A Birthday Ride

I turned on my camera in my phone holder and snapped a selfie while zipping along on my birthday ride. I turned 62 today.

l started where route 21 and route 2216 intersect. I think the town is called Na Sam in Phetchabun but I have a hard finding the names of places in google maps. I rode about 100 kilometers or 60 miles along route 2216 from that town what ever it's called to route 12 at a town I think is called Thung Phra in Chaiyaphum.

This was recommended to me by a YouTube page Thailand Top Rideing Routes. Following is a screen print of the route in the description of the video of this route.

The weather was not great with what felt like god spitting on me the whole day and mostly an overcast sky. It was still a fun ride with lots of twisting and turning road and a lot of ups and downs. It was also rather cool which was a pleasant surprise for me. I think I also saw more tractors than cars for most of route 2216.

I am not good at stopping and taking pictures and don't have a setup for taking videos while riding. Here are a few pictures I took.

I first thought the last picture was the fruit rambutans but after looking at it awhile I think it's some type of bloom rather than a fruit.

I stopped near the end of 2216 and used the toilet and then had a cup of coffee but didn't fill the motorbike. I know route 12 goes all the way across Thailand so assumed there would be a lot of gas stations. I was wrong.

At the end of 2216 I made a right onto route 12. Once I saw that the road appeared to be entering into a jungle with dense forest on both sides I should have turned around and went back to the gas station at 2216 but I didn't.

I was thinking I had 2 bars and there will be a gas station soon. When I got to one bar I found a place to stop and search Google maps for a gas station. Where I stopped didn't have internet on the phone so no search function.

I continued down route 12 and about 10 kilometers later I stopped and attempted a search again. 2 places popped up that I thought might be reachable. 1 only had a picture of a field and was a little bit further away but was on route 12. The other had a picture of an pump where you insert money and pump yourself. It was a ways off the main route. I selected the closer one off the main route and followed the GPS.

I was pulling away from my parking place when the fuel bar started flashing and I can't remember what distance that means. I think maybe I have 10 kilometers of fuel left. Seems it took me forever to get to the turnoff and it was a dirt road going up a hill.

I reach a small village and think at least someone will help me get fuel here. I keep looking at each place to see if I see one of those stands of liquor bottles with fuel.

I look at my phone again and oh sh!t I've made a wrong turn somewhere. I turn around and see where I missed a turn.

Oh no it seems like I'm leaving the village but the GPS says there is fuel on the other side of that bridge. Everytime Google maps has been wrong keeps running through my mind.

There is what looks like a store and it's where the pump should be and please oh please let the pump be working.

I have never been happier to see a machine like this picture I found on the internet.

I put the pump in my tank stick in a 100 baht bill and hit the green button. The pump is talking to me in Thai and I don't understand a word. I open the pump handle and nothing happens.

I am just staring at the pump when a guy comes out and helps me. I think my problem was the pump handle has to be open before pushing the green button.

I have enough fuel to get to my hotel in Lom Sak. I kept saying thank you, thank you very much and even a few times in English.

The ride back through the village and to the main road seemed much shorter going down.

I stopped at a pull out on route 12 and took one more picture before driving the rest of the way to my hotel.

When I got checked into my hotel I had a couple beers to celebrate my birthday and an interesting day on the bike.

Heading to the Ghost Festival

It's time for me to get out and play tourist again.

My first stop at something to see was at Wat Tha Sung which I visited recently and blogged about in the post on Uthai Thani but decided to visit again since I did not stop at The Golden Castle. Below are a few pictures of The Golden Castle.

Following is the short I uploaded to YouTube while at the temple of both the Golden Castle and The Crystal Sanctuary.



My plan was to stay in a hotel close to the temple since I am not much good after 3 hours on the bike but was still feeling good so decide to continue for about an hour more.

I found a hotel in the town of Tha Tako in Nakhon Sawan and crashed for the night.

