Lopburi - Monkey Capital of Thailand

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Moving on from the Village to some Monkey Business in Lovely Lopburi

Friday 26th September

There was little sleep to be had last night as there was a huge dog fight at 2.30 am which the father of the house had to go outside to sort out and at 5.00 am the stereo started booming out from the shop across the street. There are vendors that sell their wares from trucks passing through the village and they usually have a loud P.A system and one of them was setup around the corner with his music and announcements going full blast at 6.00 am. I went for my morning walk a bit earlier than usual in a different direction today and it felt good to do some exercise after all the eating at the BBQ restaurant last night.

It was time for me to reluctently have a break from village life so after breakfast at round 8.30 am we called our trusty Tuk Tuk driver from Chock Chai and he picked me up to catch the local bus to Korat and then Lopburi. There was no waiting today and as soon as we stopped each time a bus would arrive or be ready to leave so by 9.30 am I was on my way to Lopburi, about 160 km north of Bangkok to see the most famous monkey populated city in Thailand.

The bus goes through Pakchong and Saraburi and we reached the bus station in Lopburi at 1.00 pm after going around two of the huge landmark roundabouts which are a feature of the new part of the city. A motorcycle taxi took me on a full speed ride to the old city to the Need Hotel which I had read about on the internet as being a clean, well located hotel. It was also a hotel the taxi guy could easily locate and as it turned out the hotel is in the centre of the old city, with friendly staff and nice, recently tiled rooms; nothing special but good for a short stay. The side walls and back of the hotel are caged with steel bars on the room windows so that the monkeys cannot get in and there are plenty of them about the place.

Once I had checked in and found a map it was off on my walking tour of the Khmer style temples, palaces and museums of Lopburi. First stop was the Narai Palace where I spent nearly two hours looking through the ruins and impressive museum of local artifacts. King Narai had fought off the Burmese hords, sometimes fighting on top of an elephant and eventually saving Thailand from enslavement so he is considered a great hero of this country and lived from 1656 - 1688 when the palace was built.

I then went for a walk to the railway station and was called over by about ten teenage school kids “farang, farang (foreigner) - you want a beer?” Yes I said and I stopped while they took some pics of me on their mobile phones and I took a drink from their big bottle of Leo beer. It was very hot and I was thirsty and what a great group of guys they were, all smiling and laughing. I must say Lopburi is one of the friendliest places that I have visited in Thailand with many people saying “hi” to me or waving on their motor bikes and a shop keeper welcomed me to Thailand and told me he had been to Australia once before and we had a quick chat while I purchased a cool drink. The impressive Khmer style temple Wat Phra Si Rattana Maha That is across from the railway station and I walked around the grounds and through the centrepiece Phra Prang building before heading to the other side of the old town to see the monkey infested temple Phra Prang Sam Yot.

There were monkeys everywhere in this part of town, climbing over the buildings, overhead wires and a huge concentration around the grounds of Phra Prang Sam Yot where they give you a stick to protect yourself from the overzealous beasts. Once inside the temple you are isolated from the monkeys but they still reach in through the window bars to find food or grab anything they can get their hands on. Once outside again I felt brave and walked all the way around the temple and was only attacked by one fellow who insisted on swinging on my stick, I could see he was not too afraid of anything. It really is an interesting experience to visit this place, something unique in Thailand. There are other places that i have visited where there are heaps of monkeys but nothing to compare with this.

I visited the Phr Kan Shrine with it’s huge slabs layered upon each other before heading back to my hotel for a nice shower and some Kentucky Fried Chicken after a week of very healthy Thai food in the village. After my meal I went to find an internet café and walked past a park near the Noom Guesthouse where a game of football was in progress. The small round ball is kicked over a high net and one guy did a summersault to kick the ball reverse soccer style, landed on the palms of his hands on the concrete and bounced back onto his feet, truly an amazing feat of skill. The Aussie rules footy teams should be here scouting for talent as the Thais are very skilful at the many sports I see them playing in the parks everywhere that I visit.

After checking my emails I visited the local Thai pub where a great band was playing but I was so tired and headed back to my room and was asleep by 11.00 pm after a busy day travelling to and touring Lopburi.

Chiang Mai is north - Why am I

heading south to Bangkok?

Saturday 27th September

There was construction work happening at my hotel as they are replacing all the tiling so I was awake early and ventured off to visit the remaining temples and sites on my walking tour of Lopburi. These included the Vichayen House where French and other visiting envoys stayed in the 1600's. Also on my list was Wat Sa Thong Thong where I found an interesting cremation building covered in flowers and Wat Choeng Tha which had a monk house covered in monk's robes. Last stops in the hot morning sun were the City Pillar Shrine and Wat Kawisararam and it's huge impressive spire.

It was quite hot for so early in the morning and I walked back through the morning maket place with it's amazing array of produce on display to have a quick shower, pack my bags and head for the bus station to travel to Chiang Mai.

I asked for a ticket to Chiang Mai and because no one spoke any english I double checked my destination with the ticket seller, luggage handler and bus conductor. The bus looked a bit basic for a long haul to Chiang Mai and I started to get worried when it headed south to Saraburi. I asked the bus conductor again and showed him my map and he said "Chiang Mai this way mister". I thought they must be taking a side route so I patiently waited and before long it became all too evident that this bus was going to Bangkok and to add insult to injury it made many stops to drop and pick up passengers to make it an even more painful trip.

I then realised that the long haul buses probably stop at Lopburi but the logic from the staff was that I needed to catch those buses in Bangkok. I asked the driver to stop at Don Muang Airport so that I could get a Nok Air flight to Chiang Mai but he couldn't find a safe spot to stop so it was on to Mo Chot bus station in Bangkok after a 3 hour trip and where he pointed me to the buses for Chiang Mai. I said "Mai Dee" - "No good" ; there was no way that I was spending another 10 hours on a bus with it's loud TV audio system playing into the night and in any case I was tired and rather annoyed as I could have caught a train from Lopburi if I had known that there was going to be such a crazy problem with the bus service.

The staff at my hotel in Bangkok gave me a suprised look as they knew that I was supposed to be in Chiang Mai. I checked in and then booked a return flight to Chiang Mai with Air Asia. The day was not a total disaster as four of my friends in Bangkok took me to a disco and we danced late into the night and I returned to my room at 5.00 am to get some sleep before my 12.50 pm flight to Chiang Mai

Click on the pics if you want a larger view and select next to see all the pictures.

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Photos

Monkey Highwire Act
You need to wear a hat or you may get a nasty suprise as you walk the streets of Lopburi !!!

Narai Palace
The entrance and other gates are made for elephants to pass through

Narai Palace - The Water Tank
For water storage

Friendly Locals
They offered me a swig of their Leo Beer which I gratefully accepted

Lopburi Train Station
I walked through the station on my way through the old city

Pha Prang Sam Yot - Monkey Temple
The main concentration of monkeys are at this temple

Phra Prang Sam Yot - Monkey Temple
I was caged away from the monkeys