Thailand | 2025

Getting reacquainted with Thailand, and my 17th & 18th layovers in Tokyo. Okumaya devam et

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21 Haziran 2025
Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Honolulu to Tokyo Narita
21 Haziran 2025, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
I've wanted to experience the Phi Ta Khon festival in Dan Sai, Loei Province, Thailand, for quite some time, but I've always hesitated because it takes place during the hot season, and also because of the effort it would take to get to Dan Sai. This year, I made an effort to make it happen. As an added bonus, Jeff will join me on this adventure.

Our first flight of the day was JL783 to Narita.

Japan Airlines JL783 | HNL/NRT
Economy Class
Boeing 767-300ER | JA618J
ATD/1333 | ATA/1635+1
Lounge: Sakura Lounge

I noticed during this flight that JAL has updated their economy class serviceware since the last time I flew them on economy in April 2024. Now if only they’d also update their safety video. I like the new design, but I could not help thinking about the logistics of having different colored bowls for sides/appetizers on the same tray.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Transit at Narita
22 Haziran 2025, Japonya ⋅ 🌬 29 °C
We went into Narita Town during our five hour layover. From the airport, we took the Keisei Rapid Line for one stop and from there we walked down the Omotesando (shopping street) towards the Naritasan Shinshoji Temple.

Because we arrived past 5pm, most of the shops along the Omotesando were already closed. I was hoping at least one of the sweet potato stands would be open but, alas, that was not to be. We did enjoy a soft serve ice cream, though.

At Naritasan Shinshoji, we did a perfunctory exploration of the main temple complex, but we didn’t explore the adjacent park as daylight was fading. We’ll be back in two weeks to observe the Narita Gion Festival, and we will have more daylight hours to explore then. At the temple, we saw signs that preparations were already underway for the big festival.

On a prior layover, I spied a vegan restaurant called Belly Button. My internet research indicated the restaurant would be open, so we planned to stop there for dinner. Sadly, that was not the case when we got there. At the restaurant entrance was a bizarre code of conduct which we could not figure out.

After our failed dinner attempt, we decided to head back to the airport to eat our dinner at the lounge.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Tokyo Narita to Kuala Lumpur
22 Haziran 2025, Japonya ⋅ 🌙 26 °C
Arriving back at Narita Airport Terminal 2, we retrieved our bags from the lockers and headed to the Sakura First Class Lounge. There, I had a shower and a sushi snack before boarding MH71.

I had flown on Malaysia Airlines' widebodies before. Even though the business class hard product on their older A330s isn't industry leading, I have had good, restful flights on their lie flat seats. Jeff was pleasantly surprised at how well he slept.

Malaysia Airlines MH71 | NRT/KUL
Business Class
Airbus A330-300 | 9M-MTK
ATD/2216 | ATA/0436+1
Lounge: Sakura First Class LoungeOkumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Kuala Lumpur to Chiang Mai
23 Haziran 2025, Malezya ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
Landing at 5am, we had another five hour layover at KUL. It was impractical to leave the airport during this layover, so we spent the time at the Platinum Lounge in the Satellite Terminal. That lounge features a sleeping room with six daybeds, which Jeff happily used to get an additional two hours of shuteye. Unfortunately, I could not get comfortable in the room because of snoring which I could hear through my earplugs, and also because some workers were making noise in an adjacent room, so I gave up and went back into the main lounge. I had a mee goreng mamak and teh tarik at the dining room when it opened at 6am, followed by a shower. I returned to the dining room for another teh tarik when Jeff woke up and ate his omelette breakfast.

When it came time to board, we made our way to the Main Terminal. The interterminal train was still out of order, and I was looking forward to trying out the personalized limousine service for Business Class passengers. Sadly, we were herded into a standard bus even though we identified ourselves as Business Class passengers. I looked longingly at the BMW SUV waiting behind the bus before reluctantly boarding the bus. I know, this is a first world problem LOL.

Malaysia Airlines MH772 | KUL/CNX
Business Class
Boeing 737-800 | 9M-MXU
ATD/0951 | ATA/1143
Lounge: Platinum LoungeOkumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Initial Wanderings in Chiang Mai
23 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ 🌧 31 °C
We arrived in Chiang Mai just before noon and we got to Saran Boutique Thapae Hotel not much longer after that. Our plan was to stay awake until we have an early dinner, and then have a good sleep. We therefore decided to wander around Chiang Mai for the afternoon.