The following day my only plan was to put in some kilometers or miles in the direction of where the festival was to take place. I had about a 3 hour ride but assumed I can't check into a hotel until 2 in the afternoon so have a bit of time to waste. I saw a sign at an intersection that said something about an ancient city to the right. I was going to the left but pulled over a ways down the road and did a Google maps search on ancient city and found Muang Kao Wesalee (เมืองเก่าเวสาลี).

I would not say the ruins here were all that impressive but I really enjoyed the pond with the lotus flowers in front of the ruins.

I didn't do any other tourist things that day and went a bit past where I had thought I would stay so I could reduce tomorrow's ride. I did get really lucky stopping for a break and eating an ice cream as the heavy rain started. I was at the store a bit longer than I had planned but the rain stopped and I stayed mostly dry.

I found a hotel at the start of the fun motorcycle route that I had planned for the following day. I also got a bit of a Thai lesson with the price of the hotel talking with a very friendly couple that ran the hotel.

Chedi Thong Wat Tham Khao Pun (เจดีย์ทองวัดถ้ำเขาปูน)

I have lived in Kanchanaburi for more than a year and a half but am not really good at getting out and seeing some of the stuff close to home. Today I was out on the bike and decided I should visit Chedi Thong at Wat Tham Khao Pun (เจดีย์ทองวัดถ้ำเขาปูน) since I never been up to the Chedi.

I have visited the coffee shops down below the Chedi and thought I had posted about it in the past but seems I never did. One of the coffee shops is called The Curve and that is what I call this area and I had to look up the name of the temple that is also at this location. Wat Tham Khao Pun (วัดถ้ำเขาปูน) is the name of the temple about 50 meters down the hill from the coffee shops. There is also a cave that a lot of tourist visit but I have not been in. I'm not really into caves.

This area has great views over the River Kwai Noi at a bend in the river or the curve.

I took the above panorama while standing over by the standing Buddha in the following picture. If you click on the panorama to make it bigger you may be able to notice the tracks for the death railway that run along the side of the river.

I didn't seem to take any pictures with a view down onto the coffee shops that are about half way down the hill between the Chedi on the top and the train tracks and river at the bottom. I rode the motorbike most of the way up the hill but still had what I think would be about 5 floors worth of stairs to arive at the Chedi. Those hand rails get very hot in the afternoon sun.

The following is a picture in the opposite direction of the river and of Wat Tham Khao Pun (วัดถ้ำเขาปูน).

The Chedi had 4 what I think are guards at its base. I took a picture of each of them but only posting the blue one.

The Chedi has lights that shine on it at night and it is very attractive from the river.

I put off coming up here for a long time but I guess I just didn't know how much I would enjoy the views.

The Great King Naresuan Festival Kanchanaburi

When I got back to Kanchanaburi I noticed signs around town showing some type of festival with bands preforming. I did some internet searching to see if any of the bands would be of interest to me. In my search there were videos of a free show at the festival that I believe depicts the life of King Naresuan the great. The description I found for thie Festival was Kanchanaburi Festival to honor King Naresuan the Great Who restored the independence of Thailand. (งานเทิดพระเกียรติ สมเด็จพระนเรศวรมหาราช ประจำปี). Not a festival name that rolls off the tongue.

I missed the one band that seemed to interest me because I was still being lazy after the long ride from Pattaya but a few days later I rode the 20K outside of the city to check out the festival.

I think I arrived to early because most of the food vendors were still setting up and not many people in attendance. I made my way to the stage and caught the end of some ladies doing traditional Thai dances. At this point I was the only adult sitting in from of the stage. Myself and one kid made up the crowd when the announcers came on stage. Not sure if they usually speak English but the lady seemed thrilled to have a foreigner in attendance so told me the main show would be at 7 back that way and to the left and also recommended I go buy a Thai Tea.

I sort of think because the crowd had such a large nunber of foreigners (1 Person) the band did a song in English and I enjoyed their verson of the Cranberries song Zombie.



I made my way back to the place where the main show would take place and found a seat. I found the show very enjoyable even with the rain that started about 3/4 of the way through the show. Following is my video from the show.



I got very wet on my ride home after the show but still was a great evening out.