Phetchaburi

I caught a tuk tuk from the border to the bus station in Aranya Prathet and then a bus to Bangkok. It was about a 5 hours bus ride but I had made it an early morning so I arrived at the north Bangkok bus station at about 2PM. I did not want to stay in Bangkok but wanted to head on south to Phetchaburi. Bangkok has a number of different bus stations and north destinations are served by the north station and south destinations by the south station. I sort of knew this but confirmed it at the information desk and ask about a bus between stations. I would think they would have some sort of shuttle between stations across Bangkok but it was only a normal city bus. I had them write down the name of the south station in Thai at the information desk and headed for the city bus. I showed my note to the lady collecting money on the bus and paid what ever she asked for. I think it was something like 22 Bhat or about 75 US cents/50 Euro Cents. I had no idea of knowing when I was suppose to get out of the bus but usually people look out for the dumb foreigner. This bus that was not the case or they just forgot about me since they were really busy. Just as we were leaving the stop I thought that looked like a bus station. I found my note which took me a minute and showed it to the lady next to me and pointed to where we had just left. She indicated yes so I grabbed my bag and found my way to the door and pushed the stop button. The look on the lady’s face that had taken the fare seemed to say sorry and she pointed back in the direction we came from. I said my Thank You in Thai and walked the 500 meters back to the bus station when the bus stopped.

I caught a bus to Phetchaburi and found a really cheap place to stay for the night. The following day I walked around the city and saw mainly the temples in the city. Wat Matathat has a very big pagado that also appeared impressive to me.

After seeing the temples in town I walked to the edge of the city and took the cable car up to Phra Nakhon Khiri Historical Park. The park sets on a hill that overlooks the town. There were signs here that said no plastic bags allowed because the monkeys will mug you and steal the bags. That was not exactly what the sign said but the meaning is the same. I was glad I did not have a plastic bag or any problems with the monkeys. I don’t think I even saw any monkeys on the hill. There were a number of pagodas up on this hill and it had a great view out over the town.

I spent a few hours walking around to the different pagodas and then made my way down the hill and back to the hotel to grab my bag and move on.