples, built here by Sukhothai-era monks in a wooded area to encourage meditation. It’s an enjoyably tranquil and atmospheric area to explore, with the tumbledown structures peeking out of the thinly planted groves that line the access road; the road winds around a fair bit before eventually rejoining the Sukhothai–Kamphaeng Phet highway (site of a distinctly missable visitor centre) 3km north of the walled city.
Inside the city walls
Constructed almost entirely of laterite and adorned with laterite Buddhas, Wat Phra Kaeo was the city’s most important temple, built just south of the now-ruined royal palace. It had no resident monks and was given the name reserved for temples that have housed the kingdom’s most sacred image: the Emerald Buddha, now in the wat of the same name in Bangkok, is thought to have been set down here to rest at some point. Seven centuries later, the Buddha images have been worn away into attractive abstract shadows, often aptly compared to the pitted, spidery forms of Giacometti sculptures, and the tranquil, leafy feel to the place makes a perfect setting. Few tools have been unearthed at any of the Kamphaeng Phet sites, giving weight to the theory that the sculptors moulded their statues from the clay-like freshly dug laterite before leaving it to harden. Small, overgrown laterite quarry pits are still visible all over the old city. The statues would originally have been faced with stucco, and restorers have already patched up the central tableau of one reclining and two seated Buddhas. The empty niches that encircle the principal chedi were once occupied by statues of bejewelled lions.
Adjoining Wat Phra Kaeo, inside the city walls
Just east of Wat Phra Kaeo is Kamphaeng Phet’s second-biggest temple, Wat Phra That. Together, Wat Phra That and Wat Phra Kaeo represented the religious centre of the ancient city. Here the central bell-shaped chedi, now picturesquely dotted with stray bits of vegetation, is typical of the Sri Lankan style and was built to house a sacred relic.
Arunyik area: the first temple on the left once through the entrance
Wat Phra Non is otherwise known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, though you need a good imagination to conjure up the indistinct remains into the once enormous Buddha figure. Gigantic laterite pillars support the viharn that houses the statue; far more ambitious than the usual brick-constructed jobs, these pillars were cut from single slabs of stone from a nearby quarry and would have measured up to 8m in height.
Arunyik area: immediately to the north of Wat Phra Non
The four Buddha images in the mondop of Wat Phra Sri Iriyabot (sometimes spelt “Ariyabot”) are in somewhat better condition than Wat Phra Non’s reclining Buddha. With cores of laterite and skins of stucco, the partly restored standing and walking images tower over the viharn, while the seated (south-facing) and reclining (north-facing) Buddhas have been eroded into indistinct blobs. The full-grown trees rooted firmly in the raised floor are evidence of just how old the place is.
Arunyik area: 1km northwest of the entrance gate • Follow the road around the bend from Wat Phra Sri Iriyabot
Wat Chang Rob is crouched on top of a laterite hill. Built to the same Sri Lankan model as its sister temples with a similar name in Sukhothai and Si Satchanalai (Wat Chang Lom; respectively), this “temple surrounded by elephants” retains only the square base of its central bell-shaped chedi. Climb one of its four steep staircases for a view out over the mountains in the west, or just for a different perspective of the 68 elephant buttresses that encircle the base. Sculpted from laterite and stucco, they’re dressed in the ceremonial garb fit for such revered animals; floral reliefs can just be made out along the surfaces between neighbouring elephants – the lower level was once decorated with a stucco frieze of flying birds.
Arrival and departurekamphaeng phet
Most people visit Kampheng Phet as a day-trip from Sukhothai, either on one of the direct buses or by arranging a car and driver through their guesthouse – though there are buses here from other towns, too.
By bus Arriving by bus from Sukhothai or Phitsanulok, you’ll enter Kamphaeng Phet from the east and should get off either inside the old city walls or at the Thanon Tesa roundabout rather than wait to be deposited across the river at the terminal, 1km west of the river on Highway 101. From the bus station, you’ll need to hop on a motorbike taxi (B50) to get to the town centre.
Destinations Bangkok (hourly; 6–7hr); Chiang Mai (hourly; 6hr); Kanchanaburi (3 daily; 6hr); Mae Sot (8 daily; 2hr 30min); Phitsanulok (roughly hourly; 2–3hr); Sukhothai (roughly hourly; 1hr–1hr 30min); Tak (hourly; 1hr).
Getting around
By bicycle or motorbike Bicycles are available for rent (B30–50/day) at the entrance to both sections of the historical park, and at all the hotels we list below. Three J is the only place that rents out motorbikes (B200/day) – not very convenient for day-trippers, however.
