My first temple stop of the day was at Wat Nong Fai (วัดหนองฝ้าย) but have no idea why I saved this temple on my phone. I didn't find this temple special in any way and did not even a picture. I sometime save sites that are going to have a festival with a band I like but that is just a guess.
My 2nd stop was at Phra Ruesi Park (อุทยานพระฤาษี) and google maps included this in the name of the place "The world's first large hermit park".
I found the following to describe this site. "Phra Ruesi Park in Suphanburi, Thailand, is a unique and culturally significant attraction that offers visitors an immersive experience into the ancient tradition of Ruesi, or hermits The Ruesi or hermits, ascetic sages believed to have achieved enlightenment through rigorous meditation and self-discipline. These figures, often depicted with supernatural powers and deep wisdom." I may look a bit like these hermits but I lack the enlightenment, the rigorous meditation, the supernatural powers and have very little self-discipline but I like to think I have the deep wisdom. On 2nd thought maybe my wisdom is only shallow.
It was really too hot to be wondering around the hermit park taking pictures but I still did it and following are some of the photos I took.
After visiting my fellow hermits at their park, I went on to Wat Sa Long Ruea (วัดสระลงเรือ). The main attraction of this temple is the large boat like structure that is supposed to be a replica of the King's dragon boat.
There is also the very large monk statue but I have not been able to find the name of this monk with google searches.
Following are a few of the pictures I took at this boat like temple.
My last stop of the day before heading home was at Wat Thipsukhontharam (วัดทิพย์สุคนธาราม). The huge standing Buddha image is the main attraction which is surrounded by what I would call a garden or park area. This site was built in 2012 to honor His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej on his 84th birthday.
After visiting these temples on a very hot day I was really happy to get home and cool down. I will try and do a bit more planning so the next time I attempt a trip and hopefully I will not abort it after only one night of being away.
If nothing else this short trip did cure my itchy feet feeling for at least a week.
I was sitting around home and got a bit of that itchy feet feeling where I needed to get out and do some traveling. The problem is I don't enjoy planning that much which can cause a bit of an issue and in this case it caused this to be a very short trip but more on that later.
I have ridden up the left or west side of the Srinagarindra Reservoir but had not done the right or east side so decided to start with a ride up the east side of the the reservoir.
This is the route that I traveled from home up to the Samphao Thong Chedi Viewpoint via the longer route that was close to the reservoir. I always think I am going to have great views of the water from a lot of my travels along rivers or lake in Thailand but this was another case where I didn't often see the reservoir.
My route took me by the Ferry to Si Sawat District over a bit of the Srinagarindra Reservoir. Following are a few pictures of the ferry crossing as well as a short video.
This is a couple of pictures at the Samphao Thong Chedi Viewpoint which was the end of the first part of my ride.
My plan for the day was to go to another view point and then onto Lan Sak in Uthai Thani and spend the night. The following is a screen shot of what should have been my route and I think I may have followed it but am not sure. My issue was that there was no internet on my phone at the Samphao Thong Chedi so could not use google maps for planning my route when leaving the viewpoint.
I have dealt with no internet before and thought I had a work around but for some reason I could not get my work around working on this day. I later played around with the phone and think I have figured out what my issue was but never will be sure until I hit the no internet issue when on a trip.
I had an idea of how I was supposed to go so just kept going that way and stopping frequently to see if I had internet and after about 30K was able to use google maps again for finding my route.
I have made the ride down past Phu Toei National Park in the past and it is a really pretty ride but didn't stop and take any pictures until the viewpoint a bit north of the national park.
I had gotten drizzled on while riding to the 2nd viewpoint but shortly after leaving the viewpoint the sky started pelting it down and I was drenched within a minute. It was raining so hard that it hurt to ride and I wondered if it was hail but don't think so. I saw and stopped at a coffee shop to let the worst of the storm pass and left a puddle under the place I sat.
The rest of the way into Lan Sak the rode was littered with branches leaves and what I think were nuts. I am really glad I stopped when I did and didn't get hit with all this stuff in the middle of the rode.
I stopped and took one picture just outside of Lan Sak.
