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The trip involved about 2000 kilometres, leaving Bangkok on the 26th December 2007. Two Thai/falang couples who drink too mut, and a nice car. A rough itinerary. Destination- North Thailand. First overnight stop, Kamphaeng Phet as it transpired.

Kamphaeng was a compromise- the plan was to stay in Sai Ngam about 40km east, and check out some nearby waterfalls. Problem is the dusty town had not one single guesthouse, so we headed for Kamphaeng Phet and found a decent motel on the edge of town (the Kamphaeng Resort, but the sign is in Thai). Decent value for 280 Bht, including Thai breakfast and all the instant coffee you can drink.

A very pleasant compromise as it turned out - Thai waterfalls don't impress me much anyway. We decided to check out the Kamphaeng Phet Historical Park instead. KP itself is a very pleasant, seemingly quite prosperous market town with a substantial Chinese population. A lot of sugar cane grown around here, also various orchard fruits, vegetables, rice and bananas. Much more varied agriculture than further south.

We checked out the town, had a very nice Chinese meal, a few beers then a few Yaa Dongs back at the Motel, which was only a few km's from the Historical Park.



Granted world heritage status around 1992, the KP Historical Park was a pleasant surprise. First surprise, no falang pricing- 50 bht per car + 50 per person. The Visitors centre is well worth visiting- quite informative with audio visual displays, and some antique statues and stuff.



The main park area is exactly that- set in very pleasant wooded parkland. Nice place for a picnic.





An old belltower or watchtower or something. KP dates from the Ayuddhaya era mainly, and one of it's main purposes was to act as a defence post for the capital against the marauding Burmese. There are city walls still standing in places, and a moat. The Burmese got them in the end though.

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