Accommodation
Chakungrao Riverview 149 Thanon Tesa 1 055 714900–4, chakungraoriverview.com; map. The best hotel in central Kamphaeng Phet, recently tastefully renovated, where large rooms all have polished wooden floors, balconies, a/c, TVs and en-suite hot showers. Those out front have river views, and those out back look over a temple. Staff are very helpful and breakfast is included. B1000
Scenic Riverside Resort 325/16 Thanon Tesa 2 055 722009, scenicriversideresort.com; map. At this quirky, kitsch resort on the banks of the Ping, nearly all of the accommodation is in large, gleaming-white, a/c cottages that wouldn’t look out of place on a Greek island. All have spacious bathrooms with hot showers and bathtubs, TVs with karaoke players and rooftop decks with barbecues, and there’s a swimming pool. Breakfast included. B1500
Three J Guest House 79 Thanon Rajwithee, 600m east of the main drag 081 887 4189, threejguesthouse.com; map. The most traveller-oriented place in Kamphaeng Phet, this pleasant, secluded homestay with a dozen comfortable bungalows is built from rough-cut logs and set in a Chinese-style rock garden at the back of a family home. All rooms have cosy verandas; the cheapest options share bathrooms and the priciest have a/c, and there are family rooms sleeping four people (B800). There’s bicycle and motorbike rental (B50/B200 per day), and the owners offer tours to nearby waterfalls and lakes. Fan B300, a/c B400
Eating
From late afternoon the night market is the most enjoyable place to eat. Occupying a covered area in the southern part of the new town between the river and Thanon Tesa 1, it offers a mouthwateringly wide selection of specialist sweet and savoury stalls, including ba mii cha kang rao (see below).
Ba Mii Chakangrao Thanon Rajdamnoen, at the corner of Soi 9; map. This basic streetside restaurant (look for the green signs) is one of the best places to try Kamphaeng Phet’s signature dish, ba mii cha kang rao, freshly made egg noodles with cowpeas and pork (B30), which can be eaten here with pork satay. Daily 9am–3pm, sometimes earlier if the food runs out.
Tasty 115–119 Thanon Tesa 1 055 712594; map. If you’d rather eat in smart a/c comfort than in the night market, head for this cosy spot, where prices are only marginally higher, with one-dish noodles and rice meals such as khao phat kunchiang (fried rice with sweet Chinese sausage) starting at B45. The Thai and a few Western dishes are well prepared and presented, and they also serve espresso coffees, cakes and a few imported beers. Daily 10.30am–10.30pm.
Located just 6km from Myanmar, and 100km west of Tak, MAE SOT is very much a border town, populated by a rich ethnic mix of Burmese, Karen, Hmong and Thai. It is dependent on its thriving trade in Burmese gems and teak as well as, reportedly, on an even more lucrative cross-border black market in drugs, labourers and sex workers. For the casual visitor, however, it’s a relaxed place to hang out, with several good restaurants to enjoy, although there are no unmissable sights. The short ride to the border market provides additional, if low-key, interest, and there are several caves and waterfalls within day-tripping distance.
For many people, Mae Sot is just an overnight stop on the way to Umphang, a remote village 164km further south. Since the road to Umphang is full of twists and bends and the journey takes at least four hours, it is advisable to set out in the morning, either in a bumpy songthaew or with your own wheels.
In Mae Sot the Burmese influence is palpable in everything from food to fashions; many of the guesthouses are run by Burmese staff, who often speak good English, and the only real sights in the town are its handful of glittering Burmese-style temples.
Frequent songthaews (B25) ferry Thai traders and a meagre trickle of tourists the 6km from the market in Mae Sot (Thanon Banthung), via the bus station, to the border at RIM MOEI, where a market has grown up beside the banks of the Moei River. It’s a bit tacky, and not as fun to browse as Mae Sot’s markets, but in amongst the electrical goods, clothes and teak furniture, it’s not a bad place to pick up Burmese handicrafts, particularly wooden artefacts such as boxes and picture frames, woven Karen shoulder-bags and checked longyi.
Helping Mae Sot’s Burmese refugees
There are currently five camps for refugees from Myanmar along the border to the north and south of Mae Sot, and Mae Sot itself was the headquarters for dozens of related international aid projects, though many have now relocated to Yangon. Most of these organizations welcome donations and some are happy to receive visitors and even short-term volunteers; ask at Ban Thai guesthouse, Borderline shop and Krua Canadian restaurant. One of the most famous organizations in Mae Sot is the Mae Tao Clinic (maetaoclinic.org), which provides free medical care for around 110,000 Burmese migrants and refugees a year, focusing on those who fall outside the remit of the camps and cannot use the Thai health system. It also trains Burmese medical workers and runs a child protection programme, encompassing a primary and secondary school, a boarding house and a children’s home. The clinic was founded in 1989 by a Karen refugee, Dr Cynthia, who has won several prestigious international awards for her work. The clinic is in urgent need of donations and welcomes volunteer health-workers who can commit for several months – see their website on how to donate and how to apply for a placement.
