Phichit (พิจิตร) and Nakhon Sawan (นครสวรรค์)

This day would be more failures than successes. I left Kamphaeng Phet and headed to the city and province of Phichit. My first planned stop was a place on a lake called Bueng Si Fai (บึงสีไฟ). It seemed to have a bit of fairground type of feel when I arrived and with it being a weekend the place was very crowded.

I didn't feel like fighting the crowd so rode a bit around the lake and then headed to my next stop Phichit Historical Park.

I didn't find the park overly impressive but it was a nice setting in the woods and I enjoyed sitting there and watching some pretty birds. Following is a picture of the main attration in the park.

My next stop was at the Phichit Provincial Museum but this seemed to be closed. I didn't find any type of sign to say what days it was open so don't know if it's closed on Saturdays or has closed permanently.

My next planned stop was going to be Ban Dong Ho Chi Minh Museum but when I put it in Google Maps it said that this museum is closed today.

That was everything I had planned to do in Phichit and it was only a little after noon. I had planned on spending the night in Phichit but changed my plan and rode on to Nakhon Sawan and found a hotel for 2 nights.

I had heard that the main city park had fruit bats and I had really enjoyed seeing these huge bats in the past so headed into Paradise Park (อุทยานสวรรค์) a little bit before the sun would be setting. This was my final failure of the day because I had no luck finding the bats. I did enjoy walking around the park and took the following 2 pictures while I was there.

I started my full day in Nakhon Sawan at Bueng Boraphet Bird Park (อุทยานนกน้ำบึงบอระเพ็ด). I have read that Bueng Boraphet is Thailand's largest freshwater lake and it is a good place to take boat tour to see the Red Lotus flowers. My Thai is not good enough to ask if I could join a tour but was offered a tour for 600 baht for an hour when I was walking around. I had read the price was 600 baht for upto 12 people on a boat and I just can't bring myself to pay for a tour like this when I am alone so gave the boat ride a pass. I watched a few birds while walking around the park but none of the pictures or videos were worth uploading.

From the lake I rode out to Wat Si Uthum Phon (วัดศรีอุทุมพร). I found this a very intesting number of temples and following are some of my pictures.

This temple also has "Dagger Hall: This hall is home to the world's largest talismanic Mitmor dagger (talismans believed to imbue with power to ward off evil spirits), measuring 9 meters in length and weighing 3,000 kilograms. The blade is crafted from steel, while the handle is made from a century-old Takhianthong tree (Hopea odorata)." The quote is from the www.tourismthailand.org that has info on some of the tourist sites in Thailand. Following is my attempt at a picture of the dagger.

I headed back into the city and went to San Chao Pho Thepharak-Chao Mae Thapthim (ศาลเจ้าพ่อเทพารักษ์-เจ้าแม่ทับทิม) temple with its view of the The Origin of the Chao Phraya River thing. I am not sure what to call the structure in the park on the other side of the river show in the picture below.

Nakhon Sawan is where the Ping and Naan Rivers meet and become the Chao Phraya River and flows south going through the heart of Bangkok.

This is a picture of the Goddess Thapthim Shrine.

I was heading to the Nakhon Sawan Observation Tower but got confused by google maps and ended up on the wrong hill and just ignored the app and kept going up the hill and ended up at Wat Khao Khop (วัดวรนาถบรรพต) over looking the city.

After a bit of time on the wrong hill I went back down and up the correct hill to the Nakhon Sawan Observation Tower (หอชมเมืองนครสวรรค์) and Wat Khiriwong Nakhon (วัดคีรีวงศ์).

After riding down from the tower and through the city passing the area called the night market I ended up at a small market called the KhlongKhang Pier (ตลาดท่าเรือคลองคาง). I enjoyed a cup of coffee, some pineapple, some thai music and the view out over the river.