I had a rough plan to start at the Thapae Gate near our hotel, which is the east gate on the square moat surrounding the old town. There, we amused ourselves watching people posing for pictures among the pigeons; apparently photos with pigeons flying around oneself is a thing here. Apart from the photo subject(s) and the photographer, there will be an assistant nearby who will first throw food to attract the birds, and then they will do something to scare the birds in order to create the perfect photo op. While we were there, we saw one photographer assistant whose job was to open an umbrella to scare the birds. Perhaps they got this cue from Indiana Jones. Regardless, this wasn't very effective as the pigeons were more interested in eating. When we returned later, we saw a more effective photographer assistant who employed a loud boombox to scare the birds.

From Thapae Gate, we turned south and followed the moat until the south eastern corner, and then we turned west. Along the way, we diverted to Wat Sri Suphan, which has its own entry. After that, we explored Suan Buak Haad Park on the southwestern corner of the moat and then turned west. After the park, we stopped a a little cafe for soft serve ice cream, where I annihilated Jeff at othello while we enjoyed our sweet treat.

After our snack, we walked along the western moat before turning east to go back into the old town and to Wat Chedi Luang, which also has its own entry.

For dinner, we ate at Chada Vegetarian, which is conveniently located right next to our hotel, before we turned in early for a good nights' sleep to beat the jet lagOkumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Wat Sri Suphan
23 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ 🌧 31 °C
I learned about Wat Sri Suphan or Silver Temple from Atlas Obscura. It was a short diversion from the southern moat, so we decided to check out out. The entire temple is covered with ornate metal work. It was originally built in the 1500s, but all the current buildings are about 30 years old, as a major reconstruction occurred in 1993. It was a really cool to see intricate scenes carved in metal.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wat-sri-suphanOkumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Wat Chedi Luang
23 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ 🌧 30 °C
Our last stop was the 14th century Wat Chedi Luang located right smack in the middle of the old town. It is a spectacular uncompleted stupa featuring naga and elephants.
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Monk’s Trail to Wat Pha Lat
24 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C
I recently learned about a trail that starts at the base of Doi Suthep and leads to an atmospheric temple set in the jungle. Known as the Monk's Trail, it is used by monks to travel between temples in the area. When I saw the photographs, I knew I had to check it out myself.

We started our first full day in Chiang Mai with a rideshare to what I thought was the trailhead. Unfortunately, I had chosen the wrong endpoint and we had to walk a ways up a steep road to get to the trailhead. Once we got there, we started on what was a relatively easy uphill hike to Wat Pha Lat. The trail was marked by banners with elephant motifs on them. It was a lovely precursor to our exploration of Wat Pha Lat itself.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Wat Pha Lat
24 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C
After about 45 minutes on the Monk's Trail, we reached Wat Pha Lat. The temple complex had a lovely calm atmosphere to it. The main highlight for me was a naga staircase alongside a rock face which had water cascading down it, which in turn led to a second staircase guarded by lions. There were several interesting structures within the complex, including a stupa, and a small building housing a reclining BuddhaOkumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Wat Doi Suthep
24 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
When we were done at Wat Pha Lat, we exited out onto the main road that winds up Doi Suthep mountain to Wat Doi Suthep. I'd been to this temple before, and I knew it was very touristy, but I thought I'd show Jeff the impressive naga staircase with over 300 steps. I thought about taking the trail up to this second temple, but I was also concerned about rain, so we hopped into one of the ubiquitous red sawngthaew waiting at the entrance of Wat Pha Lat.

Within five minutes on the winding road, I knew something was horribly wrong: I had motion sickness. This came out of nowhere; the last time I recall having motion sickness was on 10 hour bus ride down the mountain from Tana Toraja to Makassar in 2019. Anyway, this short ride up the mountain was pure torture, and I gratefully hopped off when we got to the entrance.

Due to the ongoing nausea, my enjoyment of Wat Doi Suthep was perfunctory. I made it up the naga staircase, and we enjoyed the views from the top before making our way down. At the base of the naga staircase, I had a fruit smoothie to help calm the nausea, and then I steeled myself for the ride down the mountain. The ride itself wasn't so bad, but we were annoyed by two young American men talking loudly.