Wat Thai Wattanaram and Wat Phra That Doi Hin Kiu
Both temples are located on a turn to the north off the Asian Highway, about 500m east of the Friendship Bridge in Rim Moei: Wat Thai Wattanaram is just 100m up this road, so walkable; Wat Phra That Doi Hin Kiu, for which you’ll need your own transport, is 7km further north on the same road – take the right fork at a police checkpoint along this road and look for the temple on the hill to the right (no English sign)
If you’re heading out to the Rim Moei market, it’s worth taking a look at nearby Wat Thai Wattanaram, a Shan temple built in 1857. The main attractions here are a 45m reclining Buddha with bright red lips that’s protected by an open-sided shelter, and a cloister of 28 sitting Buddha images just beyond this. There’s also a large replica of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, while the viharn has a display of Shan musical instruments on the second floor. If you’re not heading into Myanmar where you can visit the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda (Golden Rock), you can see Thailand’s smaller equivalent at Wat Phra That Doi Hin Kiu on a hill that looks out over the Moei River – an idyllic pastoral scene. A 5m-tall standing Buddha marks the beginning of the steep stairway that leads up to the gold-painted rock, which is surmounted by a small chedi surrounded by Burmese figurines. The rock is precariously balanced and seems about to tumble down the mountain, and its gleaming gold colour makes a stark contrast with the lush green background.
Waterfalls, springs and caves near Mae Sot
There are several minor caves and waterfalls around Mae Sot, which are easy enough to explore if you have your own transport, though none can compare with Umphang’s far mightier Thi Law Su Falls. Borderline shop or Krua Canadian should be able to provide you with further information.
To reach the three-tier Mae Kasa Falls (rainy season only) and hot springs (around 14km from town) head north out of Mae Sot, along Highway 105 towards Mae Ramat, then take a side road at around kilometre-stone 13 for 7km. Much further north, just after kilometre-stone 95 on Highway 105, a sign directs you the 2km off the highway to the enormous 800m-deep bat-cave, Tham Mae Usu (inaccessible July–Oct because of flooding).
South out of town, off Route 1090 to Umphang, the 97 tiers of Pha Charoen Falls are 41km from Mae Sot; take any songthaew bound for Umphang. The falls drop down through the jungle like a wonky staircase, and are a popular photo spot for day-tripping Thais.
Highland Farm Gibbon Sanctuary
A couple of kilometres on from Pha Charoen Falls, 43km south of Mae Sot on Route 1090 to Umphang • 081 727 1364, gibbonathighlandfarm.org/index • Take any songthaew bound for Umphang • Free for brief visits
Highland Farm Gibbon Sanctuary cares for over sixty injured and abandoned gibbons, most of which have been rescued from abusive owners and are unable to live in the wild. They also take care of around twenty monkeys, a jackal and an Asiatic bear. The sanctuary welcomes day-trippers, and also offers long-term placements for serious, self-motivated volunteers.
Arrival and departureMae Sot
By plane Nok Air operates flights from Bangkok (Don Muang; 4 daily; 1hr 15min) and Yangon (Myanmar; 5 weekly; 1hr) to Mae Sot’s airport, 3km west of town. Motorbike taxis and metered taxis are on hand for the run into the centre.
By bus, minibus or songthaew Nearly all buses, a/c minibuses and songthaews (including those to Umphang and Mae Sariang) now use the government bus station west of town at the Thanon Indharakiri/Highway 105 intersection; a motorbike taxi into town costs around B50. Songthaews to Mae Ramat leave from Soi Rongchai, while songthaews to Rim Moei leave from Thanon Banthung. It’s sometimes quicker to change at Tak bus station, which has a wider choice of long-distance services than Mae Sot.
Destinations Bangkok (13 daily; 8–9hr); Chiang Mai (2 daily; 6hr); Chiang Rai (1 daily; 9–10hr); Mae Ramat (songthaews every 30min; 1hr); Mae Sai (1 daily; 10–11hr); Mae Sariang (songthaews roughly hourly until around noon; 5–6hr); Phitsanulok (roughly hourly; 3hr 30min–5hr); Sukhothai (roughly hourly; 2hr 30min–4hr); Tak (every 30min; 2hr); Umphang (songthaews hourly until roughly 2pm; 4–5hr).
