I just went for a ride on the motorbike and ended up in the town of Bo Phloi in the province of Kanchanaburi. I had Carhenge marked on my map but had not planned on seeing it today but only made this plan after stopping to fill the bike.
This is part of the Grand Prix Golf Club and it is Thailand's take on Stonehenge in cars. Here are a few of the pictures I took.
I also uploaded the short to YouTube while at the site.
I took the long way home and was amazed at the height of the fields of sugar cane. The stalks seemed to be about 9 feet or 3 meters high.
I have been home in Kanchanaburi for a few weeks now and not doing anything worth blogging about. I did attend two concerts at the bridge festival which I guess I could have written about. Instead of taking videos or pictures of the concerts I just enjoyed the music and atmosphere.
I often get out on the motorbike but today I decided I wanted to see someplace I haven't seen. I just clicked on a Temple on the map and off I went. In about 20 minutes I was at entrance to the temple grounds of Wat Tham Charoentham (วัดถ้ำเจริญธรรม).
I rode around the temple and thought I was missing something so looked at the pictures on google maps and went looking for the large Buddha and found it about a hundred meters behind the temple hidden from view if standing at the temple.
I climbed up the steps and enjoyed the view and some of the flowers up here.
A guardian protecting the stairs to the Buddha.
Bell and Drum tower.
Not sure what this globe is that is in front of the temple but seems a bit different. I didn't go in the main temple building and only looked around the temple grounds.
The word cave is in the name of this temple but I never did see a cave but didn't really spend a lot of time looking. I did learn a new Thai word for me when looking for the cave that may come in handy at some point in the future สุขา is another word for toilet than the one I know.
The reason I came to Surin this time was to experience the Elephant Roundup. This is an event that takes place once a year in November. The following is a bit from Wikipedia on the roundup.
The Surin Elephant Round-up is a cultural festival held every year. The festival has its origins in the royal hunts which were conducted in Surin Province during medieval times. The indigenous residents of Surin, the Kuy, have been traditional practitioners of corralling elephants and training them as working animals. When the Ayutthaya Kingdom came into power these hunts were converted into a public extravaganza and wild elephants were replaced with tame ones. The festival, in its contemporary form, was first organized in the 1960s when civil war in Cambodia and the steady decline in economic value of elephants forced the elephant handlers (mahouts) to seek occupations in the entertainment and tourism industry.
Being in the city prior to the event I had seen a number of banners advertising concerts during the festival. I took a picture of one of these banners to do some looking if I would be interested in seeing any of the bands. I didn't have much luck on the bands but during my searching I found out there would be a dress rehearsal of the Elephant show on the 14th. I couldn't find anything else out about the rehearsal online so I just went to the stadium and tried my luck. It worked out great.
I enjoyed the dress rehearsal and had booked the hotel through the weekend so returned and watched the show again on Saturday. I didn't know how to buy a ticket for the stands in the shade so bought an umbrella and sat in the sun. I really should have worked harder to figure out how to buy a ticket the sun was brutal.
The number of Elephants was just amazing. Hope you enjoy the video that I could not seem to keep short.
Following is the short I uploaded while at the show.
Friday the 15th had an Elephant parade through town and then a breakfast for the Elephants at Phraya Surin Phakdi Si Narong Changwang Monument (อนุสาวรีย์พระยาสุรินทรภักดีศรีณรงค์จางวาง).
I parked my motorbike close to the monument and then planned to walk back up the parade route. I couldn't tell which direction they would be coming from so really missed the parade. Maybe I will go back next year to see the parade. I really enjoyed being around all the elephants for the breakfast.
When the eleplants had their fill the locals came in and selected some of the remaining food and took it home. I grabbed a couple of bananas for myself and did my best elephant impression as I gobbled them up.
Following is the short I uploaded while at the Elephant Breakfast.
I did not do a lot after the 2nd time of seeing the elephant show and on Monday I started the long ride home to Kanchanaburi. I thought about stopping along the way to remove some pins I had on my map of place to see but was ready to be home.
I made of number of stops on my way home but was happy to arrive where I started over a month before heading off to Bangkok. My trip counter (pictured below) says I rode over 4,200 kilometer (about 2,650 miles) in total. Thanks for reading along on my travels. I think I may take some shorter trips in the coming weeks while the weather is cooler and making riding so enjoyable.
I have made some crappy little videos from my recent travels after my return home.
I have put them in the posts I have done earlier but thought I would also put them in a new post so followers that have been reading as I go will not miss out on the irritation of having to watch my videos.
I still have the videos for the Surin Part 2 post to complete but will not post that blog entry until that is done. I have a lot of clips so it will take me some time to finish. I am publishing this set to a date when I was still in Surin so the Part 2 post will appear after this post in the future. I also plan to delete this post at some point in the future since I have included these videos in the orignal posts.
Hope you find something in these videos to enjoy.
Royal Barge Procession Full Dress Rehearsal
Buffalo Racing Festival 2024, Chonburi Wing Kwai (วิ่งควาย).
Slideshow of Phu Phra Bat Historical Park (อุทยานประวัติศาสตร์ภูพระบาท). Thailand's newest Unesco World Heritage site in Udon Thani.
