South from Khao Sok National Park is Phang Nga Province. Phang Nga is a really quick stop for me, but it was jam packed with some really awesome sites. Lucky for me there were a ton of waterfalls to stop at along my route on highway 4, so I had a waterfallapalooza on my way to the next hotel. First up was Sai Rung. The main tourist season is obviously kicking in and this southern part of Thailand is the…
I think Thailand is one of the oddest shaped countries in the world. After leaving Kanchanaburi I made a hard right turn and now I’m heading south down the thin sliver of land between the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, the Malay Peninsula. My first stop on this part of the journey is the quiet town of Phetchaburi. There’s only a small handful of things I wanted to check out here, so let’s get started. My hotel doesn’t…
It was a different sort of travel day from Lopburi to my next stop. It was time to turn in this, my third, rental car. So I drove due south past Ayutthaya straight to the Bangkok Airport where I turned in the car then I decided to have a little fun by riding the train back north to Ayutthaya. It was about a 45 minute trip and it cost me a whopping 11 baht (about 33 cents). The Ayutthaya kingdom…
My next stop in Lop Buri was a super short drive away, only about an hour and a half, so I spent the day driving around to some of the outer sites before making my way to my hotel. A little over half way between Khao Yai and Lop Buri is one of Thailands holiest places, Wat Phra Phutthabat. In 1624 they found a depression in the rock that resembled a foot which fit right in with the legend that…
From Khorat it’s just a short distance west to what is considered one of Thailand’s premier national parks, Khoa Yai. I think the name of the village where I’m staying is Mu Si, but everyone just refers to this whole area as Khao Yai. This is where the people of Bangkok come for rest and relaxation. There are tons and tons of really fancy resorts, big restaurants, and for some reason, go kart tracks all over the place. From my…
Just a short drive west from Nang Rong is another of eastern Thailand’s big cities, Nakhon Ratchasima, or Khorat for short. After my run in with the angry Asian wasps and now with a busted camera lens, I went straight to one of Khorat’s shopping malls to see if I could find a new one. Shopping malls are all but dead in the States, but here in Thailand they are alive and thriving. I never thought I’d end up spending…
Welcome to Holy Crap Adventures season 51, episode 11, in which our intrepid hero explores many ancient Khmer ruins and gets violently attacked by a hyper-aggressive gang of locals… On this section of my journey, I’ll be resting my head in the town of Nang Rong in Buri Ram province. There’s absolutely nothing to see or do in Nang Rong, but it’s close to the many sites I want to visit along the nearby Cambodian border. So let’s just dive…
After zig zagging all over the Khmer temples to the northwest, I finally arrived at Ubon Ratchathani, the eastern most stop I’ll be making on this trip. Ubon Ratchathani, is like some of my other stops, just a very convenient and pleasant place to stay while I explore the area. I did of course take a day to explore the city, though. Thung Sri Mueng, seen above is pretty much the center of the city. It seems a bit out…
The next stop of this trip was supposed to be Mae Sot and Um Phang way out west in remote Tak Province to see the tallest waterfall in Thailand. Unfortunately, the road going to the waterfall is inaccessible due to flooding and mud slides. And even if the road was clear it wouldn’t matter because the waterfall is overflowing so much that it completely destroyed its viewing platform and the nearby campground. So the government of Thailand closed off the…
My drive from Chiang Rai south was thankfully, uneventful. There were reports of flooding on part of my route through Phayao so I considered briefly taking the long way through Chiang Mai. Good thing I looked at the radar online though before leaving because Chiang Mai was getting pounded. I took my chances with my original plans and made it to Sukhothai with no problems. On the news were lots of pictures of Chiang Mai flooded with water and mud….