Getting around and information
By bicycle or motorbike Several guesthouses rent motorbikes (around B200–250/day) and bicycles (around B50/day).
By car Avis (avisthailand.com) has an office at the airport and will deliver and collect anywhere in Mae Sot.
By taxi Mae Sot has a small fleet of metered taxis (facebook.com/taximaesot), charging around B60 between the airport and town; call 055 030357 or 098 101 9345 to book one. There are only a few in town and you can’t pick them up on the street.
Tourist information There is no TAT office here, but both Borderlines shop and Krua Canadian restaurant are good sources of local information, as are the guesthouses.
Accommodation
Because of all the volunteers in town, many guesthouses offer monthly or weekly discounts.
Ban Thai 740/1 Thanon Indharakiri 055 531590, banthai_mth@hotmail.com; map. The most appealing guesthouse in Mae Sot occupies several traditional-style, wooden-floored houses in a peaceful garden compound at the west end of town. All rooms are tastefully and comfortably furnished; those in the main house share hot-water bathrooms, while those in the more expensive and spacious compound houses have en-suite hot showers and cable TV. It’s often full so advance bookings are recommended. Fan B280, a/c B850
Centara Mae Sot Hill Resort 100 Asia Highway/Highway 105 055 532601–8, centarahotelsresorts.com; map. The top hotel in the area has a large swimming pool with a children’s pool, floodlit tennis courts, a gym and luxurious, recently renovated rooms; it’s a 10min drive northeast of the town centre. B1400
Duang Kamol (D.K.) Hotel 298/2 Thanon Indharakiri 055 531699; map. The nicest and best value of the town-centre budget hotels has huge, clean rooms with hot showers, many of them with little balconies and some with a/c and TVs. The entrance is on the first floor, above a series of shops. Fan B250, a/c B380
Irawadee Resort 758/1–2 Thanon Indharakiri 055 535430, irawadee.com; map. The rooms here definitely have character, though you might find the gold-painted furnishings, red walls and canopied beds a bit over the top. The “resort” tag is a bit of a misnomer – it’s more like a boutique hotel – but it has a good central location and helpful staff. B1200
Refugees from Myanmar: the Karen
With a population of five to seven million, the Karen are Myanmar’s largest ethnic minority, but their numbers have offered no protection against persecution by the Burmese. This mistreatment has been going on for centuries, and entered a new phase after the country won its independence from Britain in 1948. Unlike many other groups in Myanmar, the Karen had remained loyal to the British during World War II and were supposed to have been rewarded with autonomy when Britain pulled out; instead they were left to battle for that themselves. Fourteen years after the British withdrawal, the Burmese army took control, setting up an isolationist state run under a bizarre ideology compounded of militarist, socialist and Buddhist principles. From that time, the military were engaged in armed conflict with all ethnic minority groups in the country until 2011, when a new government, consisting of military and civilians, brought about a fragile stability.
However, despite positive steps in a nationwide peace process, which has seen numerous ceasefires signed since 2011, and despite a landslide victory for the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, in the 2015 general election, clashes continue to erupt between government forces and armed factions of some minority groups. The Karen people, whose homeland state of Kawthulay borders northwest Thailand from Mae Sariang down to Three Pagodas Pass, are among those affected. The Karen National Union (KNU) signed a ceasefire in 2012, but armed Karen factions were still involved in skirmishes with Burmese government troops at the time of this update. (The Karen are distinct from the Karenni, or Red Karen, whose homeland is north of Kawthulay and borders Thailand’s Mae Hong Son province.)
As a result of these conflicts, many Karen continue to flee across the Thai border. For many years Thai government policy has been to admit only those who are fleeing active fighting, not human rights violations. Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and has no legal framework for processing asylum seekers. The hundreds of thousands who have left their homeland because of politically induced economic hardship – forced labour, theft of their land and livestock, among other factors – must therefore either try to enter the refugee camps illegally, or attempt to make a living as migrant workers. There are between two and three million migrants from Myanmar currently in Thailand. Without refugee status, these exiles are extremely vulnerable to abuse, both from corrupt officials and from exploitative employers. In Mae Sot, for example, where Burmese migrants are a mainstay of the local economy, many of them are reportedly paid as little as B100 a day (a third of the national minimum wage) to work in the worst jobs available, in gem and garment factories, and as prostitutes. Demands for better wages and improved conditions, however, nearly always result in deportation.
