Off to the South of Thailand

I am heading to the South part of Thailand to try and visit the provinces I have not been to before and maybe also attend the vegetarian festival in Phuket.

I have done something different for me and planned the routes for most of the trip. You can click on this link to see the route I planned, Route from Home to Wat Ao Noi. Following is a screen shot of my route from my phone.

It has been raining a lot lately and looked like rain when I headed out on the bike for today's ride. I got sprinkled on a bit but remained mostly dry and had a great ride.

I had a mix of stops that had things I wanted to check out and other stops to keep me on the route I wanted to ride. The problem with this is I forget which is which and often wonder why I marked this stop.

I didn't have the Huay Mongkol Reservoir (อ่างเก็บน้ำห้วยมงคล) planned as a stop but needed a break so stopped and snapped this picture.

My next stop was planned at Wat Huay Mongkol (วัดห้วยมงคล) and I took the following pictures there.

My next stop was my first beach stop of the trip and turned out to be a really pretty place, Following are my pictures from the View Point Khao Kalok (จุดชมวิว เขากะโหลก).

Wat Khao Kalok (วัดเขากะโหลก) was close to the view point and wasn't planned but made a quick stop for pictures.

Sam Roi Yot Beach (หาดสามร้อยยอด) is a pretty beach with a road running the length of the beach. I tried to film the ride along the beach and may post it later with some editing. Here are the beach pictures I took before the ride.

I stopped at Wa Khao Beach (หาดหว้าขาว) and took the following picture.

Wat Ao Noi (วัดอ่าวน้อย) sets next to a bay full of fishing boats. I took a number of photos at this place.

Wat Ao Noi was my last stop of the day before going into town. The route to the hotel took me along the road next to Ao Prachuap Bay (อ่าวประจวบ)

I didn't stop and take a picture but found this bay pretty so returned the following morning for a picture. I don't think the following panoramic picture does Ao Prachuap Bay justice but it's the best of my pictures.

I rode past Khao Chong Krachok with monkeys all around the base. I was happy none of the monkeys attempted to bite me or steal anything off the bike while I was waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

I found a hotel in the town of Prachuap Khiri Khan (สถานีรถไฟประจวบคีรีขันธ์). The town setting on the bay made it very attractive and this was a real surprise to me. This was a great way to end my first day on the ride to the South.

Short Update on Building at Phra Borom That Chedi Manikan (พระบรมธาตุเจดีย์มณีกาญจน์)

I have not been up to much lately but was talking to a friend about one of the temples and the building work that is being done and decided to go for another visit. I had not been out to Phra Borom That Chedi Manikan (พระบรมธาตุเจดีย์มณีกาญจน์) in about 6 months and the link is to my last post.

I could not ride past the new standing Buddha that they seemed to have just installed at the enterence of the site. They were busy working when I arrived and still had a large crane next to the large standing Buddha.

The following picture popped up on my facebook feed so I stole it and posting it here since it is a different view point of the temple and a great picture.

I also went out to the Wat Mettatham Photiyan (วัดเมตตาธรรมโพธิญาณ) which I also visited 6 months ago and wrote about it in Another Visit. For 6 months work I was not impressed with the changes that I could see. It seems that have added about 20 or 30 feet to a few of the walls that I believe will be the base for the large Buddha.

This is a picture from outside of the building.

These are pictures from the inside of the building and the 2 walls that have increased in height.

I will try and visit these sites again in 6 months or a year and do another update.

My 2026 Rocket Festivals Video

It has taken me a long time to go through all of my videos from my time at the rocket festivals this year. Following is the summary I have come up with of my time watching the rockets.

Plow Field Buffalo Races (วิ่งควาย)

The day after my birthday I went and watched the buffalo races. I have been to this type of the buffalo races once back in 2024 and blogged about it in Plow Field Good Buffalo. Following are the videos that I have done of the races.