Blogs from Lopburi, Central Thailand, Thailand, Asia
February 4th 2012
Next stop on my 2 day whistlestop tour of central Thailand was the small town of Lopburi. This is another ancient city littered with old Khmer inspired temple ruins, with a difference. The centre of the old town is dominated by Phram sang yot, a 3 spired temple. This one however, is pretty much owned by a gang of monkeys. They are everywhere in this area, on my 1st walk past the temple one chased after me, jumped up and wrapped itself around my waist before attempting to rob me! The whole scene is pretty surreal but it definately adds to the charm of the place. After a day of wandering round the town i'd seen pretty much everything there was to see so it's back to Bangkok and onward to Koh Phangnan to party with ... read more
Thailand - Cycling - Santa Rides to (almost) Victory
Published: January 3rd 2012Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Lopburi
January 3rd 2012
Continuing the sports in Asia theme, and in a seasonal mood too (OK a bit late for Christmas, but we’re still in a holiday mood!) My very good friend Eddie Vernon just achieved a career best in a Christmas cycle race in Lam Narai in Thailand. He came 2nd out of the riders in the 50-54 age-group, narrowly missing first place at the finish line. What makes this a great achievement is that Eddie has just recovered from a severely fractured leg which occurred during a training ride iin Laos. This part of the world is probably not the friendliest environment to road race a bicycle. It can be fiendishly hot and humid - but then again we don't have the freezing cold damp weather that cyclists in north America and Europe have to suffer. Eddie ... read more
June 9th 2011
So as the title implies all I do is bpii tiao, but perhaps that doesn't imply much if you don't know what bpii tiao(ing) is. (Yes I just made a transliterated Thai word into a somewhat English word). Anyway bpii tiao(ing) is basically going on field trips and it seems as though every weekend that is exactly what I am doing. It has been a great experience and has brought me to several places around Thailand already. This weekend was spend in Lopburi, Central Thailand, 6 hours away from home. My sister and I headed out with Nung Heart and spent the next six hours on the bus. Now a magical thing happened on this bus, there was a movie playing, but not just any movie it was SHARKTAPUS. Yes aren't you impressed, I sure was. ... read more
February 17th 2011
After a bad break up and a bad choice in my university degree subjects I decided I needed a break. I needed to get away for a few months or perhaps a years and turn my frantic and haphazard lifestyle into something positive and worthwhile. I few days later I heard from one of my friends talking about becoming a teachers in Asia. My sister travelled to Thailand two years ago so I thought maybe give Thailand a shot. I went to a local travel agent looked at some options, booked a ticked and went home to pack. Fast forward a few days later and I was on my way for a new adventure and after a bumpy, but boring flight I arrived in Bangkok international airport. I was met by a very friendly Thai man ... read more
May 1st 2010
I live in Thailand. Have done so on and off for 20 years. It's one of the best places on the planet to be from so many points of view. When I first arrived Bangkok was a pretty horrible city and went through a huge construction phase during the mid-1990s when the air was full of dust and the traffic was so bad I used to abandon my car and walk. But the Thais are a pragmatic set of folk and from about 1998 things in Bangkok got much better with the development of the overhead Bangkok Transport System (BTS) and then the "rod fai dai din", the underground rail system. Nowadays you can get around Bangkok at least as easily as in London, New York or any major world city and better than some. Combine ... read more
April 30th 2010
If you've ever visited the Angkor ruins outside of Siem Reap, then you'll recognize the ruins at Prang Sam Yod. This massive stone santuary was founded in the 13th century by the Khymer King Jayavarman Vll, the ruler who built many of Angkor Wat's most famous temples and palaces. Like a lot of the temples at Angkor, Prang Sam Yod was originally a Hindu temple with the three stone steeples or prangs representing the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Visnu, and Silva. The Thais later converted it to a Buddhist temple. An added attraction to this place is the numerous monkeys which run all over the ruins which is why the place is referred to as the Lopburi Monkey Temple. There were well over a hundred of the creatures when we visited the ruins. They also have ... read more
March 23rd 2010
From Ayuthaya we got the train to Lopburi. Brilliant journey, the station in Ayuthaya was bustling with people crossing the tracks and jumping on and off trains from both sides. Tickets were 13 Bhat (29p), travelled 3rd class but not a long journey and the open windows keep temp down. Got help from other passengers getting on and off the train and loved watching the food sellers walking up and down the train with the most amazing mix of freshly cooked food and ice filled buckets of drinks (Virgin et al take note!) The family beside us treated themselves to as bag of about 6 boiled eggs and a small bag of soy sauce for dipping. At one station a load of people carrying trays with little tubs of ice-cream appeared at the carriage windows and ... read more
February 15th 2010
We decided to head to the "buri's". First we got the train to Lopburi - again ridiculously cheap; this is home to hundreds if not thousands of macaques. They are everywhere! It took us a while to spot one - which Craig spotted the first, then you couldn't walk a few feet without spotting loads. They are climbing on the buildings, on the cables above your head and on top of cars! You cant eat or drink on the street or they will take it from you..they are very greedy! Some of the locals have big sticks or catapults to keep the nasty ones away! We only spent one day there, as its a small place with not much to do. We visited a few Wat (temples) including the monkey temple. You can buy fruit and ... read more
December 28th 2009
We had decided to get off at Lopburi and have a look around. The train was so cold it was hard to sleep. I couldn't believe they would have it so cold, you got a cotton blanket, but that wasn't enough. The kids had jumpers, but I haven't needed anything more than a shirt, so was very uncomfortable. We do like getting off the train as the city wakes up. It is a great way to learn about what a city is like. Lopburi is famous for its monkeys, and it didn't take too long to get an introduction. They were everywhere. We wandered through town, and look around, not the nicest of cities, and by 9.00 it was hot. We continued our way around and then went back to the train station. We had decided ... read more
September 6th 2009
Arrived in Bangkok fine, met Kim at the airport, spent 2 days in Bangkok and it was actually cool! Well cooler than INdia! Saw the grand palace, lots of temples including a 45m buddha, reclining buddha, emerald buddha (he was blue). Saw snake farm and how they got the venom out and then got taken to loads of random places trying to get us to buy stuff including jewellry, tailors (wanted Russ to buy numerous suits ha ha !! and they didnt understand what casual meant) Took a trip to see the floating markets full of tourist tat but good to see how they sell stuff from the boats. Then saw handy craft place, world war 2 museum full of dusty tat and a bridge which the Americans bombed. A tiger temple where we got to ... read more
