This trip can be called "a trip for two girls to travel together". A group of friends from school days - the days of adventure invited us to have fun at Phu Lom Lo to hunt for tigers. It was a short trip of 2 days and 1 night. We left Bangkok early on a Saturday morning in the middle of January last year (2016). We turned on the GPS navigation from the starting point and got lost again as usual. We were circling around Wang Noi, haha. After we got a clear route, we continued our journey. We stopped by Nakhon Sawan because we remembered that the curry rice shop was delicious and cheap. But when we arrived, the shop was not ready yet. The two girls had advertised it a lot, but we didn't get to eat it. We decided to continue our journey. We found a coffee shop and stopped by again. It wasn't delicious, so let's not talk about it, okay?
A few scenic views along the way.
Drawn in by the sign advertising fresh rice noodles, we were further enticed by the promise of five herbal ingredients and decided to stop at Pinphet Kao Restaurant. After circling the area, it was the first restaurant we came across. A large set of fresh rice noodles cost 150 baht, while the papaya salad for 40 baht failed to impress us, and the vegetables were wilted.
The first destination is Wat Phra That Pha Sorn Kaew, a journey involving several kilometers of winding and steep roads. Even the GPS screen was confused, asking, "Where are you guys driving?"
I have finally arrived at Wat Phra That Pha Sorn Kaew. It was worth the wait to see it with my own eyes. Thank you to the two ladies who brought me here. However, be warned that the temple is very crowded, the roads are narrow, and the climb is quite steep. It is not recommended for new drivers.
Now that we've explored the buildings, let's turn our attention to the scenic views.
We then had to retrace our steps to reach Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park. The roads were extremely crowded, and the uphill climb was as challenging as ever.
At the fork in the road, we turned right towards Thap Baek. There were many people and cars, and it was easy to understand why people would encroach on the forest to build accommodation illegally. We decided not to visit during this time and wait for the authorities to resolve the issue.
Continuing straight, we reached a checkpoint where we paid the entrance fee to the national park: 40 baht per person and 30 baht for the car. We then continued until we reached another fork, with the right path leading to Phu Lom Lo and the left path leading to Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park. We turned left to find a place to sleep.
When we arrived at the tourist service center, all the cabins were full, so we had to camp. We were allowed to choose any spot and set up our tent ourselves. We even made a mistake while setting it up, and it wasn't as perfect as usual, but we still slept comfortably.
After setting up the tent, I took a shower and went to have dinner because I wanted something warm. However, when I actually ate it, the stir-fried basil with crispy pork was not expensive but it didn't taste like basil, it was just stir-fried crispy pork with seasoning. The clear soup was okay, but the best thing was the fried egg.
We returned to our tents and continued our party with grilled chicken purchased from below. We finished with pineapple from Phulae and strawberries before retiring for the night at a temperature of 14 degrees Celsius.
Sunday morning, we woke up at 4:30 AM. (When it comes to traveling, tell me to go, and I'll go even if I don't sleep.) Be prepared for the bathrooms here. They are technically separated by gender, but in reality, they are mixed-gender. (Last night, while I was showering, women came in to wait in line to shower. I was surprised and thought, "Did I go into the wrong bathroom?" When I came out and saw the urinals, I realized, "Oh, it's the men's bathroom.") The two girls also told me that men had gone into the women's bathroom to shower. The morning temperature was 8 degrees Celsius, which was fine for us since we didn't have any cold-weather gear.
We then rushed to meet Phi Seu (our guide for Phu Lom Lo) at 5:30 AM. Upon arrival, we were greeted by Phi Seu's new and comfortable car. We set off to our first stop, a sunrise viewpoint. The fog was so thick that we knew we wouldn't see the sun until noon. The strong wind made us shiver with cold.
Stuck in traffic, unable to move, forced to walk amidst thick fog, cold wind, and gridlock.
A short walk leads to the entrance of the tiger lily field, where crowds and vehicles abound. Continuing on, one encounters a small field of paper flowers.
As we walked back to the car, we encountered a large group of people sitting in the back of a pickup truck. They were pulling on the branches of a tiger flower tree, causing it to sway with the momentum of the moving vehicle. We exclaimed, "If you're going to pull that hard, why not just break the tree?" They gave us a sullen look in response. They're not 2-year-old children, so they should be able to discern what is and is not appropriate behavior. Subsequently, Ball led us to the location of the Phu Lom Lo sign. However, our phone had died, and we had forgotten the charging cable in the car. We used the auxiliary lens to take pictures. As we descended the hill, we hoped to see something, but our visibility was limited to less than 3 meters due to the dense fog.
He ran back up because the two girls didn't come down. He walked to the wooden balcony to enjoy the view, but he didn't climb up to compete with him. He stayed down here.
As we continued walking, it started to rain. The weather was already cold enough, and the rain made it even worse. To make matters worse, the line for taking photos with the sign was even longer than the line for buying coffee during a buy-one-get-one-free promotion. I don't even know who was in the photos because we were in such a hurry to get out of the rain.
The rain intensified as soon as I got on the bus.
Upon reaching the ground floor, the two ladies indulged in some shopping, acquiring an abundance of fresh produce at incredibly affordable prices. They swiftly revived their mobile phones before capturing photographs with the various signs.
Drove back to pack up the tent. It was quick to dismantle, but we couldn't pack it back into the bag the same way. When we returned the equipment, we confessed our mistake to the officer. Then we headed back to Bangkok. On the way, we stopped to buy tamarind. We stopped for lunch at Kaeng Song Waterfall, and the food was decent. After we were full, the two girls made good time because we had to continue to Prachuap Khiri Khan. We didn't get to see much on this trip because we had to work afterwards. We talked in the car that we would definitely have to come back and explore Phu Lom Lo again.
Follow other travel trips at
Page: Solo Backpack Travel
IG: prapat / Solo backpacking travel
ตะลุยเดี่ยวแบกเป้เที่ยว
Wednesday, October 9, 2024 5:56 PM