Reactions in the Thai press to Burmese refugees are mixed, with humanitarian concerns tempered by economic hardships in Thailand and by high-profile cases of illegal Burmese workers involved in violent crimes and drug-smuggling (Myanmar is now one of the world’s leading producers and smugglers of methamphetamines, also known as ya baa, or Ice, much of which finds its way into Thailand).
For recent news and archive reports on the situation in Myanmar and on its borders, see Burma News International’s website, bnionline.net. For information on how to offer support to refugees from Myanmar in this area, see the website of The Border Consortium, theborderconsortium.org. A good book about the Karen struggle and the refugee situation in Mae Sot is Restless Souls: Rebels, Refugees, Medics and Misfits by Phil Thornton, a Mae Sot-based journalist.
The Picturebook Guesthouse 125/4–6 Soi 19, Thanon Indharakiri, about 1km east of the centre, behind the J2 Hotel 090 459 6990, picturebookthailand.org; map. A welcoming boutique hotel and social enterprise that acts as a training centre for mostly Burmese young people. Ten polished concrete a/c rooms with wooden furniture, charming artworks, large hot-water bathrooms and terraces overlook a pretty little garden. Bike rental. Breakfast included. B600
Crossing the Myanmar border at Mae Sot
If you have a visa arranged in advance, you can enter Myanmar via the international border crossing (daily 6am–8pm) at the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, just 7km west of Mae Sot. Regular songthaews go there from Thanon Banthung in Mae Sot via the bus station, and from the bridge it’s just 1km to the town of Myawaddy in Myanmar. There’s a separate window for foreigners, so the process of crossing the border is fairly rapid. From Myawaddy, it’s possible to travel on to popular tourist destinations like the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda (the Golden Rock) and Mawlamyine. Before the opening of the border to foreigners, this border post was used mostly by long-stay visitors to Thailand on visa runs, but now that the Thai government has clamped down on visa extensions it’s becoming more popular as the starting point for an exploration of Myanmar.
Eating
Thanon Prasat Vithi is well stocked with noodle shops and night-market stalls, there’s lots of Muslim and Burmese food for sale in the market, and there are several bars and restaurants on the new ring road east of town between Thanon Indharakiri and the Asian Highway; this is the best area to go looking for nightlife.
Borderline Tea Garden 674/14 Thanon Indharakiri 055 546584, borderlinecollective.org; map. In the garden behind their fair-trade handicrafts shop, this very relaxed, social enterprise café serves cheap Burmese snacks – including vegetable pakoras (B60), tea leaf salad (B40) and potato curry with flat bread (B55) – washed down with Burmese tea, lemon grass and other freshly made juices. Everything on the menu is vegetarian and no alcohol is served. They also have an art gallery, and run cookery classes. Tues–Sun 7.30am–9pm.
Casa Mia Thanon Don Kaew, 5min walk west of Ban Thai guesthouse 087 204 4701; map. Popular especially for its home-made pastas, including a delicious spicy tortellini pomodoro, at rock-bottom prices (under B100). Also does pizzas, a big range of Thai dishes, salads, veggie options and a daily roster of cakes and desserts – cheesecake, banoffee pie and the like. Daily except Sat 8am–9.30pm.
Khao-Mao Khao-Fang 382 Moo 9, Thanon Mae Sot-Mae Ramat (about 2km north of town on the west side of Highway 15) 055 532483, khaomaokhaofang.com; map. A garden restaurant extraordinaire, styling itself an “imaginary jungle”, where the artfully landscaped cascades, rivulets, rock features and mature trees make you feel as if you’re sitting in a primeval forest film set, especially at night when sea-green lighting adds to the effect. Even the chairs and tables are carved from tree trunks and branches. A popular spot for dates and VIP lunches, it serves a fantastic range of food, including some unusual Thai dishes, such as banana blossom and coconut milk spicy salad (B130). Everything is beautifully prepared and presented, and there are some yummy desserts too, like banana fritters with sesame glaze. Don’t miss the bathrooms, which are something special. During the day you could use the Mae Ramat/Mae Sariang songthaew service, but after dark you’ll need to call a taxi or use your own transport. Daily 11am–3pm & 5–10pm.
Krua Canadian Restaurant 3 Thanon Sri Phanit 055 534659; map. There’s a great menu of delicious dishes (mostly B100–150) at this simple restaurant, including the best Western breakfasts in town, plus bangers and mash, burgers, steaks, pizzas and a good range of Thai, Mexican and vegetarian dishes. Also serves several blends of local hill-tribe coffee, and owner Dave is a mine of local information. Daily 8am–2pm & 5–9.30pm.
