Phi Ta Khon (ผีตาโขน) or Ghost Festival

The main reason for this trip was attending the Ghost Festival or Phi Ta Khon (ผีตาโขน). I had been through Dan Sai last year and blogged a bit about it in the post Riding by the Mekong River and was able to stay in Dan Sai Loei where the festival takes place but all the hotels were full for the festival. I stayed about 60 kilometers or 40 miles south in Lom Sak Petchabun.

I didn't enjoy the ride to and from the festival. It is a twisty and turny mountain road that I would normally enjoy but the road was very busy with other motorcycles and cars. Throw in the rain and I found this ride very stressful. When getting to the town I found a rode that was more like a parking lot.

Following is the short I uploaded of the first day of the festival.





I had a list of the activities that were taking place at the festival but had not been able to find any time for these activities. I had read on a website that the parade took place in the afternoon but seemed to be over by the time I reached the viewing stands.

I sat in the stands and did some googling and then went on Facebook and did a search in Thai and found the schedule below.

I had in fact missed the parade. I think I was stuck in the traffic jam at the edge of town when it took place. Oh well I still got to see a bit of the festivities and there is another parade tomorrow.

I took the stressful ride back to my hotel and the following morning did another stressful ride to Dan Sai and the parking lot of a road. I weaved my way through the parked cars until I found a place to park off the road and walked to the temple in the center of town. The main road from the temple to viewing stands was a lot like the road into town but the traffic jam was people and not cars.

I worked my way through the crowd and made it to the viewing stands just as the parade was trying to start. I say trying because it seems the parade had more problems going down this street than I had come up it.

I am happy with the video that I made while watching the parade. I also started drinking beer while fighting through the crowd and this helped a lot with my stress level and my enjoyment of the festival.



It was a really interesting festival to see but not sure it was worth dealing with all the crowd. I think this festival will be one that I can check off as been there done that and not repeat it in the future.

A Birthday Ride

I turned on my camera in my phone holder and snapped a selfie while zipping along on my birthday ride. I turned 62 today.

l started where route 21 and route 2216 intersect. I think the town is called Na Sam in Phetchabun but I have a hard finding the names of places in google maps. I rode about 100 kilometers or 60 miles along route 2216 from that town what ever it's called to route 12 at a town I think is called Thung Phra in Chaiyaphum.

This was recommended to me by a YouTube page Thailand Top Rideing Routes. Following is a screen print of the route in the description of the video of this route.

The weather was not great with what felt like god spitting on me the whole day and mostly an overcast sky. It was still a fun ride with lots of twisting and turning road and a lot of ups and downs. It was also rather cool which was a pleasant surprise for me. I think I also saw more tractors than cars for most of route 2216.

I am not good at stopping and taking pictures and don't have a setup for taking videos while riding. Here are a few pictures I took.

I first thought the last picture was the fruit rambutans but after looking at it awhile I think it's some type of bloom rather than a fruit.

I stopped near the end of 2216 and used the toilet and then had a cup of coffee but didn't fill the motorbike. I know route 12 goes all the way across Thailand so assumed there would be a lot of gas stations. I was wrong.

At the end of 2216 I made a right onto route 12. Once I saw that the road appeared to be entering into a jungle with dense forest on both sides I should have turned around and went back to the gas station at 2216 but I didn't.

I was thinking I had 2 bars and there will be a gas station soon. When I got to one bar I found a place to stop and search Google maps for a gas station. Where I stopped didn't have internet on the phone so no search function.

I continued down route 12 and about 10 kilometers later I stopped and attempted a search again. 2 places popped up that I thought might be reachable. 1 only had a picture of a field and was a little bit further away but was on route 12. The other had a picture of an pump where you insert money and pump yourself. It was a ways off the main route. I selected the closer one off the main route and followed the GPS.

I was pulling away from my parking place when the fuel bar started flashing and I can't remember what distance that means. I think maybe I have 10 kilometers of fuel left. Seems it took me forever to get to the turnoff and it was a dirt road going up a hill.

I reach a small village and think at least someone will help me get fuel here. I keep looking at each place to see if I see one of those stands of liquor bottles with fuel.

I look at my phone again and oh sh!t I've made a wrong turn somewhere. I turn around and see where I missed a turn.

