Ratchaburi

I decided to play tourist in Ratchburi for a day. I did the short ride and visited some of the things I had marked on google maps but had not taking the time to visit on my last visit. If you missed my last post on Ratchaburi it is in the post Going Home From Hua Hin

My first stop was at the Ratchaburi National Museum (พิธภัณฑสถานแห่งชาติราชบุรี)

The skeleton of a prehistoric man was found in 1977 at the Khok Phlub site.

This was a Royal Sword. Sorry not a very good picture.

I was driving to my next planned stop when I took a turn at Chedi Hak Temple (เจดีย์หักราชบุรี). I had not planned on stopping here but had seen pictures of it in the museum even if I could not recall the period of time it was built I decided to stop and take a picture.

I had not planned to stop at Wat Aranyikawas (วัดอรัญญิกาวาส) but after seeing some pictures of this temple at the museum I looked it up on the map. It was on my way to see the bats and had some time before dark so it was added to the pland and I stopped for a visit.

I found the pond behind the temple sort of pretty.

My last stop before finding a hotel was to see the Bats at Wat Khao Chong Phran (วัดเขาช่องพราน). I arrived at about 6 PM and wondered around the market that took place in front of the temple and saw everything bats. The street lights were images of bats and a number of signs and statues of bats so I knew I was in the right place. I didn't know if they flew every season of the year and as I found a place to sit and wonder if I came at the right time of year I looked up and saw a black line flowing across the sky. Following is the short video I uploaded to YouTube of the bats.



What I have found on the internet later after watching the bats leaving the cave is that they are Wrinkle-Lipped Bats and fly every night throughout the year rain or shine. Following is the long video and pictures I took while at the temple.





The sky was putting on a show in the other direction that the bats were flying and was the direction where I was going to be looking for a hotel. I got really wet in search of a hotel but I got to see bats.