I have stayed in Lan Sak a number of times and have stayed at the same hotel each time and have never booked it in advance so was surprised when they told me they were full. I stopped at 2 other hotels on the same rode and they were full as well. The 4th hotel I asked did have a room but the price was a bit higher than I expected it to be but was happy to find a room.
I don't like booking rooms unless it is somewhere I know I will have problems finding a room like for some of the festivals. I like to have an idea of where I will stay but being able to walk in and get a room without having booked one. I like to have the flexibility of stopping when I am tired, hit bad weather or have any type of problem on the road. Having to ask a number of hotels for rooms in Lan Sak and also my last trip to Sangkhlaburi where I found rooms but could not stay as long as I wanted to had me scared.
I sat in my hotel looking at the places I thought I would be going in the following days and seeing what rooms were available and didn't like what I was seeing. It seemed that rooms within the towns were not available but I could stay around 15 kilometers outside of the town. Even the places outside of town seemed a bit expensive.
I didn't find any rooms online to book at the one town I was really looking forward to going. The hotel app I use was suggesting places over 3 hours ride away from where I wanted to stay. This distance would make going there and back in one day difficult.
Not sure why rooms seemed to be unavailable but think it may have to do with Makha Bucha day. Makha Bucha day is a Thailand holiday that is on the 3rd of March this year. My guess is that a lot of people are using this holiday to take a long weekend and the reason I was having problems finding rooms. I left home without even knowing this holiday was next week.
The lack or rooms made me decide to abort this trip and try it again sometime later. I decided to take the long way home the following day and stop by some of the temples I had marked on google maps but that I had not yet visited. I will post about my stops on the way home in the next blog entry.
I have not been upto the the temple at Phra Borom That Chedi Manikan (พระบรมธาตุเจดีย์มณีกาญจน์) but wrote a little about about it back in July of 2024.
The post was
Temple Building Progress and my last post on Wat Mettatham Photiyan made me think I should go visit Phra Borom That Chedi Manikan.
That is the picture I took today at about the same place as the one from 2 years ago but this time I rode up to the construction site.
Here are a few pictures of the ongoing work
I went into the Temple and took this picture of the main Buddha.
It appeared that some of the workers lived in the Temple as it was being built with 2 tents setup inside the temple.
I think I enjoyed the views out over the river more than the temple itself.
Other than the day being way too hot it was a good day of visiting a construction site.
Every once in a while I stop by Wat Mettadhamma Pothiyan to see how the building is progressing. I now see this temple is also listed as Wat Metta Dharma Bodhiyan so pick the name you prefer.
I have blogged about this temple at least twice but often stop by without taking pictures or blogging about it. I first blogged about it back in February of 2024 in the post Wat Mettadhamma Pothiyan and then wrote another post in July of 2024 in Temple Building Progress
I stopped by in March of 2025 but didn't write a blog and only seemed to have taken the following 2 pictures.
I stopped by the other day and took a number of new pictures. I am always amazed by the amount of work being done and enjoy comparing my old and new pictures. This time I rode around the platform that is being built for the big Buddha and onto the 2nd floor of the building and parked my bike in the middle and took the following 2 pictures.
I took a few more pictures of the ongoing work on the Buddha base from a few places outside of the building.
The following is a picture of what appears to be wagon wheels on the ground floor of the Buddha base and I think they will be used as the windows on the 2nd floor.
I like to also go in the main hall that has the Bodhisattva Shrine what is amazing. I don't think anything changed in this hall but I took a number of photos of the Bodhisattva and all the wooden Buddhas in the areas around this hall.
This is a photo of the Bodhisattva Shrine hall from when I was on the 2nd floor of the Big Buddha Base and looking out one of the round windows.
I even took a selfie in front of the Bodhisattva Shrine this time.
These 2 halls are just across from the Bodhisattva and I don't recall looking into them before but they appear to be cleaning them up and I wonder if they will be furnished the next time I stop by for a visit.
I finished this visit in the following hall that I have been in before but didn't take any pictures in the past. I think it may have been the 1st building that was completed but that is just a guess.
After all these pictures and a number of visits I think I may have missed one of the halls that are open at this complex. Hopefully next time I will find it since I am sure I will be back to check on the progress.
