An Afternoon in U Thong

Suphan Buri province is the one of the provinces that border Kanchanaburi. U Thong is the town that is just a little bit past the province border. I had saved 3 dots on my map in this town as places to visit so decided that today was a good day to check off a few dots.

After about an hour on the motorbike I arrived at the first dot the U Thong National Museum. I didn't know a lot about the museum before arriving. I was greeted by a friendly lady that wanted to take my picture and then pointed at the entrance. I was a bit surprised that there was no fee to enter and don't think they get a lot of tourist to this museum.

A lady lead me to the first room in the museum and I was surprised that she spoke English. She started a 6 minute video in English that talked about the Dvaravati era. My understanding is the Dvaravati was a Buddhist culture that spread from India across southeast Asia and there are a number of ruins in U Thong area from this era.

Most of the museum was artifacts found at the Dvaravati religious sites in the area. The 2 pictures below are some of the artifacts. The Wheel is supposed to represents the Buddhist doctrine spreading throughout the world.

The photo below is of a traditional style of home of the Laosong ethnic group living in this area of Thailand that was in front of the museum.

From the museum I made my way to the second dot on my map Wat Khao Phra Si Sanphet.

Wat Khao Phra Si Sanphet is on the top of a hill or rock outcrop and can be seen from a long ways away depending on smoke on the day due to crop burning. The following is the cave at the base of the hill with a reclining Buddha.

It was a bit of a climb to reach the top of the steps and the views of the town and countryside.

Here are a couple pictures of the temple at the top of the hill.

I think the ruins of a pagoda behind the temple may be from the Dvaravati era.

Back at the base of the hill I took a couple of shots trying to improve my luck by pitching a coin into the belly button of the happy Bhuddha. I didn't improve my luck and had 2 less baht then before.

My 3rd dot and last place to visit in U Thong was Bhunyakiri Sri Suvarnabhumi.

I am guessing that this used to be a rock quarry but have not found anything that says this. It is a impressive site with the Buddha carved out of the rock. It also has a cave or tunnel behind the Buddha so you can walk a circle around the Buddha.

Not sure if it is this busy on every Saturday but going on Chinese new year may have been a mistake. The parking lot was packed and I had to be careful to stay out of the way of the many golf carts zipping around carrying people back for forth.

This site is still being worked on and it appears the glass walkway along the right side of the quarry is about complete.

U Thong made for a good day out playing tourist.