The Passport at HCTC 507 Moo 10, Maepa, about 2km northwest of the town centre 063 668 4494, hctcmaesot.org; map. This excellent restaurant is a training school (the Hospitality & Catering Training Centre) for underprivileged Karen, and the students are enthusiastic and charming. Choose one of the three-course menus (Thai or Western), which change weekly, for around B200–250, and enjoy the attractive, minimalist decor. Fri & Sat 6.30–9pm.
Shopping
For fashions, Burmese sarongs and daily necessities, you can’t beat the well-stocked day market that runs south off Thanon Prasat Vithi. Mae Sot is most famous, however, as a good place to buy jewellery: the gem and jade shops on central Thanon Prasat Vithi offer a larger and less expensive selection than the stalls at the Rim Moei border market, and even if you don’t intend to buy, just watching the theatrical haggling is half the fun. On Saturday evenings, Soi Rongchai next to the police station is pedestrianized as a walking street market, selling food, T-shirts and handicrafts.
Borderline 674/14 Thanon Indharakiri (next to Wat Arunyaket) 055 546584, borderlinecollective.org; map. This place stocks an eye-catching range of crafts, such as sarongs, scarves, slippers, cushion covers, yoga mats and laptop bags. They also sell an excellent hand-painted map of the town for B90, and their most popular item is the bags of tea from Myanmar (B150 for 250g). The items are made by Karen women living in refugee camps along the border and other Burmese women’s groups. Tues–Sun 7.30am–9pm.
Weave (Fair Trade Shop) 541 Thanon Indharakiri (opposite Bai Fern restaurant) 055 544863, weave-women.org; map. A similar operation to Borderline, with a name that’s short for “Women’s Education for Advancement and Empowerment”. Traditional patterns, dyes and colour combinations are used to create a variety of woven products, such as traditional Karen shifts, thus helping to preserve traditional culture and give local refugee women an income. Mon–Sat 9am–6pm.
directory
Cookery lessons Learn how to rustle up Shan, Karen and Burmese dishes at Borderline Tea Garden. Classes cost B1000 for one person, B600 for two, and B500 for three to six people, including a trip to the market and a cookbook. Book at least a day in advance.
Hospitals The public Mae Sot Hospital is on the southeastern edge of town (055 531229) and the private Mae Sot Ram (Phawo) Hospital is on the southwestern edge (055 533912–4).
Immigration office At Rim Moei border crossing.
Language lessons Informal Burmese lessons are available through most guesthouses and several restaurants.
Tourist police For all emergencies, call the tourist police on their free, 24hr phoneline 1155, or contact them at their office about 1km east of the centre on Thanon Indharakiri.
Surrounded by mountains and situated at the confluence of the Mae Klong and Umphang rivers, the small and very quiet village of UMPHANG is made up of little more than a thousand or so wooden houses and a wat. It won’t take long to explore the minute grid of narrow roads that bisects the village, and although it’s popular among Thai visitors, foreign tourists are still relatively rare here, so communication could be a challenge. Coming here is all about trips to Thi Law Su Waterfall, which many believe to be the most beautiful in the country, with a drop of around 200m and a width of around 400m during the rainy season. Even if you don’t fancy trekking or rafting to the falls, it’s worth making the spectacular trip 164km south from Mae Sot to Umphang, both for the stunning mountain scenery you’ll encounter along the way, and for the buzz of being in such an isolated part of Thailand. Bring some warm clothes as it can get pretty cool at night and in the early mornings – and the songthaew ride along the Sky Highway from Mae Sot is often windy.
The 150-kilometre drive from Mae Sot to Umphang generally takes about four hours and for the first hour proceeds in a fairly gentle fashion through the maize, cabbage and banana plantations of the Moei valley, before passing Pha Charoen Falls. The fun really begins when you start climbing into the mountains and the road – accurately dubbed the “Sky Highway” – careers round the edges of steep-sided valleys, undulating like a fairground rollercoaster (there are 1219 bends in all). The scenery is glorious, but if you’re prone to car sickness, dose up on preventative tablets as the ride can be very unpleasant: the songthaews get so crammed with people and produce that there’s often no possibility of distracting yourself by staring out of the window.
Karen, Akha, Lisu and Hmong people live in the few hamlets along the route, many growing cabbages along the cleared lower slopes with the help of government incentives (part of a national campaign to steer upland farmers away from the opium trade). The Hmong in particular are easily recognized by their distinctive embroidered jackets and skirts edged in bright pink, red and blue bands. In 2000, the local Karen population mushroomed when three refugee camps from the Rim Moei area were relocated to the purpose-built village of Umpiem Mai alongside the Sky Highway midway between Mae Sot and Umphang. Umpiem Mai is currently home to around twelve thousand Karen refugees.