Once we got back to our hotel, I crawled into bed. Jeff procured some dramamine. After a couple of hours rest (and waiting out the rain), I felt a lot better. We went out exploring a little bit before rounding off our day with another dinner at Chada Vegetarian Restaurant next to our hotel.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Additional Wanderings Around Chiang Mai
24 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C
Included in this post are photos from our other wanderings in town, as well as meals that we ate.
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Skywalk at Elephant Nature Park
25 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
We spent Wednesday exploring the Elephant Nature Park, an ethical “hands off” sanctuary for elephants rescued from logging, performing, and giving rides. Founded in 1995, the 400 acre sanctuary offers over a hundred elephants - many of whom bear horrific physical and mental scars - a place to heal. Unlike other sanctuaries, Elephant Nature Park does not allow visitors to feed or bathe the elephants.

We opted for a full day program that featured the Skywalk, which is a walkway that gave us a view of elephants from above. We started the day with a 1.5 hour van ride north of Chiang Mai. We reached the sanctuary at around 9.30am, and soon after we were at the Skywalk.

That day, teenager Kham La and her herd were at the Skywalk. Kham La is unique in that she had never been a working elephant and so she had never been broken. We threw cucumbers at them, and then we went up the Skywalk and watched as they dined on corn stalks. Each elephant had their own mahout (handler), and they had to learn how to interact with their charges using only food and positive reinforcement instead of hooks and chains.

Halfway through, we descended the Skywalk and watched two elephants doing a playful back and forth as each one dragged their food trough towards themselves. We then helped prepare some bananas, corn, and cucumbers before dumping them in the middle of the field for Kham La and her friends. Special accommodations are made for the elephants with injuries who may eat more slowly, and also for the less socialized ones who may want to eat solo.

The Skywalk also crossed a paddock with rescured cows. We watched in amusement as cows and elephants ate together. Apparently, these two species are known to interact because they eat the same food.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Cat Kingdom at Elephant Nature Park
25 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C
The Elephant Nature Parks also rescues cows, buffalo, dogs, cats, and other animals. We saw a dog enclosure, but we also observed that many dogs were given free reign of the facility. Less socialized dogs wore red collars to warn people not to interact with them.

We visited two "Cat Kingdoms" at the Elephant Nature Park. The first one was near the main buidling and it featured about 30 rescured cats; we visited this enclosure twice: when we first arrived at the sanctuary, and again after lunch. The second enclosure is near the end of the Skywalk and it is a very nice facility with several hundred cats. We were struck with how well socialized and friendly many of the cats were.

Elephant Nature Park currently offers dog adoptions. We were told that they will soon offer cat adoptions as well.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Main Paddock, Elephant Nature Park
25 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C
After lunch, we walked around a paddock near the main facilities. Along the way, our guide Tommy shared the backstories of many of the elephants we encountered. We also watched the vets treating a wound.

The names of the elephants and their stories became a bit of a blur, but one stood out. Kabu had been rescued from an illegal logging camp, and she had sustained really horrific leg injuries. But, she has managed to heal at the Elephant Nature Park by bonding with another elephant with a leg injury. Together, they recovered and moved on.

We left the sanctuary at around 3pm after 5.5 hours on site. It was a fulfilling day. The Elephant Nature Park is more expensive than its competitors, but I was happy to experience a sanctuary that focused on the wellbeing of its rescued animals instead of simply targeting the tourist dollar.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Grandcanyon Water Park
26 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
I've learned from past experience that Jeff needs to recharge his diving batteries during long trips, and so I sought out the Grandcanyon Water Park southwest of Chiang Mai. I did some research beforehand and discovered that there are two adjacent water parks built into the same abandoned quarry: "Grand Canyon" and "Grandcanyon". The former features modern facilities, lots of activities, and proper safety protocols, but at a steep entry fee of 950 baht, which includes a zipline. Entry to the latter starts at 70 baht. We chose the latter. It cost us 150 baht each with cliff diving.

Arriving at Grandcanyon, we saw that the facility had seen better days. The equipment was rundown, and, rather worryingly, there were no water safety staff. The rock climbing wall had fallen to pieces, there was an abandoned house structure in the shallow water, there were metal pieces sticking out from the pontoon… the list goes on. But, it was reasonably priced and it met our needs.

We were the only customers in there the entire 3.5 hours we were there. Jeff had a great time jumping off various platforms and cliffs, and I enjoyed the water as well.

