I also uploaded a YouTube short of the Heaven and Hell garden at this remple.
My next stop and last stop in Udon was Phu Phra Bat Historical Park (อุทยานประวัติศาสตร์ภูพระบาท). This is Thailand's newest UNESCO World Heritage site, it was just added earlier in 2024.
The following quote from Wikipedia is a good description of the site. "The park's distinguishing feature is its unusual rock formations around which religious shrines have been constructed. Some formations also feature prehistoric rock paintings."
I took a lot of pictures and walked along the trails for a couple of hours. I am only going to post a few pictures here but may do a slideshow at some point with all my pictures.
It is a month later and updating this post with the slideshow of all the things that are Like a Rock.
After my visit to the historical park my plan was to find a hotel and then make a long ride the following day. I have ridden some roads in Thailand that seem to be next to the Mekong but most of the time I could never see the river. Earlier this year I rode a small bit of route 211 and found the views of the river wonderful. I have more river picturs in that post Nong Khai Day 2 than I have for this post.
The reason I planned to do a long ride was because when I looked online all the hotels on my route were expensive. I decided to just go ask and see if I could get a deal and use some of the day I had left to get to the river.
This is the only river picture I took. I should have stopped and taken more pictures. Maybe next time!
I stopped in Sangkhom at 3 hotels and asked about prices but they seemed expensive for empty places so I kept riding. After another hour of riding I arrived at Pak Chom just as it was starting to get dark. The hotel price was a bit cheaper than what I have been paying but at this point I would have paid the expensive price since I was worn out.
The next morning I continued my ride along the river. It was a really pretty ride with views of the river but since there was a light rain for most of the day it decreased my enjoyment some.
I rode from Pak Chom till Chiang Khan on rote 211. I have visited Chiang Khan in the past but must have been in a time when I was not blogging since I can't find anything on here.
At Chiang Khan I changed to route 2195 and even though it appears to run along the river the river views quickly disappeared. The road also became more twisty and turny and up and down more mountain type of roads.
It was a fun ride even with the rain until there was road construction. The rain and the dirt road made for a muddy mess and I quickly discover it was really slick. It gave me a good scare and I am not sure how I didn't fall when the bike got sideways at one point. I was happy when the construction was behind me but the mud seemed to stick to my tires so seemed to remain slippery for awhile.
Once the scarry road was behind me I came in Dan Sai and visited it's Phi Ta Khon Museum ( พิพิธภัณฑ์ผีตาโขนด่านซ้าย). The Phi Ta Khon Festival, or Ghost Festiva takes place once a year in Dan Sai and costumes and masked are worn. It's something I need to add to my calendar and try to attend in the future. Here are a couple of pictures of the museum area and two along the road the following day.
It was a good day but I was really happy to get in a hotel and rest for the night in Dan Sai.
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