Exploring the Umphang wildlife sanctuary
Most people who visit Umphang sign up for a trip of two to three days (see tour operators) to the three-tiered Thi Law Su Waterfall (Nam Tok Thilawsu), star feature of the Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary (entry B200, normally included in a tour package), which, unusually for Thailand, flows all year round. These trips usually involve rafting along spectacular rivers, often passing through narrow gorges (which many find the highlight of the trip), as well as trekking and camping near the base of the falls. The waterfall is at its most impressive just after the rainy season in November, when it extends to a dramatic 400m across. During this period you can swim in the beautifully blue lower pool, but trails can still be muddy, which makes for tough going; trek leaders often recommend wearing rubber boots (best bought in Mae Sot as they’re hard to find in Umphang). Nonetheless, November to February is the best season for trekking, even if the nights get pretty chilly. From December to April (the dry season), it’s usually possible to climb to one of the waterfall’s upper tiers, mud permitting. By contrast, at the height of the rainy season (July–Sept), it’s often impossible to trek anywhere, the rugged access road from the wildlife sanctuary entrance to the ranger station (mostly unsealed) is frequently impassable and the falls are hidden behind a sea of mist. Around the falls, the vegetation is mainly montane forest, home to numerous varieties of orchid and over a thousand types of palm, and plenty of commonly encountered monkeys and hornbills, plus elusive wild elephants, tapirs and clouded leopards.
Access to the falls is strictly controlled by national park rangers, who forbid people from taking food or plastic water bottles beyond the ranger station and campsite, from where it is a comfortable 1.5km walk along a raised wooden walkway to the falls. As yet, the number of visitors is reasonably small – except on public holidays, during school holidays and on some weekends, when Thai trippers flood the area.
A typical tour to Thi Law Su lasts three days and follows something like this increasingly standard itinerary. Day one: rafting down the Mae Klong River via Thi Law Jor Falls, a hot spring and some striking honeycombed cliffs; then a 9km trek (3–4hr) to the official campsite near Thi Law Su Falls. Day two: morning at the falls, then a two-hour trek to a homestay at the Karen village of Khotha. Day three: a three-hour elephant ride (or trek) to Mae Lamoong junction; return to Umphang by car. Some trekkers find the three-day itinerary too baggy, with quite a lot of empty time at day’s end (bring a book), so if you want a more challenging experience try to persuade your trekking agency to cover the same itinerary in two days. Prices start at about B3000 per person for the standard three-day Thi Law Su trek without elephant riding, in a group of around six people (more expensive in a smaller group), B4000 with elephant riding. Some tour operators offer a one-day trip from Umphang (around B2000/person), rafting down the Mae Klong River via Thi Law Jor Falls and a hot spring, then driving the rest of the way to the Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary campsite, before walking to Thi Law Su falls and back, then driving all the way back to Umphang in the afternoon. Prices do vary between operators: smaller outfits can’t afford to undercut the big operators and cost savings can mean lower wages – and morale – for guides. If you haven’t pre-arranged a tour, the best time to contact trek leaders at the smaller outfits in Umphang is often after about 4pm, when they’ve returned from their last trip. Guides should provide tents, bedrolls, mosquito nets and sleeping bags, plus all meals and drinking water; trekkers may be asked to help carry some of the gear.
Although Thi Law Su is the most famous destination in the Umphang area, other programmes are available on request. From roughly June or July to November or December there’s whitewater rafting from the Karen village of Umphang Khi via the forty-plus rapids of the Umphang River, which can also include a fairly long trek and a night in the village. Alternatively, there are one- and two-day rafting trips to Thi Law Leh Falls, which involve four to eight hours’ rafting (depending on water levels) via a series of cataracts along the Mae Klong River, and the possibility of a seven-hour trek on the second day. For bird-spotting, ask about trips to Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary.
In fact the Umphang region was inhabited by Karen hill tribes before the Thais came to settle in the area in the early twentieth century; later, when the Thais began trading in earnest with their neighbours across the Burmese border, the Karen traders from Myanmar used to carry their identification documents into Thailand in a bamboo container which they called an “umpha” – this is believed to be the origin of the name Umphang.
Arrival and departureumphang
When it comes to public transport, Umphang is effectively a dead end, so the only way to travel on from here is to go back to Mae Sot first.