We could hear loud music blaring from the other water park when we started our session, but the music soon died down, which led us to believe there were no guests there either. As we were about to leave, the music there started up again.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Chiang Mai to Dan Sai
27 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ 🌧 24 °C
In November last year, I informed my friend Paul, who lives just north of Chiang Mai, that I would stop by Chiang Mai on my way to Dan Sai for Phi Ta Khon. To my surprise and delight, Paul showed interest in joining me, so we decided to make a road trip out of it. Paul and his wife Renu made themselves even more invaluable when they secured our accommodation at Kingbun Resort, located only 3km from the festival site; the closest hotel I could find was 16km away. Apparently, all the rooms close to the festival site book out as soon as the festival dates are announced.

At 10am, Paul and Renu came by our hotel to get us. We drove for seven hours via Lampang, Phrae, and Uttaradit. At Uttaradit, they even tracked down a random vegetarian restaurant in the middle of nowhere for lunch.

I am grateful that Paul and Renu decided to join us because they are good company, and they also made the logistics of our trip so much easier.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Procession to Wat Phon Chai
28 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ 🌧 23 °C
The description below comes courtesy of Jeff's research.

The Phi Ta Khon (Ghost Mask) Festival is an annual celebration in Isan Thai culture that welcomes good spirits and cleanses the community of bad spirits and sets things off for the most auspicious possible next year.
The festival incorporates Buddhist snd animist traditions and culminates a community effort to usher in a bountiful harvest.

It takes place on the weekend after the sixth full moon of the year, so generally occurs in late June or early July, and celebrates the tale of Prince Vessantara, who either returned from banishment or a trip upon which he was presumed to have died. It also celebrates the sacrifice of an elderly couple who were killed when they cut down a tree that had grown so large it blocked the sun brought darkness and famine to Dan Sai. It is akin to the Day of the Dead, as many of the spirits involved are ancestor spirits, and is a joyful not mournful celebration.

It also serves as a fertility festival, encouraging rain and abundance, and with a very obvious presence of lafge handheld palad khik (or phallus amulets) which do not serve a sexual purpose and are not considered obscene, but are wielded to provide protection and good fortune.

Today saw the calling of the protective spirit Phra Upakhut at the Man River by specially ordained monks, an invitation to the Phi Ta Khon (ghosts and spirits) and a “pre” festival procession from the river to the Wat Phon Chai.

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The first ceremony of the festival begins at 4am where they invoke the spirit of the Mun River. We weren't of course, going to wake up that early. We decided instead to observe the first parade from the town to Wat Phon Chai at 10am.

It rained all night, and when we made our way to the parade route, we were concerned about rain, but, fortunately, the weather held up for the most part. The parade began a little after 10am. It started with what we presumed to be the town's elders, followed by a male and female figure representing the couple who saved the town. After that, various other groups paraded past us uphill to Wat Phon Chai. Each team comes from a different village, and the team members wore similar costumes. There will apparently be a costume contest tomorrow. Most of the costumes were gaudy, and many of them had bells (some even had cowbells) on their outfits which added to the already loud thumping bass from the loudspeakers. I forgot how loud Thai music can be!

Once they went past us, we followed the parade to the temple.
Based on videos I had seen on YouTube, I was led to believe that the parade would be much bigger than this one. But, we later learned that the second day's parade is larger in scale.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Wat Phon Chai
28 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ 🌧 24 °C
At Wat Phon Chai, we observed the various costumed dancers as they paraded around the wat. We also briefly explored the Dan Sai Folk Museum which was on the temple grounds. We then explored the various food stalls on the temple grounds and ate a lot of snacks. The temple also provided free som tum and coconutty drinks. One portion had just been exhausted when I got to the stand, but Renu asked them to make a new batch. I was initially worried by the amount of chillies they put in the mortar, but the heat was actually quite manageable. The som tum was really good and I gratefully consumed it.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Dan Sai
28 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ 🌧 24 °C
Exiting the temple, we walked uphill to explore Dan Sai, and we snacked along the way.

It seemed as if there weren't any additional daytime activities scheduled, so we decided to call it a day and return tomorrow for the larger parade as well as the rocket festival.

In the evening, we went out for dinner and the rain really came down. Despite that, we heard fireworks coming from the festival site. At dinner, a stray (and very drunk) festival participant came into the restaurant to everyone’s amusement.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Phi Ta Khon Day Two
29 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
We were probably a tad overconfident after yesterday’s experience when we had little difficulty getting into town and finding parking. This time around, we hit traffic soon after we left our hotel, and it took us roughly 1.5 hours to get into town and find parking, which we found in a field behind an auto repair facility. We then walked to the parade route.