Oh no it seems like I'm leaving the village but the GPS says there is fuel on the other side of that bridge. Everytime Google maps has been wrong keeps running through my mind.

There is what looks like a store and it's where the pump should be and please oh please let the pump be working.

I have never been happier to see a machine like this picture I found on the internet.

I put the pump in my tank stick in a 100 baht bill and hit the green button. The pump is talking to me in Thai and I don't understand a word. I open the pump handle and nothing happens.

I am just staring at the pump when a guy comes out and helps me. I think my problem was the pump handle has to be open before pushing the green button.

I have enough fuel to get to my hotel in Lom Sak. I kept saying thank you, thank you very much and even a few times in English.

The ride back through the village and to the main road seemed much shorter going down.

I stopped at a pull out on route 12 and took one more picture before driving the rest of the way to my hotel.

When I got checked into my hotel I had a couple beers to celebrate my birthday and an interesting day on the bike.

Heading to the Ghost Festival

It's time for me to get out and play tourist again.

My first stop at something to see was at Wat Tha Sung which I visited recently and blogged about in the post on Uthai Thani but decided to visit again since I did not stop at The Golden Castle. Below are a few pictures of The Golden Castle.

Following is the short I uploaded to YouTube while at the temple of both the Golden Castle and The Crystal Sanctuary.



My plan was to stay in a hotel close to the temple since I am not much good after 3 hours on the bike but was still feeling good so decide to continue for about an hour more.

I found a hotel in the town of Tha Tako in Nakhon Sawan and crashed for the night.

The following day my only plan was to put in some kilometers or miles in the direction of where the festival was to take place. I had about a 3 hour ride but assumed I can't check into a hotel until 2 in the afternoon so have a bit of time to waste. I saw a sign at an intersection that said something about an ancient city to the right. I was going to the left but pulled over a ways down the road and did a Google maps search on ancient city and found Muang Kao Wesalee (เมืองเก่าเวสาลี).

I would not say the ruins here were all that impressive but I really enjoyed the pond with the lotus flowers in front of the ruins.

I didn't do any other tourist things that day and went a bit past where I had thought I would stay so I could reduce tomorrow's ride. I did get really lucky stopping for a break and eating an ice cream as the heavy rain started. I was at the store a bit longer than I had planned but the rain stopped and I stayed mostly dry.

I found a hotel at the start of the fun motorcycle route that I had planned for the following day. I also got a bit of a Thai lesson with the price of the hotel talking with a very friendly couple that ran the hotel.

Chedi Thong Wat Tham Khao Pun (เจดีย์ทองวัดถ้ำเขาปูน)

I have lived in Kanchanaburi for more than a year and a half but am not really good at getting out and seeing some of the stuff close to home. Today I was out on the bike and decided I should visit Chedi Thong at Wat Tham Khao Pun (เจดีย์ทองวัดถ้ำเขาปูน) since I never been up to the Chedi.

I have visited the coffee shops down below the Chedi and thought I had posted about it in the past but seems I never did. One of the coffee shops is called The Curve and that is what I call this area and I had to look up the name of the temple that is also at this location. Wat Tham Khao Pun (วัดถ้ำเขาปูน) is the name of the temple about 50 meters down the hill from the coffee shops. There is also a cave that a lot of tourist visit but I have not been in. I'm not really into caves.

This area has great views over the River Kwai Noi at a bend in the river or the curve.

I took the above panorama while standing over by the standing Buddha in the following picture. If you click on the panorama to make it bigger you may be able to notice the tracks for the death railway that run along the side of the river.

I didn't seem to take any pictures with a view down onto the coffee shops that are about half way down the hill between the Chedi on the top and the train tracks and river at the bottom. I rode the motorbike most of the way up the hill but still had what I think would be about 5 floors worth of stairs to arive at the Chedi. Those hand rails get very hot in the afternoon sun.

The following is a picture in the opposite direction of the river and of Wat Tham Khao Pun (วัดถ้ำเขาปูน).

The Chedi had 4 what I think are guards at its base. I took a picture of each of them but only posting the blue one.

The Chedi has lights that shine on it at night and it is very attractive from the river.

I put off coming up here for a long time but I guess I just didn't know how much I would enjoy the views.