By songthaew The only public transport access to Umphang is along the Sky Highway from Mae Sot’s bus station by songthaew, which should drop you off at your accommodation (hourly until roughly 2pm; 4–5hr; B130; if you’re prone to motion sickness, ask the driver about sitting in the front seat, for which you’ll probably have to pay a bit extra). Heading back to Mae Sot, songthaews leave at least hourly until about 12.30pm from the top of the town, though it’s usual for guesthouses to phone ahead and get the songthaew to pick you up.
Getting around and tour operators
Just about every guesthouse and resort in Umphang can help arrange a trip to Thi Law Su, but many cater exclusively to Thais. Those listed below have English-speaking guides and a reputation for reliability. Most tour operators offer a pick-up in Mae Sot; contact individual companies for details. Nearly all guesthouses can arrange a 4WD with driver for exploring the area (price dependent on destination – about B2500 to Thi Law Su Falls and back). There’s no official motorbike rental in Umphang, but it’s worth asking around as guesthouse owners may be able to help you.
Mr Boonchuay 360 Moo 1, Thanon Pravitpaiwan 055 561020 or 081 379 2591, boonchuaytour.net. Umphang-born and bred, Mr Boonchuay knows the area well and has a good reputation; his English is not perfect, but he has English-speaking guides. Offers standard Thi Law Su programme, with optional elephant riding, as well as other trekking and rafting tours; pick-ups from Mae Sot offered.
Phu Doi Campsite and Resort Soi 4, Thanon Pravitpaiwan 055 561049, phudoi.com. As well as whitewater rafting in season, Phu Doi runs the standard Thi Law Su programme or an option with less trekking (both with optional elephant riding); pick-ups from Mae Sot offered.
Tu Ka Su At Tu Ka Su Cottage, 40 Moo 6 055 561295, tukasu.com. One of the best organized tour operators in Umphang, Tu Ka Su offers a wide variety of well-priced three- and four-day trekking and rafting trips to Thi Law Su, Thi Law Leh, Umphang Khi and Palata Falls. Unfortunately most of their website is in Thai, but you can email them for details.
Umphang Hill At Umphang Hill Resort, 59 Moo 6 055 561063–4; and in Mae Sot at 296/2 Thanon Indharakhiri, next to the Duang Kamol Hotel 055 542942; umphanghill.com. This large, slightly upmarket outfit offers eleven itineraries and tailor-made permutations, ranging from three-day trips to Thi Law Su (B6650/person for 2–4 people, including Mae Sot transfers) to seven-day trips to Umphang Khi and Thi Law Su, including elephant riding and whitewater rafting (B17,000/person for 2–4 people, including Mae Sot transfers).
Accommodation
A night’s accommodation in Umphang is often included in the price of a tour.
Garden Huts (Suan Boonyaporn) 8/1 Thanon Umphang-Palata 055 561093; map. A spread of spacious rooms, all with fans, TVs and hot showers, set in wood, brick and concrete builings around a pretty riverside flower garden. B300
Phu Doi Campsite and Resort Soi 4, Thanon Pravitpaiwan 055 561049, phudoi.com; map. In a central location overlooking a pond, a decent set of en-suite rooms in several wooden houses with verandas, hot water, TV and air-con (you can score a discounted rate by asking for the a/c to be switched off). B600
Trekker Hill Soi 2, Thanon Pravitpaiwan 055 561090; map. Easy-going place with pleasant views from its hillside on the east side of town, where the basic wooden bungalows stretch to fans, mosquito nets and hot showers. B300
Tu Ka Su Cottage Thanon Umphang-Palata 055 561295, tukasu.com; map. In a pretty garden up the hill from the river, this quite stylish place is the most attractive in Umphang and offers nicely designed en-suite wooden cabins and rooms, all with TV, hot water, air-con and good-sized verandas; the smallest bungalows sleep three, and some have cute, semi-garden-style bathrooms. B600
Eating
Unsurprisingly, Umphang is no gourmet mecca and most visitors just eat at their guesthouse, though there are cheap food stalls that set up close to the temple at dusk.
Ban Krusun Souvenir Shop Thanon Sukomwattana 089 824 0890; map. Along with postcards and local arts and crafts, this souvenir shop run by a local musician sells good espresso coffees (from B40). Daily 7am–8pm.
Krua Klang Doi 19/1 Moo 6, Umphang (just east of Tu Ka Su) 081 284 7926; map. Popular with locals and visitors, this simple restaurant serves good cheap Thai standards (from B50), including some fresh and spicy salads. Daily 8/9am–9/10pm.
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THI LAW SU FALLS, UMPHANG