Today’s crowds were significantly heavier than yesterday’s, and, to complicate matters, there was a motorcycle convention in the vicinity, so the main road was swamped with thousands of motorbikes who were there to rev up and make noise. The noise they made was really annoying.

It took us quite a while to walk to Wat Phon Chai and onwards to a vantage point along the parade route. The parade looked different from what people who attended last year posted on social media. It started with a color guard and a float, after which there was a contingent of uniformed personnel. Several other floats, starting with one carrying the parade king and queen, followed. Interspersed among the floats were the figures of the couple who saved the town.

After the parade, everyone wandered down towards Wat Phon Chai or to the main road. Information was scarce and it seemed as if people - us included - didn't know where to go. It took a while to get there due to the slow moving crowd. I worried about the potential for a stampede and I was constantly looking for escape routes. We finally got to the main road and plotted our next move while drinking coffee. Paul and I didn’t want to deal with the crowds to get back to Wat Phon Chai. We read online that there would be launching of homemade rockets to bring rain, but we got conflicting information in real time. Two people, including someone from the local tourist authority sent to survey tourists, told us that there would be no rocket launching because we were already in the rainy season and they did the rocket launching last month to bring rain. With this information, we decided to walk back to the car and not deal with the crowds.

During our walk back to the car, however, we saw one homemade rocket, and a woman there told us they were about to offer up some prayers and then they would make their way to a field behind Wat Phon Chai where there would be a limited rocket launching ceremony. With this new information, we decided to take a backroad into town to find a vantage point to watch the rockets. Alas, this was not to be as other people had the same idea and the road was backed up. We decided to turn around and eat lunch at a cafe we saw along the backroad. Rather amusingly, the cafe name - Woori Cafe - suggested it was Korean, but they served Thai food.

I was disappointed by this turn of events, but, I was not ready to face the crowds again. In any case, we didn’t hear any rockets as we were dining and making our way back, so the event was either really small in scale if it had progressed as advertised, or it had been delayed.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Dan Sai Night Market
29 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
When we returned to our hotel, we saw traffic backed up way past it. According to google maps, it was backed up 15km from town. But, rather unexpectedly, the traffic cleared around 6pm. An hour after that, we set out for dinner, but the place we had in mind was closed. So, we decided to chance it and drive into town. We got there and found parking

The crowds at the festival site were far more manageable this evening. We walked up the road and grazed on all manner of street food - corn, oyster omelettes, thai omelettes, miang kham, the list goes on - and we made our way to the stage where a concert was in full swing.

I am very happy we got to experience this part of the festival. It was a fitting end to a wonderful time experiencing this unique festival.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Dan Sai to Phitsanulok
30 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
Our plan for the day was to drive from Dan Sai to Phitsanulok, where Jeff and I would board a train for Lopburi, while Paul and Renu would proceed to Kampeng Phet to visit Renu’s family. Along the way, we stopped at Kaeng Song Waterfall, which was conveniently located right next to the highway. At Phitsanulok, we dined at a great dim sum restaurant before proceeding to the train station where we parted ways.

I cannot thank Paul and Renu enough for their company on this road trip and for taking charge of the logistics. Without them, we would have had a much more challenging time figuring our way to and around Phi Ta Khon.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Phitsanulok to Lopburi
30 Haziran 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
Our train ride to Lopburi took four hours. We were seated in second class without aircon, but it wasn’t bad overall because I had a nice breeze from the open window.

Upon arrival at Lopburi, we walked a short distance to our accommodation, Noom Guesthouse. After freshening up, we dined at the nearby night market.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
Wat Nakhon Kosa
1 Temmuz 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C
We began our explorations of Lopburi's historic ruins at Wat Nakhon Kosa near the train station. Built in the 18th century, it features a large chedi that has since collapsed, and a viharn. As an added bonus, we spied a white kitty napping at a spirit house next to the wat.Okumaya devam et
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Thailand | 2025 Gezgin
San Pra Karn
1 Temmuz 2025, Tayland ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C
Our second stop was San Pra Karn, which features a 16th century ruin alongside an active temple housed within a traffic circle. Here, we saw there was a monkey feeding area with feedings at 10am and 4pm. We returned at 10am but there were no monkeys or food in sight.Okumaya devam et
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